2018 November/December Biomass Magazine

Page 1

November/December 2018

BREWING

GREEN Pellets Power Beer-Making Process PAGE 30

PLUS:

Froling Energy’s Biomass Boiler Buildout PAGE 14

AND:

Windham County's Growing Wood Heat Market PAGE 22

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018 | VOLUME 12 | ISSUE 6

06 EDITOR’S NOTE Small World, Small Industry By Anna Simet

07 EVENTS

COLUMNS 08 Smoke and Mirrors By John Crouch

09 Another Year of Uncertainty for Biofuels By Michael McAdams

10 Don’t Forget the Neighbors

14

By John Ackerly

11 A Breakthrough Biomass Fuel By Jose Rivas

12 BUSINESS BRIEFS

FEATURES 14 The Only Game in Town

Froling Energy has made a name for itself in the Northeast through hundreds of biomass boiler installations, and being the lone supplier of precision dry chips. Now, the company is expanding operations and diversifying its technology repertoire. By Ron Kotrba

22 Expanding Wood Heat in Windham County

With money derived from the closure of a nuclear power plant, the Windham Regional Commission has helped fund and implement nine pellet and wood chip installations in the county, and has the means for more. By Anna Simet

30 Sustainable Sours

Hermit Thrush Brewery in Brattleboro, Vermont, uses pellets to fuel its brewing process. Though regulations make the same setup much too costly for other brewers to deploy, that might soon change. By Patrick C. Miller

CONTRIBUTION 36 From Malt Waste to Watts and Biofertilizer

Muntons Malted Ingredients Inc. installed a novel, closed-loop AD system that turns liquid malt waste into energy and a high-quality fertilizer. By Mark Hale

38 MARKETPLACE

4 BIOMASS MAGAZINE |NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018

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Small World, Small Industry

ANNA SIMET EDITOR

asimet@bbiinternational.com

When making discoveries that strike us as coincidental or against the odds—perhaps two people knowing the same individual through completely differently means—we often exclaim what a small world it is. By this, we don’t actually mean the world is small in size, but rather, that it is amazingly interconnected. To say this was the case for this issue—dedicated to on-site and distributed energy projects— would be an understatement. I’ll explain, though I’m sure many of you in the wood energy segment of the industry already know what I’m talking about. For quite a while, I have been interested in writing a story on the Windham Wood Heat Initiative in Windham County, Vermont. What better way to use money from the closure of a nuclear power plant then to help fund clean energy projects that benefit the local economy? To date, the initiative has helped dozens of schools, municipal buildings and nonprofits determine if modern wood heat is right for them, and has moved nine projects forward. Both women I interviewed—Windham Regional Commission’s Marion Major and the Northern Forest Center’s Maura Adams—mentioned semidry chips and the benefits of using them. Though only one WWHI project is using them so far, they said they would like to see many more do so. The main challenge, however, is that there is currently only one supplier: Froling Energy. Coincidentally, Senior Writer Ron Kotrba had already interviewed owner Mark Froling and Jim Van Valkenburgh, vice president of business development and sales, to write a feature article on the company’s work in building out the modern wood heat market in the Northeast. In “The Only Game in Town,” on page 14, Kotrba goes into detail about the company’s evolution and development of its precision dry chips. Froling told Kotrba that his company, which has completed upward of 180 installations over the past decade, actually hopes for more competition when it comes to dry chips. “We need competitors in order to build up markets,” he says. “You can’t do it all alone…if there is only one supplier of PDCs, the market is not really seen as being very robust.” Kotrba also mentions that Froling used to work for New England Wood Pellet, which was owned by Steve Walker at the time. Coincidentally, that was the first pellet plant that I ever visited—roughly eight or nine years ago—and Walker gave the tour. Finally, upon reading our final feature, “Sustainable Sours,” by Staff Writer Patrick Miller, I realized the brewery, which uses pellets to power its beer-making process via a unique setup consisting of pellet burners fitted onto steam oil boilers, is not only also in Vermont, but in the same town as four of the WWHI installations, and the owners drive home the same points about utilizing local wood heat. All of this said, I think this paints a pretty accurate picture of the budding modern wood heat industry here in the U.S.—interconnected believers, working in cohesion, tirelessly advocating and working to grow the market, one installation at a time.

6 BIOMASS MAGAZINE |NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018

INDUSTRY EVENTS¦

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BIOMASSMAGAZINE.COM 7

Smoke and Mirrors BY JOHN CROUCH

Recently, there has been some talk in the biomass community, including within the pages of this magazine, that suggests there is a possibility of a $500 million woodstove changeout fund being created by Congress. While the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association agrees there needs to be a program to help fund the removal of old, uncertified woodstoves, the current draft concept and efforts to promote it at this time are an illusion, or worse, a shell game. HPBA is the trade association for all wood, pellet, and gas-fired heating products and their accessories, i.e. hearth products. We’ve worked to establish changeout programs to remove and replace old woodstoves since 1989, usually in partnership with local or state governments or tribes. Often, these programs are established with the support and participation of local chapters of the American Lung Association. We hope and expect that there will one day be a nationally funded woodstove changeout program, similar to the Diesel Emission Reduction Act first enacted in 2005. It is an idea that HPBA has been working on with the U.S. Congress since 2007. Both industry and state air regulators want such a fund, and are pushing to make it a reality. Right now, however, the concept is being dangled to try to divert attention from another important conversation. For almost two years, HPBA has been working on behalf of our entire industry to fix a major, time-sensitive problem with the 2015 revision of the U.S. EPA’s woodburning certification program, the New Source Performance Standards for New Residential Wood Heaters (i.e., wood and pellet stoves and inserts) and New Residential Hydronic Heaters and Forced-Air Furnaces. The final rule established two deadlines: Step 1, effective in 2015 and Step 2, effective May 15, 2020. The Step 2 standards contain fundamental problems. They set very difficult standards for new woodstoves and hydronic heaters, a nearly impossible standard for new wood furnaces, and tied the hands of the industry by requiring that on or after May 15, 2020 nothing could be made, sold or transferred unless it met the new Step 2 standards. The new Step 2 emission standards are complicated, difficult to meet and require months, or even years, of careful lab work. Most woodstove and hydronic heater manufacturers will be lucky to have even a few models ready by the deadline. And at this rate, consumers of wood furnaces will be lucky if they have more than a single model to choose from starting in May 2020. Since retailers cannot be certain what and how much they’ll sell in the winter of 2019-’20 (which also depends a lot on the weather), they have radically cut back on orders of current models that meet Step 1. This, in turn, means reduced sales revenue for the manufacturers paired with the

8 BIOMASS MAGAZINE |NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018

requirement to speed up further their expensive R&D efforts now. Even manufacturers who already had models that met the new Step 2 emissions target aren’t exempt from the crunch. Since the EPA slightly changed the test, all models certified before 2015—including those that were clean and efficient enough to meet the Step 2 standards by most any metric—must be retested with the new method. HPBA has moved a bill (H.R. 453) through the House, and recently moved a Senate version of the bill (S. 1857) through the key Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW). The legislation would extend the Step 2 date of the NSPS by three years, from May 15, 2020 to May 15, 2023. This is the cleanest possible legislative edit to the regulation. Mere weeks before the EPW Committee’s Sept. 18 markup, despite months passing by without so much as a peep of interest, draft changeout program language was thrown together to sidetrack the conversation about the need for additional time to meet Step 2 of the NSPS. The authors of the draft changeout program language offered it, as well as language that would prevent EPA from ever updating the NSPS in the future, as an amendment to S. 1857, as a replacement of the original intent of the legislation: to provide extra time for industry to come into compliance with Step 2 targets. What hasn’t been mentioned previously is that the proposed changeout program language would only authorize creation of such a program. It wouldn’t actually appropriate those funds, which would require another step. Since this legislative session ends in January, any legislation that isn’t signed into law over the past two years of this session of Congress will have to be reintroduced. To create such a new program will take years of work with Congress, not a few months at the end of a congressional session that is now consumed with an upcoming election. Simply put, the creation of an unfunded program would be an empty gesture that provides no benefit to the industry or consumers. Our industry overwhelmingly supports the idea of a changeout program authorization, but any sincere effort to implement such a program needs to have a meaningful chance of passage and include industry input during the drafting process—not a hastily drafted, diversionary amendment that lessens the chances of industry getting the relief it needs to ensure a viable generation of new, cleaner-burning woodstoves. Author: John Crouch Director of Public Affairs, Hearth, patio & Barbeque Association crouch@hpba.org www.hpba.org

Another Year of Uncertainty for Biofuels BY MICHAEL MCADAMS

As we approach the end of 2018, we reflect on a year that was full of surprises for the biofuels industry. What stands out the most was former U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s application of small refinery exemptions (SREs) under the Renewable Fuels Standard to purposefully lower the value of D6 RIN credits. This action was not prompted by “disproportionate economic harm,” as was purported. Rather, this was a clear abuse of power to deliver the economic outcome that Pruitt personally desired for his supporters in the refining industry. In the end, he successfully transferred hundreds of millions of dollars from parties in compliance with the RFS to parties who were not. Including exemptions granted to parties who had never before received them, the agency has now granted nearly 50 exemptions for compliance years going back to 2015. This exempted 2.25 billion RINs that were dumped into the market for 2018, creating a surplus of RINs for the current compliance year. Because of these extra RINs in the marketplace, in 2018, we will ultimately not blend the mandated 19.88 billion gallons. In this manner, these SREs have essentially undercut the proposed renewable volume obligations for the entire year, and if the situation is not rectified, it will continue to do so in 2019. Since the news of these SREs began to leak in March, the price of the conventional D6 RIN has dropped significantly. Today, the price differential is in the neighborhood of 60 cents. The D4 biomass-based diesel RIN has also dropped to a four-year low to under 40 cents. It is evident that EPA somehow altered the criteria it utilizes for granting these exemptions without any publically disclosed process. When evaluating the applications for these exemptions, up until now, EPA has required all of the mandated criteria to demonstrate disproportionate economic harm be met, not just some of the criteria. Now, we do not know what standard is being applied. So far, the Advanced Biofuels Association has yet to receive a response to its Freedom of Information Act request for information on the who, what, when and how these SREs were granted. It has been over five months since we filed the request.

Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler has made some progress toward increasing transparency for these SREs since taking the helm at EPA. In the past month, the agency has launched a dashboard to track the number of SREs applications received, the number granted for each compliance year, and the volume of gallons affected by these exemptions. This is a good first step, but we remain in the dark regarding who received these exemptions, when they received them, and on what grounds the determination of “disproportionate economic harm” was made. Ultimately, we remain concerned that without intervention from the court, EPA will move forward with the same approach on SREs in 2019, and that the exemptions will have similar effects on the RIN market in the coming year. This would be devastating, particularly for those in the biomassbased diesel space, where producers report that demand was reduced significantly as a result of the compliance waivers. The RFS statute never intended for these waivers to have a 15 percent impact on the overall RVO. At this level, they undermine the entire intent of the program as written by Congress. As the acting administrator observed, at least it will be more difficult to argue disproportional economic harm for these small refineries when the D6 RIN price has dropped by approximately 75 percent for the majority of 2018. Industry stakeholders must continue to insist that EPA increase transparency on when, and on what grounds, they grant these waivers. There are currently three lawsuits pending before the federal court, challenging the EPA’s ability to increase by four times the number of waivers granted for any previous year. Hopefully, the court will shed some light on what happened, and direct the agency to be more judicious in its application of the standard. Otherwise, 2019 stands to be another year of confusion and lack of certainty for the RFS program. Author: Michael McAdams President, Advanced Biofuels Association mcadams@hklaw.com www.advancedbiofuelsassociation.com

BIOMASSMAGAZINE.COM 9

Don’t Forget the Neighbors BY JOHN ACKERLY

The U.S. EPA residential wood heater regulations that went into effect in 2015 are now creating the classic battle between industry and consumers. Industry wants fewer regulations and more time to comply. Consumers of stoves want cheaper units, which seemingly puts them on the side of industry. But we are all consumers of wood smoke, so we need to keep neighbors of homes with wood stoves part of the conversation. As the mainstream residential wood stove and boiler industry rolls out its campaign to get three more years to comply with regulations that take effect in 2020, they omit any mention of the additional smoke that will be put into tens of thousands of neighborhoods across the country. Cheaper, higher-polluting stoves and boilers are not the answer. Nearly a quarter of all stoves already meet the 2020 standard, and by this time in 2019, half of stoves could meet the 2020 standards. And, prices on stoves that already meet the 2020 standards are not going up by much. The steel tariffs are probably having a bigger impact on stove prices this year than EPA regulations. For argument sake, let’s say the EPA regulations caused stove prices to rise 5 to 10 percent, which is certainly possible. Is that worth it, to have cleaner stoves in our communities? The dilemma here is that folks buying stoves are much more likely to object to rising prices than their neighbors, who also have to live with higher particulate matter (PM). The Alliance for Green Heat was founded, in part, because wood heating is a great way for lower-income families to avoid fossil fuels and affordably heat their homes. So isn’t it inconsistent for us to support regulations that lead to slightly higher prices? There is a legitimate conflict that we grapple with day in and day out. And there is no easy answer. All the safety and emission regulations on automobiles have led to higher prices, resulting in more lower-income families to a) not buy a car, b) postpone buying a newer, cleaner car, or c) keep buying second-hand cars. We expect a similar phenomenon with stoves, but it’s not a reason to keep building more polluting and less-safe stoves. Last week, two major stove companies announced that they were nearly ready for the 2020 emission standards, adding to the list of companies that do not need any extension. Pacific Energy and Blaze King are both older, reputable stove manufacturers that made complying with EPA regula-

10 BIOMASS MAGAZINE |NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018

tions on time part of their business plan so that they could assure their retailers that they would have stoves to ship. Pacific Energy specializes in noncatalytic stoves, which are harder to get below the 2 grams an hour for 2020, and Blaze King specializes in catalytic stoves. In a YouTube video, the stove industry keeps insisting that “the industry shares the same goals as regulators” but never mentions that part of the reason for the delay is that they are suing regulators to prevent some key provisions from ever taking effect. When industry says it needs three more years to comply with EPA standards, it is fairly representing what a lot of the industry wants. But it does not represent the best interest of consumers who would rather have cleaner, more efficient stoves and boilers even at a slightly higher price. And it certainly doesn’t represent the neighbors of consumers, who are also impacted. Extending the deadline until 2023 will put hundreds of thousands of higher-emitting, lower-efficiency appliances in homes, and only a fraction of those homes will have exchanged the new stove for an old one. Domestic outdoor boilers and indoor furnaces need the extension most of all, but they are the appliance categories that need to be cleaned up the most, and will have the biggest impact on their communities. If we want residential wood and pellet heaters to take their rightful place alongside solar, wind and other renewables, we need a real commitment from industry to innovate for the future, not put all their resources into lawsuits and lobbyists to preserve the status quo for as long as possible. There are plenty of manufacturers who are innovating and getting cleaner. I heated my house with various EPA certified catalytic and noncatalytic wood stoves for 25 years before I switched to pellet stoves. I know all too well how hard it is to keep a wood stove burning consistently without any visible smoke. My neighbors are happy that I’ve switched to pellets.

Author: John Ackerly President, Alliance for Green Heat jackerly@forgreenheat.org www.forgreeheat.org

A Breakthrough Biomass Fuel BY JOSÉ-LUIS RIVAS

There are many efforts from different industries to find solutions that can help us and our children live in a better, cleaner world. Among many others, three of the most important are reducing CO2 emissions, the initiative to diminish the pollution of plastics from the oceans, and the development of sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. What if a solid fuel made mainly from biomass could help with more than one of these efforts? ERS Fuel Inc. has created precisely that. Manufactured from woody biomass scientifically combined with a specific polymer, its unique fuel puck has capabilities that make it very versatile on multiple levels that go beyond what was the original idea when invented. Manufactured in Canada, with a pilot facility in Stratford, Ontario, the equipment requires minimal maintenance and very low energy consumption to operate. The technology has been in research and development for three years already, and the process is designed with maximum levels of mean time to failure to ensure that the effective production time is not affected. The ERS Fuel puck has a calorific value as high as Bituminous coal, 70 percent less CO2 emissions than coal, is virtually odorless and smokeless, and even more impressive, it’s water resistant. How can ERS Fuel be applied? It can be cofired with coal for energy generation, it can be used for more efficient home heating in wood stoves, and distributed as a survival fuel because of its water resistant capability, all while helping to divert polymers from landfills. The pro-

duction process of the fuel puck can also utilize burned wood from forest fires, giving those trees a second life as an energy fuel, helping reduce landfilling and losses from fires. Other products accepted as raw material by this technology are coffee cups, wax-coated produce boxes, sawdust, grocery bags and milk cartons. ERS Fuel was recently part of a Canadian trade delegation to Paris, where John Small, cofounder of the company, had the opportunity to meet with industry leaders of the renewable energy sector and presented the fuel puck to a number of executives who expressed significant interest in testing the product. The technology is also being explored as a way to reduce the cost of fuel and power generation in Canada’s remote, northern and First Nations communities, into which the Canadian government currently flies diesel fuel. This renewable fuel could replace that diesel and have a significant impact on cost and environment. ERS Fuel’s business model is to sell and license the technology for industrial usage. The company plans to build a commercial-scale facility to service customers with fuel for home heating. This new technology is a giant leap toward a cleaner environment and will divert millions of pounds of waste from landfills annually. Author: José-Luis Rivas Business Development Director, ERS Fuel Inc. www.ersfuel.com joserivas@ersfuel.com

BIOMASSMAGAZINE.COM 11

Business Briefs PEOPLE, PRODUCTS & PARTNERSHIPS

Babcock & Wilcox to move headquarters to Ohio Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc. announced it has reached an agreement with joint venture developers Industrial Commercial Properties LLC and Industrial Realty Group LLC to lease new office space in the renovated East End development in Akron, Ohio. Its Barberton and Copley operations will relocate to this new space in 2019. Additionally, B&W announced it is relocating its corporate headquarters to Ohio from Charlotte, North Carolina. B&W anticipates its employees will move into the new space in the third quarter of 2019, while the relocation of its corporate headquarters to Barberton is effective immediately. B&W’s Barberton and Copley offices employ approximately 700 people.

Roeslein receives Saint Louis University Alumni Merit Award Rudi Roeslein, founder of Roeslein & AssociRoeslein ates and Roeslein Alternative Energy, received the 2018 Saint Louis University Alumni Merit Award, which honors distinguished graduates in recognition of their outstanding achievements, dedication to a chosen profession, and commitment to the mission of the university. In 1990, Roeslein founded Roeslein & Associates, a global engineering, modular fabrication and construction firm with over 600 employees spread across six locations in North America, Europe and Asia. In 2012, he founded RAE, which is currently developing a $120 million project that converts the manure from 2 million hogs on nine farms into renewable natural gas. In addi-

tion, RAE, along with the Smithfield Foundation and the Environmental Defense Fund, has launched a project to convert 1,000 acres of highly erodible land back to native prairie in an effort to provide market solutions for the production of renewable natural gas, wildlife habitat and ecological services.

Atlantic Power to acquire 2 South Carolina biomass plants

Atlantic Power Corp. announced Sept. 20 that it has executed an agreement to acquire two biomass plants in South Carolina from EDF Renewables Inc. for $13 million. The Allendale plant is located in Allendale, South Carolina, and the Dorchester plant is in Harleyville, South Carolina. Each of the plants has a capacity of 20 MW. Closing of the transaction is expected to occur late in third quarter fourth quarter 2019. The transaction is not subject to regulatory approval. Atlantic Power will assume operation of the plants at closing, or potentially earlier, subject to negotiation of an agreement with EDF Renewables. The purchase will be funded from the company's discretionary cash.

Shaw Resources acquires ENplus certification

Nova Scotia-based Shaw Resources announced it has acquired ENplus certification for its Eastern Embers Wood Pellets. The company is one of just a few pellet producers in Canada to receive the certification, which is an independent certification scheme for wood pellet quality run by the European Pellet Council. ENplus is used by nearly 900 companies in over 45 countries. Headquartered in Milford, Nova Scotia, Shaw Resources supplies industrial and specialized aggregates markets. The company has two aggregate processing plants and

12 BIOMASS MAGAZINE |NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018

two wood pellets plants that serve customers in the Atlantic region, North America and Europe.

Martin Engineering introduces conveyor belt cleaner

Martin Engineering, a conveyor belt cleaning technology company, has introduced a new design specifically for applications where space for installation is limited. The new SQC2STM RM (Reduced Mini) Cleaner from Martin Engineering is a compact, secondary belt cleaner that allows installation in close quarters, built with a narrow profile that resists material buildup. The unit is one of Martin Engineering’s Safety First family of products, helping customers achieve OSHA compliance.

PFI Social Media Effort Off to Strong Start

A social media test campaign planned and deployed by the Pellet Fuels Institute has generated over 1 million impressions in just over three weeks, as of mid-October. Using Facebook and Instagram, the PFI is targeting potential pellet appliance buyers in specific markets to raise their awareness of pellet heat while also directing them to specific retail partners in the area. “The key to growing the market opportunity for our producer-members is selling more pellet appliances,” said Tim Portz, executive director of the PFI. “This campaign is our first step in figuring out how to help our retail partners accomplish that.”

BUSINESS BRIEFS¦

Over 45,000 consumers saw Facebook and Instagram ads featuring pellet appliance messages in the first three weeks of the campaign.

Aliceville, Alabama

Pinnacle to acquire majority stake in Alabama pellet plant

Pinnacle Renewable Holdings Inc. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a 70 percent interest in an operating industrial wood pellet production facility located in Aliceville, Alabama, from The Westervelt Co., a diversified land resources company. Westervelt will retain a 30 percent interest in the Aliceville facility. The Aliceville facility has an annual production capacity of approximately 270,000 metric tons of industrial wood pellets. Approximately 210,000 metric tons per annum is committed under a long-term offtake contract to a major European utility. The remaining production volume from the plant will be sold through Pinnacle’s contracted backlog of long-term, take-or-pay offtake contracts. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, was expected to close in early October.

Maine pellet project awarded $200,000 grant

A proposed wood pellet plant in Maine was recently awarded a $200,000 grant through the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program. The REAP award was announced by Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine. According to information released by Pingree’s office, T&D Wood Energy LLC was awarded $200,000 in REAP funding to support the development of a $5.7 million wood pellet plant in Sanford, Maine. The mid-sized pellet plant will be built adjacent to an operating white pine sawmill. The pellet mill will utilize all the wood residues coming from that sawmill. It will also purchase additional wood waste residues from other sawmills in the region. A USDA fact sheet on the project states the project will generate more than 164 million kilowatt-hours annually, enough electricity to power 15,142 homes.

Morbark hosts demo days, introduces new Chiparvestor

From Sept. 26-28, Morbark welcomed more than 250 guests within the forestry, biomass, recycling, sawmill and tree care industries to its 12th Demo Days. The event offers attendees the opportunity to watch equipment in action, meet the people who build and support the equipment, and see firsthand the manufacturing

processes utilized. Events included factory tours, networking opportunities, vendor booths and a chance to see equipment up close. At this year’s event, the new 23X Chiparvestor was introduced. Morbark has been producing mobile whole tree disc chippers since the 1970s, and like the previous Model 23 Chiparvestors, the 23X uses a 75inch diameter by 5-inch-thick chipper disc to chip large volumes of wood, while the built-in dirt separator with deflector keeps the end product clean. The new model hosts several key improvements.

Eqtec to provide technology to Phoenix Biomass Energy

Eqtec plc, a technology solution company for waste gasification to energy projects, announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Phoenix Biomass Energy, a California-based power company, to supply its proprietary Eqtec gasifier technology to two biomass power facilities in California, a 2 MWe and 3 MWe gasification plant. Collectively, the two contracts are expected to be valued near 10 million euros ($11.5 million). Financial close is expected in late Q4 2018 and the purchase contracts executed shortly thereafter. Subject to the outcome of these first two projects, Phoenix has indicated desire to utilize Eqtec technology and equipment on other future projects in the U.S., in respect to its development pipeline that utilizes gasification technology.

BIOMASSMAGAZINE.COM 13

¦PROFILE

THE ONLY GAME

IN TOWN Froling Energy has made a name for itself through expert installation of hundreds of biomass boiler systems in the Northeast and as the lone supplier of precision dry chips. Now, the company is expanding operations and diversifying its technology repertoire. BY RON KOTRBA

A

history of biomass market development in New England would be incomplete without the narrative of Mark Froling and his New Hampshire-based company Froling Energy. The company has been instrumental in building demand for woody biomass in the Northeast through its expert installations of biomass boiler and district heating systems, and it pioneered manufacturing and supply of precision dry chips (PDCs) in the U.S. Prepare to meet the market maker as the growing company continues to expand its technology capabilities and offerings.

In the early 2000s, Froling worked as a commercial construction contractor for New England Wood Pellet Co. to remodel the Jaffrey, New Hampshire-based pellet manufacturer’s production capacity. “We built their production capacity up to the point where it outweighed demand in our region,” Froling says. “The owner, Steve Walker, recommended ways to increase consumption of pellets, and that’s when I became familiar with using larger commercial boilers. They weren’t available here at the time, so I traveled to Europe.” Froling launched a company under the ownership of New England Wood

14 BIOMASS MAGAZINE |NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018

Pellet to install biomass boilers in New Hampshire and the greater New England region. Then the great recession and financial crisis of 2007-’08 hit, and New England Wood Pellet sold the spinoff to Greenfield, Massachusetts-based Sandri Energy. “I did not go with it,” Froling says. “I started my own company instead.” The vision of Froling Energy was to continue what had begun under New England Wood Pellet ownership: to increase the use of pellets in the region. “There has to be more than one of us to increase demand on the pellet side,” Froling says. If pellet producers could simply focus on

Froling Energy broke a company record last winter of producing and delivering more than 3,500 tons precision dry chips (PDCs). The New Hampshire-based boiler installer and biomass supplier is already on track to outgrow its newly renovated PDC manufacturing site and has plans to build a new plant next spring. PHOTO: FROLING ENERGY

making pellets and boiler installers could concentrate on building demand, a harmonized transition in the heating markets could effect real change. Initially, most quality biomass boilers were imported from Europe. The boilers were exclusively designed for wood pellets, and the regulatory hurdles early on created “so many different challenges,” Froling says. “More or less, those have all been overcome.” Today, Froling Energy does business with a number of reliable, proven biomass boilermakers, including Viessmann, Schmid, Fröling, Maine Energy Systems and Windhager. “Now the

challenge is ramping up the market,” Froling says. “Most people don’t know what we’re doing.”

Projects

Since its inception, Froling Energy has successfully completed more than 180 projects, ranging in scope from residential or small commercial installs to major apartment complexes and universities. “Some of our early projects were in the $15,000 to $25,000 range—some residential installations, a police station, nothing big,” says Jim Van Valkenburgh, vice president of business development and sales

with Froling Energy. “We evolved with a good mix of that. We were doing 10 to 20 projects a year, and as that experience seeped into our people, we were able to do more.” From there, Froling Energy grew— and the scope of its projects did too, from small-scale, low-Btu installs to cascading multiple, high-Btu boilers. “These projects made good headlines and we gained some notoriety,” Van Valkenburgh says. “The next thing we knew, we were doing schools with a million Btu loads with multiple boilers, which is significant.” Some of Froling Energy’s projects are hours away from its BIOMASSMAGAZINE.COM 15

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Peterborough, New Hampshire-based headquarters. “Reliability is a big factor when you’re two hours away,” Van Valkenburgh says. “We always install a backup boiler with a commercial system because no one wants to have breakdowns.” The cost of the project goes up considerably from residential to commercial. “It’s tougher, more demanding,” Van Valkenburgh says. Froling Energy’s most recent big job was just completed this fall—a major district heating project at the University of New Hampshire’s Thompson School of Applied Science. The work includes construction of a new central boiler house with an interior 50-ton wood chip silo, and installation of new underground piping to Putnam Hall, Barton/Cole, the Veterinary Diagnostic Lab and the Macfarlane Greenhouses. The system features a new Schmid biomass boiler, two propane-fired backup boilers, and circulation pumps to deliver the heat to the networked buildings. The biomass boiler has an output of 1.7 MMBtu per hour while the liquid propane (LP) boilers each has an output of more than 3 MMBtu per hour. A 1,000-gallon buffer tank is integrated into the biomass boiler system to increase efficiency and biomass heat availability. Froling says the new system must heat 180,000 square feet of university space. “The greenhouses are single glaze, so they require the largest load,” he says. More than 1,000 feet of underground piping for the district heating system was installed. “That’s all with welded, underground piping, excavation and backfill, and repaving because some piping is running under roads,” Froling says. “Along the way we had to do a lot of demolition work to get the old infrastructure out of the ground.” Van Valkenburgh says the cost of the UNH project ran about $2.5 million. “Over the years, we increased our bondability step by step, job by job,” he says. Another major project recently completed by Froling Energy was the Applegate Housing complex in Bennington, Vermont, which consists of 23 separate buildings containing 103 individual units. Built 40 years ago, each of the 23 buildings had its own boiler that provided heat and hot water to the occupants. Keeping up with the cacophony of failing boilers was consuming and problematic, so a committee of numerous stakeholders was formed to address much-needed changes. The committee ultimately decided to not only upgrade all 23 buildings’ heating systems, but also to improve the complex’s energy efficiency with new windows, insulation and siding. A single biomass boiler was installed in a newly constructed boiler house that was tied

PROFILE¦

Construction of the new PDC-fed boiler system at the University of New Hampshire’s Thompson School of Applied Science was at full tilt this summer. Designed to heat 180,000 square feet of space, the project was completed this fall. PHOTO: FROLING ENERGY

into a network of underground pipes to deliver hot water into each building. For the Applegate Housing project, Froling Energy was awarded the contract to install a 1.84 MMBtu-per-hour Viessmann Vitoflex 300-RF Model KPT-540 biomass boiler and two LP boilers for peak and backup delivery. Other contractors laid the underground pipes and tied them into the 23 individual buildings. New indirect water heaters were installed in each of the 103 units, all of which are heated by the central boiler system. Similar to the UNH project, the Applegate complex was outfitted with a new silo to hold 42 tons of PDCs—Froling Energy’s feedstock of choice for its installs.

PDCs

Despite nearly 200 completed biomass projects in the Northeast, Van Valkenburgh says marketing efforts are still critical to building the market. “Four or five years ago, we made a shift,” he says. “We shifted almost all of our marketing efforts to be in direct competition with fuel oil, which is the highest-value heating fuel. But oil prices sank and that made us look at the cost of fuel again. In 2014, we saw wood pellets were almost the same cost as fuel oil. And in 2015, they were. At that point, the pressure was on us to provide a lower-cost fuel. That’s when we developed precision dry chips.” Froling Energy didn’t invent dry chips. In Europe, pellets, green wood chips and dry chips each share an equal portion of the market, Van Valkenburgh says. “During our development of the dry chip market here, we practically used the same tactics, the same techniques as we did in helping develop the wood pellet market. It’s almost the same boiler, so there was a natural transition to dry chips.” The advantage of PDCs over wood pellets is a 35 percent cost-savings on fuel. On the other hand, green chips require a much larger capital outlay whose return on investment is slower. “Green chips require a live floor truck for delivery,” Van Valkenburgh says. “And when you have a live floor truck, there is an extra owner expense for the building, whether that’s $200,000 or $1 million, to put in a live floor storage system in the building. That kind of investment was sensible in an era of $4 a gallon fuel oil.” Van Valkenburgh says Froling Energy has spent considerable time focusing on converting “that middle ground” of annual energy consumption, which ranges from 30,000 gallons a

BIOMASSMAGAZINE.COM 17

¦PROFILE

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The Applegate Apartment project in Bennington, Vermont, decommissioned 23 individual boilers and replaced them with a central 1.84 MMBtu biomass boiler and district heating system to provide heat and hot water to 103 units in nearly two dozen buildings. PHOTO: FROLING ENERGY

year of fuel oil up to nearly 100,000 gallons. “At 20,000 gallons a year, what’s a sensible alternative to fuel oil?” he asks. “At that scale, green chips make no sense. Pellets, maybe. At 30,000 gallons, this middle ground makes perfect sense for dry chips. It’s the same or similar boilers as for pellets, but the fuel is 35 percent less costly to purchase. There is a higher investment overall in fuel handling and storage, but in the end, it works out quickly. And when you slide higher to 100,000 gallons, it makes even more sense for dry chips—at that scale, even green chips work. But that middle ground is what was really missing in the U.S., and it is where we decided to make a commitment. We’re the only game in town when it comes to this middle area of fuel. When you look at how this market developed, it’s all been us. We’ve developed the expertise, and we’ve developed the product and an efficient way of implementing boiler systems to burn them. It’s not inexpensive, but it’s economical compared to the alternatives.” Interestingly, Froling says one of the biggest challenges has been attracting competitors. “We need competitors in order to build up markets,” he says. “You can’t do it all alone. We need some backup. If there is only one supplier of PDCs, the market is not really seen as being very robust.” Like pellets, Froling Energy’s PDCs are delivered with a blower truck, which provides more flexibility in boiler system

18 BIOMASS MAGAZINE |NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018

design, and the location and type of silo. Moreover, it drastically cuts costs compared to investing in the underground infrastructure to receive green chips from a live floor truck. “Some say us selling both the boilers and the PDC fuel is like a company selling the printer and the ink as well,” Van Valkenburgh says. “That’s true, but then I ask, ‘How did the pellet market evolve?’ It was a gamble making the finances work. The PDC market has developed very similar to the pellet market, but even slower. This year, we’ll be in the 6,000-ton range of dry chips, where New England Wood Pellet puts out 20 times that. That’s a huge difference, but this little niche is very important to the people who are our customers. They see it as their fuel and a wise choice.” Froling Energy recently upgraded its PDC manufacturing facility from a batch dryer system with a fluid bed floor to a larger, more predictable belt dryer system. “Our old system blew hot air under a sixfoot-tall pile of chips 30-feet by 30-feet,” Froling says. “We’d close the door, turn the oven on and wait days for the wood chips to get near the optimal moisture content of 25 percent. This was not entirely predictable. After a few years, we realized we needed a better system.” The new belt-driven drying system is similar to a giant pizza oven, Froling says. The heat is provided by a 3.2 MMBtu biomass boiler. The belt is six feet wide and 50 feet long. Green chips go in one end

Growing toward a greener, cleaner future. One big advantage of PDCs over green wood chips is that they can be delivered with a blower truck versus a live floor truck, saving the building owner from major overhead expenses in constructing a complex bunker system to receive and store the fuel. PHOTO: FROLING ENERGY

as 180-degree dry air is blown through the moving pile, and less than an hour later, they come out the other end with a reduced moisture content of 25 percent. The air leaves the oven saturated with moisture and at half the temperature. “We put the PDCs in storage and they go out to the truck for delivery a few days later,” Froling says. “We keep 30 to 40 truckloads in storage in case something breaks or needs maintenance. We built in additional redundancy because when you provide heating fuel, you need tremendous security. It’s a high-pressure environment and we truck out tremendous amounts of fuel—two truckloads a day, every single winter day. If you miss one delivery, you start to get phone calls.” Froling Energy’s truckloads range in weight from 15 to 24 tons. The company is nearly finished with a newly rebuilt custom rig to add to its fleet.

Planning for Growth

Froling Energy is making preparations to relocate its PDC plant and double its output next year. “It’s much needed,” Froling tells Biomass Magazine. “We’re outpacing our production and redundancy.” The company is integrating power production using steam cogeneration to produce its own heat and power for the new facility. “We will start construction on it next spring,” Froling says. “We’re already planning and designing it. This has to happen soon. All we need is one or two

more customers to ask for 1,000 or 2,000 tons a year, and we couldn’t do that with our current layout. We’ve grown faster than our business plan.” In tandem with building out its PDC manufacturing capabilities, Froling Energy is also gearing up for more PDC boiler installs, including honing its cogeneration expertise. “We’re under contract with a big nursing home project close to us,” he says. “That’ll be over 1,000 tons of PDCs a year starting next winter. We’re on the trajectory to having a full plate next summer. We’re also doing a local library here, which doesn’t seem like a big project, but it’s technologically complex. It’s a really small-scale cogeneration project with heat and cooling—not the usual heat and power. Everything will be heated and chilled with biomass.” Froling says this atypical cogeneration project is hard to do on a small scale. “It will be a big milestone to incorporate this into our repertoire,” he says. “We see it as an absolute necessity to develop into a cogen company, not only being well-versed in providing heat to even the largest institutions, but also to integrate power generation and chilling as well.” Author: Ron Kotrba Senior Editor, Biomass Magazine 218-745-8347 rkotrba@bbiinternational.com

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¦WOOD HEAT

EXPANDING WOOD HEAT IN

WINDHAM COUNTY

With a goal of expanding clean, modern wood heat in the region and drawing from local forest resources and businesses, the Windham Wood Heat Project is looking to help move more projects forward. BY ANNA SIMET

22 22 BIOMASS BIOMASSMAGAZINE MAGAZINE|NOVEMBER/DECEMBER |NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2018 2018

BIOMASSMAGAZINE.COM BIOMASSMAGAZINE.COM 23 23

ÂŚWOOD HEAT

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fuel supply analysis done on Windham County, Vermont, found that it has the highest net available low-grade wood of any county in the state, which is roughly 78 percent forested. So when nuclear power plant Vermont Yankee reached a settlement with the state to close in 2014 and begin the decommissioning process, it made sense for $1.6 million of the $140 million in financial assurance funds to be used to implement advanced wood heat projects in Windham County, via the Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund. “The ones we’re tapping into are specifically earmarked for the county, and those funds are for renewable energy generation and economic development,� explains Marion Major, energy planner at the Windham Regional Commission. “So, what better way to do that than support the wood heat economy?� In response to a state request for proposals for a program centered on modern wood heat, the Windham Wood Heat Initiative

was conceived amongst a large consortium of local organizations and partners that collaborated to outline the scope of the project, its focus and goals, Major explains. “After all of that was done, the program morphed into its implementation phase, and it made sense for it to be housed at the Windom Regional Commission, because we have the capacity to administer projects implemented here in our region,� she says. “So we took the lead after development.� While the program’s ultimate goal was to support the local forestry economy and wood pellets, it couldn’t be responsibly implemented without first knowing of the region’s wood supply was adequate to support a number of new projects.

Scoping Out Supply

To ensure a sustainable fuel supply for new projects supported through the program, Innovative Natural Resource Solutions conducted a thorough analysis of wood growth, use, and net wood availability for the

county, and six surrounding counties in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Some key findings included: • The seven-county wood supply area contains over 2.2 million acres of timberland, over 80 percent of which is privately owned. • The 20 schools and municipal buildings that WWHI sought to convert to advanced wood heat would use a maximum of 8,000 green tons of wood fuel per year, and should the WWHI be successful in reaching that goal, there is ample additional supply of low-grade wood resource available. • Some 252,000 to 578,000 green tons are currently available in the region each year—annual forest growth net of current demand from other uses—and by 2035, 589,000 to 982,000 green tons will be available, as the forests of the seven-county region are growing much more wood than is being used each year. • Wood may become feedstock for three pellet manufacturing facilities within eco-

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Green Street School’s oil boiler was reaching the end of its 38-year life, and the steam distribution system had been in service since the mid-1920s. With $100,000 in funding from the WWHI, the solution was to install a wood pellet boiler and improve the building envelope by fixing and sealing off doors, and covering windows to prevent heat loss. PHOTO: WINDHAM WOOD HEAT INITIATIVE

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¦WOOD HEAT

A silo outside Academy School stores wood pellet fuel that is used in a Froling P4 boiler, the installation of which was completed in April 2016. The school received a $75,000 WWHI incentive to help cover installation costs. PHOTO: WINDHAM WOOD HEAT INITIATIVE

nomic trucking distance to Windham County, or fuel could take the form of semidry, refined (screened) wood chips for specialized boilers—fuel that requires air-drying to below 30 percent moisture content. “The analysis found that this region has the most productive forests in the state, which was actually surprising, on a personal level,” Major says. “It is certainly wooded around here, but when I think about other places in Vermont, I think about even more forestry. So we found that yes, we are able to support this increased call for fuel.” Maura Adams, program director at project partner Northern Forest Center, says that while pellets have been the fuel of choice for most of the projects complete to date—eight installed, with two more under development—semidry chips, suggested by the analysis—would make a lot of sense for

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some, and perfectly align with the program’s goals. “It’s a newer technology, where green chips from the woods are dried for quite some time, and by the time they get to the system, they’re a lot more efficient, because water doesn’t need to be dried off. It makes a lot of sense of Windham County in a lot of ways, especially to better connect the wood coming from the county to installations.” The problem is there currently aren’t enough suppliers of semidry chips, which INRS concluded is the most probable way that new WWHI projects could directly utilize locally grown and harvested wood. “We’re hoping there are other people who can get into that drying process, and take advantage of that business,” Adams says. “It could be a really good solution, and there are systems that are interchangeable with pellets or dry chips—it gives them flexibility for what’s available, and what makes sense of the time. Right now, people are much more familiar with pellets, Major points out. “But we’re very interested in semidry chips—in our region, with the material available, it’s a more accessible avenue to become a truly local supplier,” she says. “We really want to support that market and see it flourish and the economic effect take hold. Until recently, for wood chips in general, the boilers have been on a much larger scale, but now with the semidry chips, it can service a more averagesize, commercial unit. We’re really hoping to do more projects that use semidry chips.”

The Process, Projects

To date, the Windham Wood Heat Initiative has supported 24 projects through a variety of services. “We’ve done a lot of building assessments, for almost all of the public schools in the county, and we have installed nine new systems and are working on a couple new ones right now,” Major says. “There are also a few systems that have been more problematic than functional, which can kind of give a black eye to the industry in general, and we’re looking to replace those and get them back up and running so

they have a good experience.� Altogether, through the initiative, over 73,000 gallons of heating oil have been avoided annually in the county, according to Major. To get involved in the program, there are no windows of opportunity or application period—it’s a rolling admission program, so as soon as a school, municipal building or nonprofit is interested, an audit and feasibility study can be set up. “When those are done, we’ll determine if it’s economic—or even physically feasible—to convert to wood heat in that establishment,� Major explains. “At that point, they are under no obligation to move forward. If they decide to move forward, we continue to work with them and provide technical assistance through the whole design and RFP process, all the way through the installation, really just being there to help. It’s a pretty serious project for someone to undertake, and we try to be as available and helpful as possible. We decided to add commissioning assistance into the program, just to make sure the installation is doing what it’s supposed to do, and functioning properly.� As far as funding goes, the program, which began in 2015, is slated to wrap in June. There are still funds available, Major says, so there’s still an open call for more projects. “Because we work with schools and municipal buildings, we’re working with their timing and budgeting, so it’s moved pretty slowly there. We have opened it up to public service institutions like nonprofits, so that’s picked up a little faster because the decision making process is different. There are a few projects on the cusp of deciding whether to move forward or not, so that will determine if we’ll have funds left after our deadline, and if we should extend the program or reevaluate how these funds are being used. As for challenges for these projects, Major says low oil prices in recent years have been one deterrent. “It is on the rise though, and this is good for us and the industry, but it can be difficult,� she says. “Everyone knows oil prices are volatile and will go up, but in the short-term, for decision-making, it’s hard

to justify that to those you’re responsible for, your voters or your town, if you’re a school. If you have an oil system that hasn’t reached the end of its lifespan, they have to ask themselves if it make sense to change it out—there’s a moral imperative of ‘yes, this is more environmentally friendly, but is it more economically responsible?’ It’s a tough thing for people to get past.� Adams points out the value in developing cluster installations—a concentration of wood heat projects in a given area. “There is a lot of value in developing clusters, because you develop a lot of capacity there, and you can do tours and get a lot of buzz going there,� she says. “The state wood energy team had an event there last year, and they were able to bring 50 or 100 people together to go out and see several different types of boilers because there was such a concentra-

The New England Center for Circus Arts received a $65,030 incentive from WWHI. A 60-kilowatt OkoFEN wood pellet boiler has saved the school from purchasing 2,750 gallons of oil per year. PHOTO: WINDHAM WOOD HEAT INITIATIVE

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Floodbrook Union School’s oil boiler was reaching the end of its lifespan, and was replaced with a Froling T4 boiler, with the help of a $100,000 WWHI incentive. The boiler can be fueled with either wood pellets or semidry chips.

tion. If you can drive 10 minutes and see five different types of installations and get ideas of how they work and what context they’re right for, that’s a great thing to be able to offer.” It’s exciting to get advanced wood chip and pellet boilers installed in these schools,

municipal buildings and nonprofits, Major says, but it’s even more exciting to be a part of rural development revitalization, and supporting the forestry economy and the community around it. “It’s great keep everything really local and keep the dollars within the region,” she adds. “It’s a goal we have as an

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organization, and this program is really good at implementing that policy, and we’re happy to be a part of it.” Author: Anna Simet Editor, Biomass Magazine 701-738-4961 asimet@bbiinternational.co

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WOOD HEATÂŚ

Windham Wood Heat Project Installations

Academy School, Brattleboro Boiler type: Froling P4 Fuel type: pellets CO2 avoided: 164.18 tons Avoided oil: 14,748 gallons Square footage: 79,758.75 Installer: ARC Mechanical Contractors Esteyville School, Brattleboro Boiler type: OkeFEN 32 kW Fuel type: pellets CO2 avoided: 12.32 tons Avoided oil: 1,100 gallons Square footage: 1,072 Installer: Lyme Green Heat

Floodbrook Union School, Londonderry Boiler type: Froling T4 150 Fuel type: pellets CO2 displaced: 143.65 tons Avoided oil: 12,826 gallons Square footage: 44,603 Installer: Sandri

Guilford Central School, Guilford Boiler type: OkoFEN Fuel type: pellets CO2 displaced: 98.78 tons Avoided oil: 8,820 gallons Square footage: 28,000 Installer: Froling Energy

New England Center for Circus Arts, Brattleboro Boiler type: OkoFEN 60kW Fuel type: pellets CO2 avoided: 30.8 tons Avoided oil: 2,750 gallons Square footage: 7,200 Installer: Sandri

Marlboro Elementary School, Malboro Boiler type: OkoFEN Fuel type: pellets CO2 displaced: 63.38 tons Avoided oil: 5,659 gallons Square footage: 18,804 Installer: Sandri

Green Street School, Brattleboro Boiler type: Froling T4 150 Fuel type: dry wood chips CO2 displaced: 88.02 tons Avoided oil: 7,859 gallons Square footage: 31,000 Installer: Froling Energy

Putney Landing Affordable Housing Development, Putney Boiler type: Froling P4 60 Fuel type: pellets CO2 avoided: 62.58 tons Avoided oil: 5,587 gallons Square footage: 17,850 Installer: Al Jeffers and Sons Inc. *Project under construction

¦PELLETS

SUSTAINABLE

SOURS Hermit Thrush Brewery in Vermont uses wood pellets to power its beer-making process. BY PATRICK C. MILLER

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ombine numerous environmentally sustainable business practices, age-old brewing processes, the sourcing of locally grown ingredients, and unbridled enthusiasm for all of the above, and you have the core values of Brattleboro, Vermont-based Hermit Thrush Brewery. Launched roughly four years ago as the brainchild of college buddies Christophe Gagné and Avery Schwenk, the goal was not only to produce a unique range of niche beers, but also to do it in an ethical manner. Part of the duo’s plan was to use sustainable, locally sourced wood energy derived from Vermont’s forests, dovetailing with the state’s push for greater use of advanced wood heating. “I believe that everybody needs to start doing everything they possibly can to help get the world off oil,” Gagné says. “But even if you exclude ethics and saving the Earth, oil is not going to go down in price. I don’t think the supply of oil will outstrip demand in the future. Rooting our costs and supply chain in locally sourced, renewable fuels is really a wise, long-term cash position as well. We do think of ethics first.” Hermit Thrush Brewery purchased two oil-fired, low-pressure boilers for its brewing and clean-in-process operations, but they have

Hermit Thrush Brewery of Brattleboro, Vermont, specializes in niche sour beers that incorporate the wild yeast and pristine waters of the surrounding area. To make beer in an environmentally ethical manner, the brewery’s two Vermont-made boilers are pellet-fired. PHOTO: HERMIT THRUSH BREWERY

never been fueled with oil. Instead, conversion pellet burners made by Pellergy were fitted on the boilers, along with a bin feed that holds about 500 pounds of wood pellets. Once the burner lights, a spring steel auger feeds pellets every 20 seconds through a flex hose, producing heat very similar to an oil-fired boiler. The Vermont-made system includes automated safety controls. “What’s unique about Hermit Thrush Brewery is that they put in a unit that is a modified oil steam boiler, but added a bolt-on pellet combustor,” says Adam Sherman, consulting manager with the Biomass Energy Resource Center in Burlington, Vermont. “It gives a lot of flexibility to move to pellets without having

30 BIOMASS MAGAZINE |NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018

to throw out your whole heat exchanger. You just take out the oil nozzle and clamp on the pellet combustor—using the heat exchanger of the pre-existing boiler. It’s a really cool option.” Gagné says running two side-by-side boilers in tandem provides two heat options. “Our granularity of heat applications is not very high at the boilerplate,” he says. “What that means is occasionally, we have a little excess steam. So instead of just running the boiler kettle, we may need to use some of the excess steam to heat water for process cleaning needs in the hot liquor tank. It’s really just a matter of paying attention to your PSI gauges and modulating your steam valve a little bit.”

The brewery’s fuel is supplied by the Vermont Wood Pellet Co., which uses locally sourced wood from within an hour’s radius of Brattleboro. “It’s been consistently available and consistently of high quality,” Gagné says. “We use a standard softwood pellet. We prefer softwood because of the lower ash and we can clean out the boilers a little less frequently.” The use of wood pellets has resulted in lower utility costs for the Hermit Thrush Brewery. The ability to purchase truckloads of wood pellets has also enabled it to modulate the supply chain at different times of the year. “We certainly haven’t had any large surprise bills coming from oil price fluctuations,” Gagné says. “Maybe the one drawback is that

startup and shutdown times are longer when using a solid fuel like wood, as opposed to oil or gas. But with a few changes to our brewhouse methods in the first couple weeks of operations, it’s been pretty easy to manage. It takes a little more skill to brew on our system than it takes to brew on a typical equivalent system, but we’ve found that it’s worth it.” Gagné says there are several reasons he and Schwenk chose to open a craft brewery in Vermont in general, and Brattleboro in particular. The state has legislation and tax incentives to support sustainable forestry. Plus, Vermont has a reputation as home to some of the nation’s best craft breweries. “There’s certainly a great beer community here,” Gagné notes.

“We’re collaborating frequently and we’re sharing ideas. In an industry context where you have kind and fun people who are okay with sharing their best practices, I think you end up with a coalescing of good technicians that’s inspiring to other brewers. “ According to the Brewers Association, Vermont’s 55 breweries ranks the state first in the U.S. with the number of breweries per capita. The state also ranks first in the nation with 18.9 gallons of beer brewed per adult over 21. The $309 million economic impact of Vermont’s breweries ranks second nationally on a per capita basis—generating just under $670 per person. BIOMASSMAGAZINE.COM 31

¦PELLETS

The use of wood pellets has resulted in lower utility costs, and also prevents unexpectedly high bills when the price of oil spikes, , according to Christophe Gagné, president and brewmaster of Hermit Thrush Brewery. PHOTO: HERMIT THRUSH BREWERY

32 BIOMASS MAGAZINE |NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018

In addition, the association forecasts that the upward trend in U.S. craft breweries is expected to continue. A study by the organization shows another 2,500 to 3,000 new small and independent craft breweries will be added to the nearly 6,700 already in existence. In 2016, the U.S. craft brewing industry had a $67.8 billion economic impact and provided nearly a half million full-time jobs. The Hermit Thrush Brewery specializes in barrel-aged beer, which Gagné says appeals to “beer nerds” and wine drinkers. This beer is aged for a year in oak barrels that have been previously used by local wine and spirt producers, adding a greater depth of flavor. The brewery also has a selection of kettle sour beers with broader appeal. “Those tend to be a little hoppier or lighter, depending on the beer,” he explains. “Because they’re not aged for a year, they’re at a little lower price point. Those are beers for the larger market rather than the niche barrel-aged sours.” Because water is one of the main ingredients in beer, it was also a factor in the decision to locate Hermit Thrush Brewery in Vermont. “The water here is phenomenal and tastes great,” Gagné says. “Our water supplies are largely unpolluted mountain lakes and streams. It has a lovely, light mineral profile.” And then there’s the wild yeast of Brattleboro, which corresponds with what Gagné calls his yeast-driven approach to brewing beer. He and Schwenk tested yeast at locations across Vermont before deciding they liked Brattleboro’s wild yeast best. “Yeast is a lovely fungus that’s carried by the wind,” he relates. “We are east of some very nice natural wilderness and the health of the native yeast is good here. Yeast feed on fruit and other sugar sources and sometimes grains. It helps to be in an area

that has a significant wilderness component because you have more stuff in the wind.” Most brewers formulate recipes aimed at reaching a certain flavor profile, but Gagné comes at it from a different direction. “I really love watching what wild yeast will do or wants to do and how it will behave in the end,” he explains. “And then I sort of backtrack and design a beer around that. Rather than saying the hops we use are the best hops you can find, it’s really more that we know how our yeast in this area behaves and ferments and how it tastes. We’re trying to make a beer that takes care of our yeast to taste the best and support the yeast-driven flavors as best it can.” The beer from Hermit Thrush Brewery is distributed in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. Another ethical decision of the brewery is to ship its beer in cans only. “We don’t do any bottles,” Gagné stresses. “We’re really trying to prioritize the environment. Cans are much more recyclable than glass. They are much lighter weight to ship. At every turn, we’re trying to minimize our fossil fuel footprint.” For now, Gagné and Schwenk are satisfied with Hermit Thrush Brewery’s beer remaining a regional product of New England. But if they decide to expand, Gagné says wood-fired boilers will be part of their future. Author: Patrick C. Miller Staff Writer, Biomass Magazine pmiller@bbiinternational.com 701-738-4923

Hermit Thrush Brewery's commitment to ethically brewed beer also extends to shipping its products in cans only because they're easier to recycle and use less energy to transport. PHOTO: HERMIT THRUSH BREWERY

BIOMASSMAGAZINE.COM 33

CLEARING THE AIR FOR MORE BIOMASS-FIRED

BREWERIES

As a result of a Vermont clean air regulation, the environmental and economic benefits Hermit Thrush Brewery has achieved by using wood pellet-fired boilers is currently impractical for other breweries and commercial applications. “Boilers for breweries seems to be a perfect fit,” explains Pat Haller, an energy consultant with Efficiency Vermont. “We’re kind of in a quandary right now. As a consequence of a state regulation, it has stopped the ability for other brewers that might be interested to put these retrofit burners on and have a pellet boiler system.” The problem stems from a regulation implemented by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation Air Quality Division, which unintentionally boxed out the option while attempting to close a loophole that enabled outdoor commercial wood pellet systems to be installed for residential use. Hermit Thrush Brewery installed its system before the regulation took effect. “Currently, the impractical part is that each boiler outfitted with a pellet burner would have to go through EPA air quality testing and that—for a one-off system—is too expensive,”

34 BIOMASS MAGAZINE |NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018

PELLETSÂŚ

Haller says. The cost of testing boilers that sell for around $20,000 would be in the tens of thousands of dollars, he says. Haller wasn’t aware the regulation existed until he began working with other craft brewers who were interested in using advanced wood heating. Their boilers would be in the 30 to 60 horsepower range, but the Vermont regulation applies to all boilers under 95 horsepower. “This 95 horsepower and lower regulation is preventing Vermonters—as well as a lot of people in the New England area—from being able to get an advanced wood heat boiler,� he adds. However, a fix is in the works that could be in place sometime in 2019. Haller says Vermont’s Air Quality Division has been provided data from testing conducted by Pellergy, which demonstrated that the amount of particulate emitted from its engineered systems was very low, and on par with a conventional boiler. “It was very promising from the state’s standpoint,� Haller says. “They could adopt some sort of standard that would be practical for companies to put in a boiler with a pellet conversion burner. They might be able to include

in the rules a class of allowed systems because they’ve been tested and proven to have low emissions.� Another unintended victim of the regulation are Vermont’s maple sugar producers, who are interested in converting from oil-fired evaporators to wood-fired systems. “The Department of Environmental Quality didn’t even realize that their rules were boxing

out evaporators in the state as well,� Haller says. “They’re very interested in trying to come up with a logical way of allowing them, but not diluting their intent on having high air quality in Vermont.� After all, what could be better for the state of Vermont than clean air, good beer and delicious maple sugar? “That’s the ideal, isn’t it?� Haller agrees.

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From Malt Waste to Watts and Biofertilizer BY MARK HALE The HRS 3-Tank Batch Sludge Pasteurizer System recovers 40 percent of the heat used at Muntons Malted Ingredients’ production plant in Stowmarket, Suffolk, England, helping the company save more than $3.35 million to date. PHOTO: HRS HEAT EXCHANGERS

M

untons Malted Ingredients Inc. is well known to the U.S. food industry as the supplier of “Great British Malt.” The Chicago-based company’s products are used in the brewing and baking trades, as well as in breakfast cereals, confectionery and a wide range of other food products. What is less known is that Muntons’ U.K. parent company is a leader in sustainable production. Since early 2016, the company has operated a novel, closed-loop system that turns some 88,000 tons of liquid malt waste into a highquality biofertilizer at its production plant at Stowmarket in Suffolk, England. The basis of the system is a $7.5 million, 499-kilowatt, on-site anaerobic digestion (AD) plant that generates 25 percent of the facility’s electricity. Since it was commissioned, the system has treated almost 33 million gallons of effluent, saving the company more than $3.35 million in electricity and waste disposal costs, and reduced carbon emissions by 800 tons of CO2e. Each year, the plant turns 88,000 tons of liquid malt waste into quality organic digestate fertilizer, which is used by the company’s network of growers to produce some of the 275,000 tons of barley needed to make 198,000 tons of Muntons’ malt each year. Muntons has sustainability at its core, and first became interested in AD after analysis showed that 60 percent of its supply chain’s carbon footprint came from the artificial fertilizer used by its barley growers. The company realized if a proportion of the liquid waste it produces every year could be

treated through AD, it could produce a high-quality organic biofertilizer for its farmers to use instead, significantly reducing its carbon footprint. The new treatment removed the need for these journeys, and also captured nutrients—such as phosphate—that were previously lost when treated effluent was discharged into the river. The digestate product is high in organic matter and acts as a soil conditioner and improver. It can also be applied to land over a longer period of time than the liquid waste previously used.

Working to No Waste

Muntons’ digestate is blended with low-chemical oxygen demand (COD) effluent before being treated with Dissolved Air Flotation in the existing activated sludge plant. This stabilizes the digestate and removes further COD, nitrates and phosphorus prior to the effluent being discharged to local waterways in accordance with an environmental permit. The remaining sludge is then pasteurized in a three-tank unit from HRS Heat Exchangers, and used as biofertilizer. The HRS system works on a three-tank principle: While one tank is being filled, the second tank holds the sludge at 158 degrees Fahrenheit, and the third tank is being emptied (each process lasts one hour). Waste cooling water from the combinedheat-and-power engine is used to heat the sludge in corrugated tube-in-tube heat exchangers, which is more efficient than heating an entire tank of digestate. HRS also incorporated an energy recovery sec-

tion into the process to make it even more efficient: Energy is transferred from the hotter, pasteurized sludge to the colder, unpasteurized sludge, reducing energy consumption by up to 70 percent compared to conventional, which would otherwise be wasted. It also has the advantage of being able to run at a half-flow rate, should the volume of digestate stock reduce, and the equipment’s monitoring features ensure that every batch of digestate can be traced back to the feedstock from which it was produced Once pasteurized, the biofertilizer can be dewatered if required, and supplied for application as a liquid for soil injection or a solid for muck spreading. Analysis by Muntons has shown that its biofertilizer is higher in nitrogen, potash and sulfur than most other available biosolids, as well as being a good source of phosphate and magnesium. The biofertilizer is used on local land from which the company sources its malting barley, but Muntons is also keen to stimulate the wider biofertilizer market. Muntons is also working with the University of Lincoln on a project to document the composition and effectiveness of the biofertilizer. This has initially demonstrated that lettuce grown with Muntons’ biofertilizer demonstrates quality and growth benefits over artificial fertilizers of similar nutrient concentration. A further collaboration with University College London revealed that the digestate yields a type of bacteria that produces an antibiotic that kills multidrug-resistant E. coli bacteria.

CONTRIBUTION: The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Biomass Magazine or its advertisers. All questions pertaining to this article should be directed to the author(s).

36 BIOMASS MAGAZINE |NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018

CONTRIBUTION¦

A Muntons staff member checks the quality of the digestate. Although the material cannot be certified to PAS110, it has been granted End-of-Waste Certification by the U.K. Environment Agency and can be used as a biofertilizer. PHOTO: HRS HEAT EXCHANGERS

Ensuring Digestate Quality

Because Muntons’ plant uses a combination of both anaerobic and aerobic processes, for technical reasons, the resulting sludge cannot be certified as meeting the U.K. standards for compost and digestate. The standards, known as PAS110, provide a guarantee to users that the digestate product meets certain quality parameters, and mean that it is exempt from further waste legislation and can be applied to fields as a fertilizer. However, the process includes a pasteurization step, and the resulting material is treated in accordance with the requirements of the PAS110 standard for anaerobic digestate, based on conventional Hazard Analysis

Critical Control Points principles. This helps assure local farmers that the final biofertilizer contains no ergot or plant pathogens contaminants. According to Muntons’ environment manager, a pasteurization system from HRS Heat Exchangers was a crucial part of the entire process, as the company wanted the biofertilizer to compete in the agricultural market with the likes of PAS110 digestate and other biosolids that have undergone pasteurization. Even though considered low-risk and all feedstock is from traceable food grade grains, Muntons felt that pasteurizing its material was the best way to help the company get Endof-Waste Certification, and reassure local farmers

their land will not be contaminated with ergot or plant pathogens. Muntons commissioned a 3-Tank Batch Sludge Pasteurizer Systems with energy recovery from HRS to treat the anaerobic and aerobic wastes. Almost 200m3 (53,000 gallons) of highliquid waste, with a high COD, is treated each day and as well as the CO2 savings, the project has saved Muntons more than $3.35 million in energy and disposal costs to date. Although the material cannot be certified to PAS110, it has been granted End-of-Waste Certification by the U.K. Environment Agency, meaning that it can be used as a biofertilizer. Matt Hale, international sales and marketing director at HRS, commented, “For Muntons this whole project has been about maximizing efficiency. Although they have an abundance of heat, they still wanted to recapture what they could, and our heat exchangers provide 40 percent heat regeneration. Our system also allows the tanks to run at half flow rates if necessary, meaning they can still carry on pasteurizing without having to wait to build up a stock of digestate. Working with a company like Muntons to deliver a truly revolutionary waste treatment plant shows exactly what is possible in terms of implementing the circular economy. The results that the biofertilizer is providing in trials and in the field show just what a valuable resource it is, and this success could be repeated elsewhere around the world.” Contact: Yenni Maelianawati Digital Marketing Manager, HRS Heat Exchangers 44 (0)1923 232 335 info@us.hrs-he.com

BIOMASSMAGAZINE.COM 37

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