BIO UPDATE S M A R T M I L L A Compelling Case for Integrated Biorefineries (Part III) A comparison of key projects T he U.S. Department and softwood residues into of Energy (DOE) has ethanol and commercial selected four biorefinery products. Lignol In- demonstration projects, with novations is a U.S.- three more scheduled for selec- based company tion. Negotiations with the four with a publicly- following companies have begun in order to deter- traded Canadian mine final project plans and funding levels (subject parent based in Vancouver, British Columbia. to appropriations from Congress). Lignol has acquired and since modified a solvent- based pre-treatment technology that was originally ICM Inc., Colwich, KS developed by a subsidiary of General Electric. BY B. A. THORP, (DOE will provide up to US$30 million) Lignol Innovations participants/investors BENJAMIN A. The proposed plant will be in St. Joseph, MO, and include: Suncor Energy and Parker Messana & THORP IV will utilize diverse and relevant feedstocks in- Associates. and L. DIANE cluding agricultural residues, such as corn fiber, MURDOCK- Pacific Ethanol Inc., Sacramento, CA corn stover, switchgrass and sorghum. ICM will THORP (DOE will provide up to US$24.3 million) integrate biochemical and thermochemical pro- cessing and demonstrate energy recycling within The proposed plant will be in Boardman, OR, the same facility. This project stands to broaden and will convert agricultural and forest product the company’s focus from corn-based to energy residues to ethanol using BioGasol’s proprietary crop-based ethanol production. ICM Inc. is a conversion process. Pacific Ethanol is a leading privately held company with the mission of sus- producer of low-carbon renewable fuels in the taining agriculture through innovation, primar- Western U.S. The company is headquartered in ily through the engineering and construction of Sacramento and is planning to add cellulosic an ethanol biorefinery. conversion capability to its corn-based ethanol ICM co-participants/investors include: AGCO facility in Oregon. Engineering; NCAUR-ARS-Peoria; CERES, Inc.; Pacific Ethanol’s investors/participants in- Edenspace Systems Corp.; DOE’s National Re- clude: Biogasol LLC and DOE’s Joint Bioenergy newable Energy Laboratory; Novozymes North Institute (DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National America, Inc.; South Dakota State University; Sun Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories). Ethanol, Inc.; and VeraSun Energy Corp. NewPage, Wisconsin Rapids, WI Lignol Innovations Inc., Berwyn, PA (DOE will provide up to US$30 million) (DOE will provide up to US$30 million) The proposed plant will be in Wisconsin Rapids, The proposed plant, co-located with a petroleum WI, and will convert wood wastes to Fischer- refinery, will be in Commerce City, CO, and will Tropsch liquid and then into renewable diesel use biochem-organisolve to convert hardwood and renewable gasoline. NewPage Corp. of Mi- 12 Paper360º May 2008
amisburg, OH, recently acquired Stora Enso cellulose from woody portions of biomass going to North America, the original applicant for this an existing solid fuel boiler that produces power funding opportunity announcement. for sale to the utility grid and steam to a local facil- NewPage Corp. is the largest printing paper ity. Biomass gasification has recently been added manufacturer in North America, based on pro- to the project. duction capacity, with more than US$4.3 billion Colusa Biomass is proposing a plant in Cali- in pro forma net sales for the last 12 months ended fornia to produce 12.5 million gpy of cellulosic In February Sept. 30, 2007. The company’s product portfolio ethanol from rice straw using enzymatic hydroly- 2007, the DOE includes coated freesheet, coated groundwood, sis followed by fermentation, which is a “Sugar 2” process pathway 6 . supercalendered and specialty papers. announced New Page’s partners include: TRI; Syntro- Potlatch Corp. , with financial help from Win- up to US$385 leum; DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory; rock International, developed a comprehensive million in biorefinery project for its mill in McGhee, AR 7 . and Clean Tech Partners. matching The biomass feed was specified to be about 2,000 KEY PROJECTS WITHOUT DOE BDT per day and the output was about 2,300 bar- funds for FUNDING (EXCLUDES PILOT LINES 1 ) rels per day of renewable refinery feedstock, plus six cellulosic One modern bioenergy project has been an- about 150,000 pph of steam for the mill and about ethanol nounced in the pulp and paper industry. Intrin- 14 million BTU/hr of tail gas for the lime kiln. plants ergy has announced the installation of a biomass Because of integration, thermal efficiency was ex- gasifier at Coastal Paper in Wiggins, MS. pected to be as high or higher than others have that would achieved with larger gas to liquids processes 8 . Weyerhaeuser , Kamloops, British Columbia, have an is in a syngas development program to fuel its lime The University of Florida has announced that installed cost kiln. Parsons and Whittemore has constructed a Florida Crystals is the recipient of a US$20 mil- exceeding vegetable oil esterification-based biodiesel plant lion state grant to build a 1-2 million gpy cellu- co-located with its pulp mill in Claiborne, AL 2 . losic ethanol plant to be used simultaneously as US$1.2 billion. a commercial facility and a development plant 9 . The synergy is shared utilities and increased thermal efficiency of both facilities. Florida Crystals harvests 10 million tons of sug- The KL Process Design plant in Upton, WY, arcane annually, refines four million tons of sugar has constructed a 1.5 million gallon per year cellu- and operates a 75 megawatt renewable power plant losic ethanol plant using Ponderosa pine biomass 3 at Okeelanta, FL. as its raw material. Energy Quest and Willow Industries have an- Finally, there are some exciting developments nounced a joint venture to construct a 6 MV fa- for modular design gasifiers and GTL units from cility powered by the Quest downdraft gasifier. Community Power , which has one BioMax unit The Louisiana Economic Development running and another being installed. Corp. has approved a grant for the Tyson Food- Syntroleum joint venture called Dynamic Fuels . KEY PROJECTS PROPOSED The facility will use technology to convert ani- Flambeau River Biofuels has proposed a demon- mal fat to biofuel. stration plant to DOE 4 . This is a “Thermal 1” pro- Verenium has announced a 30 million gallon cess pathway. The raw material is about 580 tpd of per year cellulosic ethanol facility in Jennings, LA. unmerchantable biomass and the output is about DOE BIOREFINERY ACTIVITIES 5.8 million gallons of renewable fuel feedstock, superior to low sulfur crude and about 4 million In 2006, President Bush began to speak about cel- BTUs of thermal energy per day for nearby Flam- lulosic ethanol and the DOE issued its “Section 932 beau River Papers, Park Falls, WI. This integration proposal” to fund up to 40% of a limited number helps make the per-barrel cost of the renewable of cellulosic ethanol plants that met four quan- fuel feed stock cheaper than the cost of oil. tifiable criteria. On Feb. 28, 2007, the DOE an- New York has given a US$10.3 million grant to nounced up to US$385 million in matching funds Catalyst Renewables Corp. to help fund a 130,000 for six cellulosic ethanol plants that would have an installed cost exceeding $1.2 billion 10 . (Details gallon per year cellulosic ethanol pilot plant line in upstate New York 5 . This is a “Sugar 4” process of each DOE project can be found in Paper360°, pathway. The project is aimed at extracting hemi- June/July 2007, pg 18-20.) Paper360º May 2008 13
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