Displaying items by tag: biofuel

European Union demand for wooden pellets will continue to drive U.S. production but will also limit the industry’s profitability, according to the head of a bioenergy, wood and forest products consulting firm.

“The pellet business is marginal,” said Pete Stewart, president and chief executive officer of Forest2Market, based in Charlotte, N.C. “The Europeans know how much it costs to produce pellets, and they’re not going to pay more.”

Stewart was the keynote speaker at the first day of the LSU AgCenter’s Louisiana Forest Products Development Center conference on wood-based biofuels, biomass and bioenergy. Around 80 people attended Thursday’s sessions.

Europe is about 15 years ahead of the United States in terms of legislation to limit carbon emissions, Stewart said. In the United Kingdom, 20 percent of the country’s energy must be produced by renewable resources by 2020; only six percent is green energy now.

To meet those goals, the United Kingdom will have to import about 12 million tons of pellets a year, Stewart said. If one-third of that production comes from the United States, then eight to 12 new pellet plants will be needed.

And that doesn’t include the demand that will be generated by northern Europe and France, he said.

Pellets are made from the less costly wood used by pulp and paper mills. The wood is ground into sawdust and pressed into small pellets, which are burned in power-generation plants. The pellets are considered carbon neutral because trees produce the same amount of greenhouse gases whether they’re burned or decay naturally.

Stewart said Europeans are generating “true green demand,” meaning they think green energy is a good idea and are willing to pay extra for it.

In the United States, people think green energy is a good idea but they aren’t willing to pay for it, Stewart said.

However, there are a number of factors that will limit the export of pellets, Stewart said. For one thing, there are only four or five ports in the South that can handle the enormous cargo ships needed for pellet shipments, and a handful of other ports that can be modified, at great expense, to do so.

Stewart said there are other limiting factors for pellet plants, in Louisiana and elsewhere, including a limit on the supply of wood, Stewart said. A pellet mill comes in that needs 500,000 tons to 1 million tons of wood a year generates a price shock, driving up prices for everyone.

Both those factors appear to favor Point Bio Energy LLC’s just-announced plant at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. Point Bio officials say the deepwater port and the supply of wood were the major reasons to build the plant here.

However, Stewart said competition for the feedstock to make the pellets from existing industries, such as pulp and paper mills, will also limit the growth of pellet plants.

The economic impact of a pulp or paper mill is just much greater than a pellet plant, Stewart said. Politicians don’t want to be seen as supporting a pellet plant that employs 100 people over a paper mill that employs 1,000.

Lignol Energy Corporation and Novozymes have established the framework of a multi-year collaboration agreement to optimize the latest generation of Novozymes' enzymes for use in Lignol's cellulosic biofuel process.

Lignol plans to construct large-scale biorefineries for the production of cellulosic biofuel from wood chips and forestry residues. Novozymes supplies enzymes that convert cellulosic biomass into sugars that can then be fermented into ethanol. The parties plan to use Lignol's fully integrated industrial-scale pilot plant in Burnaby, B.C., to optimize enzyme performance across a range of cellulosic feedstocks in Lignol's unique process.

This announcement follows progress between the parties which has resulted in significant improvements in the conversion of woody biomass to ethanol. "We are excited with the opportunity to collaborate with the world's leading enzyme producer to optimize their latest technology for Lignol's unique substrate. In so doing, we are removing a critical cost barrier to the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol. This marks a major step for our industry in achieving the cellulosic biofuel objectives set out by various governments throughout the world," said Lignol president and CEO, Ross MacLachlan. "Our integrated plant is perfectly suited for this type of collaboration in which our industrial process is coupled with Novozymes' biological technology to make cellulosic ethanol a commercial reality."

Lignol is a Canadian company undertaking the development of biorefining technologies for the production of fuel-grade ethanol and other biochemical co-products from non-food cellulosic biomass feedstocks. Lignol's modified solvent-based pre-treatment technology facilitates the rapid, high-yield conversion of cellulose to ethanol and the production of value-added biochemical co-products, including high purity HP-LTM lignins.

The energy chain information can now be managed in real-time. Information that has been entered once will now serve the whole energy chain. The contracting parties' biomass and energy production IT systems will complement each other and allow easy and real-time management of the energy chain information – from tree plant to ashes and back to the forest in a controlled manner.

MHG Systems brings to the table its knowhow on the first part of the energy chain, i.e. managing biomass related field work and producing map and mobile services. Protacon completes the concept by offering energy companies, terminals, fuel suppliers, carriers, contractors, laboratories and authorities with tools to manage fuel related information. This joint service concept and modern technology will provide new best policies that will improve their customers' business operations.

The solution will promote even more environmentally-friendly energy production and it will also lead the way in decreasing the carbon footprint and improving the traceability of biofuel chains. The total carbon footprint can now be retrieved from a single system. According to international trends, the traceability of biofuels will soon apply to all energy production.

"MHG Systems' core competence lies in its in-depth experience on business models used in the international bioenergy and forest industries. The cooperation with MHG Systems will provide us with new distribution channels – especially to international markets", says the CTO of Protacon Ltd, Vesa Talvela.

"Protacon's expertise on optimising energy plant processes and supplying automation systems allows us to create a unique business model – to sell proven end-to-end solution to power plants and biofuel suppliers on a global scale", explains the Managing Director of MHG Systems, Seppo Huurinainen.

Managing Director Seppo Huurinainen, MHG Systems Ltd, +358 10 400 6280, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

CTO Vesa Talvela, Protacon Ltd, +358 10 3472 640, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Established in 2005, MHG Systems Ltd is a Finnish IT service company who is also one of the world's leading providers of bioenergy ERP systems. The company utilises its partner network to produce IT and map service solutions designed for developing biomass-based business operations and improving various types of field work. Available now in 13 languages, the company's services bring about significant cost savings to all operators of the bioheat and bioelectricity production chain. www.mhgsystems.com