A wood pellet manufacturing plant in Cottondale, Fla., is the world's largest such facility, twice the size of the world's second-largest facility. Four-year old Green Circle Bio Energy Inc. makes wood pellets for use in industrial operations in an industry that traditionally focuses on uses for the home heating market.
From its northwest Florida location, Green Circle Bio Energy produces 500,000 metric tons a year of the pellets; before the facility began operations the total U.S. production was 900,000 metric tons, which was produced by 40 plants. The company dries the wood in order to make it denser, creating a better energy content.
The wood pellets are shipped to Europe where they are burned in power plants as a coal substitute, mixed in with the coal in the process called coal firing. The process reduces the CO2 emissions emitted from the fossil fuels; for instance, a power plant can burn 80 percent coal and 20 percent biomass (wood pellets) to offset emissions.
“We have looked into building more plants in the Southeast United States because we think eventually there will be a domestic market,” says Olaf Roed, president and CEO, Green Circle Bio Energy. “Right now Europe is ahead [of the United States] because legislation is already in place, and the cap and trade systems are in place so there are already defined markets.”
Roed says the advantage of coal firing is that an existing power plant can directly mix in this biomass product with the coal, which requires small retrofits in the in feed and storage systems because of the mixture that is required. In order to burn 100 percent wood pellets, new power plants would need to be built in order to accommodate burning biomass rather than coal.
When looking for a location in the Southeast United States, Roed's team found welcoming state and local partners in Florida. Based on its business model, Green Circle Bio Energy was seeking a location in a “wood basket,” so to speak, with access to an abundance of standing timber, as well as an area with strong growth rates for the timber. Roed says the company's $110 million investment utilizes the largest renewable resource in northern Florida — the wood from the plantation-style pine forest.
Logistic considerations played an important role in selecting the Cottondale location because the company needed access to a port in order to ship the wood pellets to Europe. Government officials assisted the company by installing infrastructure at the 235-acre greenfield site, which included running a rail spur from the site directly to the company's dedicated warehouse at the Port of Panama City. The port authority built the warehouse for the company, which has guaranteed its presence for 10 years.
Local officials in another Florida community are busy negotiating with a company that is considering the region. In addition to Indian River County, located on the central east coast of Florida, this proposed waste to ethanol project is also looking at other locations in the state. The project is a joint venture of INEOS and New Plant BioEnergy LLC. The site under consideration in Indian River County is located next to a landfill. The proposed facility would act as a training site to serve the venture's long-term needs as it looks to locate plants throughout the country. The Indian River County site was formerly home to a juice processing facility that shut down four years ago, and which has complete infrastructure in place, as well as access to Interstate 95, says Helene Caseltine, director of economic development, Indian River County Chamber of Commerce.
“Our county and region in general are a good location because we offer a lot of ag land, so if a company needs to grow a feedstock, we have the land,” Caseltine notes. Another advantage is the collaborative nature between economic development officials and Indian River State College, which now awards four-year degrees. “The president of the college has been a visionary in getting the right types of training and curriculum in place so workers are prepared to go into jobs,” Caseltine says. “We keep the college in the loop when we are talking to companies so they are prepared down the road.”
Biomass Sources Aplenty
Preparing for the future growth of the biofuels industry often starts with small and pilot scale projects. In Baker County, Ore., a resident who lives in the community of Halfway and who works for the forest service has been underway with researching portable processors that take the slash (debris) left over from timber management activities and which convert the slash to a charcoal soil additive. The resident received support and material from the forest service to start up the pilot project, which is located at a former mill, says Jennifer Watkins, community development director, Baker County Economic Development Office. The community is located in northeastern Oregon, 70 miles from the Idaho border.
The project has joined with the University of Montana and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to determine the feasibility of portable processors, which can be located anywhere this debris is located, able to convert thousands of tons of biomass per year. “The soil additive has been applied in other areas,” Watkins says. “It keeps the nutrients and the water in the soil, which is important to arid locations.”
This initiative is important to areas such as Baker County, which is home to a large agricultural-based cluster, highlighted by activities such as raising cattle, and growing hay, alfalfa and potatoes.
Moving southeast to North Carolina, Duplin County and neighboring Sampson County provide one-sixth of the world's food supply. The area is a leader in the production of hogs, corn and grain, and turkeys, among other ag products. “There are tremendous resources available for renewable energy [industries] here,” says Heather Beard, executive director, Duplin County Economic Development Commission. “The biggest opportunity for us will come from using animal waste, which includes utilizing pig waste to turn it into sources of fuel or sources of energy for electricity.”
Beard says the region is exploring ways to use chicken and turkey waste as sources of energy. Fibrowatt LLC, which is located in Sampson County, with a couple of other locations in the state, will use these waste products to turn them into energy.
Biofuels firms looking to site in Duplin County will find an amply supply of flat land to support facilities, as well as developed industrial parks to choose from. “We currently have a site we are working to finalize through the state's site certification process,” Beard says. What's more, because the region has a history in ag and manufacturing activities, companies will find talent that is adept in working in these processes. And because of downsizings in the ag industry there is a surplus of workers to choose from to staff operations.
Beard also points out the ability to collaborate with the higher education system, such as North Carolina State University in Raleigh, located an hour from the county, which is studying uses of ag products to supply energy in different forms.
An education, industry, and government agency collaboration underway in Vonore, Tenn., has created an anchor for the biofuels sector in the state. The University of Tennessee, Genera Energy, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, and the U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Science Center at the Oak Ridge National Lab, are conducting initiatives that will create a strong climate for biofuels-related firms to put down roots in Tennessee. “These resources also offer companies the unique opportunity to participate in the development of bioenergy technology at the ground level,” writes Matt Kisber, commissioner, Tennessee Department of Community and Economic Development, in an e-mail correspondence.
“The Bioenergy Science Center is working to revolutionize how bioenergy is processed within five years, while the Vonore biorefinery is optimizing technologies for large-scale biofuels production.”
In addition to these assets, Tennessee offers qualifying companies access to several business assistance programs, including a Green Tool Kit. Kisber's team, working with the Tennessee Department of Revenue, can provide incentives such as a green energy tax credit, a carbon charge tax credit, and an emerging energy tax credit. “We understand that renewable energy is the future of our nation's economy,” Kisber notes. “Tennessee was named one of only three states in the nation with a large and fast-growing clean energy economy by the respected Pew Center for the States.” The state was also selected one of two states to receive $500 million in Race to the Top funds to support education reform. State officials believe future plans for bioenergy must also include plans for educating and training future generations of the workforce.
This forward thinking, found not only in Tennessee but also in the other communities mentioned, will go a long way in establishing biofuels as one of the clean energy options that will play a role in decreasing CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel based sources of energy.
To learn more on the organizations featured in this article, visit:
Baker County (Ore.) Economic Development Office, www.bakercountyedc.org
Duplin County (N.C.) Economic Development Commission., www.duplinedc.com
Green Circle Bio Energy Inc., www.greencirclebio.com
Indian River County (Fla.) Chamber of Commerce, www.indianriverchamber.com
Tennessee Department of Community and Economic Development, www.tn.gov/ecd
Biomass Company Finds The Right Mix Of Resources And Business-Friendly Officials
When Green Circle Bio Energy Inc. selected Cottondale, Fla., as the site for its $110 million wood-pellet manufacturing operation where it makes the pellets for use on an industrial scale, it found the natural resources, infrastructure, and available workforce it needed. They also found a welcoming business climate.
“We viewed Florida as the next California, where they were not so interested in chemical-based industries but more interested in green industries and tourism,” says Olaf Roed, president and CEO, Green Circle Bio Energy.
The company will take advantage of the surplus wood resources in northwest Florida, due to an abundance of the timber and the decline in the paper and pulp industry. “The saw mill industry, while down because of the decrease in housing will come back; and we are complimentary to saw mills and in competition with the pulp mills for the raw material so the state and local area received us well as they needed people to buy the pulp wood in the future,” Roed says. “We located in a rural area where the state needed employment and good paying industrial jobs.”
The Cottondale community was ready to supply the workforce Green Circle Bio Energy needed as two companies had recently ceased operations. The state provided the company with workforce training through the local community college. “This area is not really an industrial culture like you would find in Michigan or Ohio,” Roed says. “The training introduced workers to working in a manufacturing type of setting.”
Green Circle Bio Energy employees 75 people at its Cottondale plant. Roed says the company's future plans include exploring the possibility of building more wood-pellet manufacturing facilities in the
Southeast United States.
To learn more about the company, visit www.greencirclebio.com.
