Wood fibre inventory for future pellets Roddickton-Bide Arm, NL – The government of Canada is providing $1.18 million to assist Northern Peninsula Forest Resource Association Inc of Newfoundland in developing an inventoried wood lot in support of a new wood pellet facility located in the town of Roddickton- Bide Arm. The funding for the project comes from the Community Adjustment Fund. “This initiative represents a strategic investment in a project that will assist the development of a new wood pelletizing plant which is expected to start production in the fall of 2010 and which brings important value-added capacity to the regional forest industries sector,” says Senator Fabian Manning on behalf of the Honourable Peter MacKay, minister responsible for Newfoundland and Labrador. The project is of importance to some 20 local business operations that employ about 150 people in the forest industry. Business and community leaders in the Roddickton-Bide Arm area have identified this project as a strategic opportunity to support the creation of additional employment in the region. The inventory of wood fibre will serve as feedstock for the local wood pelletizing facility, which will produce pellets for both the domestic and international markets. Hydro-Québec accepts cogen power Montreal – Hydro-Québec has accepted eight bids for a total of 60.7 MW in response to its April 14, 2009, call to purchase power generated by biomass cogeneration in Quebec. Electricity deliveries are scheduled for December 1, 2012. The average price of the winning bids is 11.2 cents/kWh, including 0.4 cents/ kWh for transmission costs. The projects call for capital expenditures of about $180 million, plus another $39 million for transmission infrastructure. According to the original call for tenders, the biomass used within the new cogeneration installations has to correspond to a minimum of 75% of the combustible used for the electricity production of these installations. The terms of the contracts could range from 15 to 25 years. Hydro-Québec Distribution is working with the project proponents to finalize the contracts, which will then be submitted to the Régie de l’énergie for approval. The proponents are responsible for obtaining all necessary permits prior to the start of construction. Three companies were selected to provide 20 MW of power generated from landfill methane. One company will provide 7.8 MW from two biodigesters. The remaining 32. 9 MW will be provided by three companies using residual forest biomass. Pioneer Biomass starts in Cariboo Williams Lake, BC – Pioneer Biomass, a new subsidiary of the Pioneer Group, will soon be operational with funding support from the Government of Canada’s Community Adjustment Fund and the Northern Development Initiative Trust’s Capital Investment and Training Rebate program. The Pioneer Group is a familyowned business that includes log homes, land development, logging, trucking, and forest management. Pioneer Biomass will use two custom-built horizontal grinders to produce wood fibre that will be sold for pellet production and hog fuel biomass for cogeneration plants in the Cariboo region of British Columbia. Emphasis will be placed on using mountain pine beetle logging waste. The federal government’s Community Adjustment Fund is providing $1.15 million towards the project. In addition, the Northern Development Initiative Trust has approved funding under the Capital Investment and Training Rebate program to support the creation of 24 jobs associated with the start-up. “This funding plays an important role in out ability to move forward ith this project,” says Marcel Therrien, director of Pioneer Biomass. Pioneer Biomass plans to begin operations in early 2010. IN BRIEF... More pellets for Newfoundland Cottles Island Lumber Company has invested in a pellet plant and is now supplying premium wood pellets to stores throughout Atlantic Canada. It is a family-owned business located 1 km south of Summerford, Newfoundland. It also offers various residential and commercial wood-pellet heating appliances. New pellet plant in Alberta Edmonton-based Dansons is partnering with Sundance Forest Industries to make wood pellets from wood residue at Sundance’s mill in Edson, Alberta, located 200 km west of Edmonton. Initial production is estimated at 15,000 tonnes/year of pellets, with capacity increasing eventually to about 160,000 tonnes/year. BC biomass purchase agreement The Burns Lake Lakes District News reports that Tahtsa Timber has signed a 12-year, 2. 5-million cubic-metres biomass purchase agreement with the Burns Lake Community Forest to supply a proposed pellet plant. New bioenergy locus Terrace, British Columbia, the location of a proposed wood pool, is being considered for development by various bioenergy companies. GV Energy of Calgary, Alberta, is considering the Skeena Industrial Development Park as the site of a new biorefinery to produce dimethyl ether from woody biomass. In addition, General Biofuels, an international company, is considering the region for a pellet plant that could start production in 2011. Wood biorefinery gets funds Waterdown, ON – Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) has awarded a project led by SunOpta Bio- Process Inc up to $5.5 million in funding for the construction of a pilot plant. The plant will demonstrate an integrated process to produce both food-grade xylitol (a sugar substitute) and fuel-grade cellulosic ethanol. Using wood chips as feedstock, SunOpta’s technology is projected to decrease process water consumption by up to 75% compared to producing corn ethanol, but with the life-cycle carbon benefits of cellulosic ethanol. The proposed project involves the construction of a demonstration plant capable of producing up to 620 tonnes of xylitol and two million litres of cellulosic ethanol per year. According to SunOpta BioProcess president Murray Burke, the integrated biorefinery technology will produce xylitol, liquid biofuels from cellulose, and bioenergy from lignin. The SDTC funding for the project will be leveraged with funding from members of its consortium, including Xylitol Canada and Emerald Forest Sugars Inc. BC biorefinery evaluation begins Atlanta, GA – Raven Biofuels International Corporation has established a partner Canadian corporation, Raven Biofuels Ltd (RBL). RBL will develop production technologies for biofuels and renewable chemicals in conjunction with the forestry sector and will pursue Canadian opportunities in bioenergy and clean technology. The first proposed project is the Tk’emlups Biorefinery Project, to be located in Kamloops, British Columbia. It will operate through a joint venture with the Kamloops Indian Band (KIB). The goals for this project in early 2010 are to: complete a preliminary engineering study, conclude a feedstock study, hire key personnel, finalize site agreements, initiate permitting, perform initial feedstock testing, formalize initial feedstock supply agreements, sign initial off-take agreements for biorefinery products, and secure additional funding. The proposed Tk’emlups Biorefinery will require a continuous fibre supply of 500 dry tons/day to produce its initial output of 11 million gallons/year of fuel grade ethanol, chemicals, and lignin. It is planned that KIB will be the primary fibre supplier for the biorefinery. The biorefinery design will be scalable to increase output once capacity is reached. Sandwell Engineering has been hired to review and assess the technology and process for dilute acid hydrolysis of wood to produce chemicals and ethanol. Sandwell will assess the applicability of this process to mountain pine beetle-killed lodgepole pine and will review the application of the equipment to a production plant. It is also considering new design applications whereby a biorefinery could be integrated into a kraft pulp mill. Further lab testing or pilot plant runs will be required to confirm design criteria parameters for commercial development of the refinery.