Two Feathers integrated biomass – Lockheed Martin CHP – Drayton Valley Bio-Mile Two Feathers Forest Products (TFFP) is undertaking a project that will promote resourcefulness and secure a future for the community’s youth. The project involves a partnership between Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation (Wabigoon), Pikangikum First Nation (Pikangikum), and Eagle Lake First Nation (Eagle Lake), along with Finlandbased Wood Tech Group Canada (Wood Tech). The ambitious project to develop manufacturing facilities at two sites northwest of Thunder Bay, Ontario, received approval of its environmental assessment from the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs on September 25, 2009, a step that largely clears the way for construction of two plants. Project manager James Kroeker says that the group hopes to begin construction in 2010 of a value-added forest product facility and biomass cogeneration facility at Red Lake. This would soon be followed by a planer mill and assembly facilities at nearby Eagle Lake First Nation. Wabigoon, home to the TFFP head office, invited nearby Eagle Lake to join as a 10% partner because of its strong infrastructure. Pikangikum, a 30% partner, provides strategic support, as well as a large workforce. Wabigoon and Wood Tech each own 30% of the project. Primary sawing, high-tech log sorting, kiln-drying, grading, and chipping will take place at Red Lake. Residual bark will be processed at an onsite 9.9-MW biomass cogeneration plant that will generate energy to both fuel the plant and feed the Ontario power grid under a 10-MW contract. Wood from the Red Lake site will be trucked 200 km south to Eagle Lake, to a planer mill and assembly facilities. Employees will construct prefabricated buildings such as saunas and three-season cottages for distribution in Asia, middle Europe, and North Africa. Eagle Lake recently received $829,000 in support from the Community Adjustment Fund. The plants will mean more than 250 local jobs and training assistance from Wood Tech. A training plan in co-operation with the federal government is also in the works. “We wanted a source of independent monies, without government terms and conditions, to be able to make this a better community,” explains Kroeker. “We wanted training so that young people could see that if they got trained there would be jobs for them, and they could get a full range of training.” Kroeker says that so far, the TFFP project is meeting all of Wabigoon’s desired objectives. Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Systems Integration (LMSI) has minimized its carbon footprint by replacing its natural gas-fired boilers with a wood-fired boiler energy system. The conversion was a cost-effective solution for the company, which is located in Owego, New York, amidst a thriving forest industry. LMSI, a defence contractor for the United States military, operates a powerhouse to supply steam for cooling, heating, and electrical power generation. It used to run on natural gas. The plant now has two Wellons FEI 600-hp wood-fired boilers in service. The new system requires minimal supervision and offers the capability to burn various wood residues, with fully automatic ash extraction. To avoid using heavy machinery for biomass handling that is normally only available in an industrial setting, Wellons designed custom solutions and equipment that could handle the wood deliveries. The biomass system’s features include a 10-rake moving floor storage bin, an automatic wood handling system, a stepped grate combustion system and furnace, 300-PSI boiler, and gas handling and emissions control equipment. The Owego powerhouse uses a district heating distribution model to heat and cool several buildings that make up the 1.2-million square-foot facility. It has a single-stage cogeneration turbine unit that generates 750 kW of electricity, as well as two steam absorption chillers that produce 2,300 tons/hour of chilled water. Drayton Valley An innovative, collaborative project is energizing the town of Drayton Valley, Alberta, and will soon move from conception to construction. The Bio-Mile covers one square mile of land, adjacent to the Former Weyerhaeuser oriented strand board plant, where the current wood industry and power plant and future industry will operate in concert. The existing industries’ waste will be used to create new products, optimizing wood fibre use and integrating operations within the mile. Bio-Mile project co-ordinator Patty Piironen was hired in early November to assist the project partners in removing barriers and making connections. She Sees the gathering of complementary, colocated companies as a model that can be extended throughout Alberta. “It’s a synergistic approach, where one’s waste is another’s feedstock,” she explains. Current partners include Weyerhaeuser, TTS (Tekle Technical Services), Otoka Energy, Drayton Valley, and surrounding Brazeau County. The most recent addition is the prestigious CLIB 2021 (Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie), a Germanybased research cluster. CLIB 2021 opened its North American headquarters at the town offices in early November 2009 and aims to advance the field of biotechnological science and technology by exploring avenues for research, development, and production of biochemical feedstocks from agricultural and forestry biomass. The nova-Institut (a CLIB 2021 member company) and the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Alberta are two main partners in a research project studying technological challenges related to the conversion of lignocellulosic materials into syngas and then into chemicals and wood-based derivatives. They will evaluate the economics and environmental aspects of various conversion processes and perform market analyses of the bioproducts for North American and European markets. In August, Edmonton-based TTS broke ground on a 30,000-square-foot biocomposites facility. With construction of an off-grid interpretive centre expected to begin in April 2010, the plant could be operational by October 2010. The company has received $4.4 million in federal funding administered through the Alberta government. Otoka Energy of Minnesota announced in October that it would proceed with a three-phase bioenergy development to produce power and biofuels for downstream processing. Mayor Hamdon sees the Bio-Mile as a boon to the environment and to ongoing research and development. He encourages other forest-based communities who are struggling to “take advantage of the evolution of the forest industry and continue to be a vibrant community.”