a pilot project with Paradigm Environmen-tal Technologies, which is taking sludge from Catalyst Paper Corp.’s pulp and paper mill in Crofton and using anaerobic digest-ers to turn it into methane. The pilot is nearing completion and so far the results are promising.” Not surprisingly, Weedon also strongly “To move this forward we need to build a solid business case, engage the existing industry, and play the political game.” supports the development of torrefied wood processes. “This has great potential in B.C., partly because it’s an ideal opportu-nity to use the stands destroyed by the pine beetle. Plus, the torrefied materials can be densified into pellets or briquettes, which have the energy density of coal, can be pro-duced to be resistant to water and therefore wouldn’t require specialized transport or storage like wood pellets do. So far, three small producers in this province are mak-ing torrefaction fuels and about six other companies are contemplating investment in torrefaction technology.” Other innovative B.C. bioenergy en-deavours outlined in Partnering for a Green Future include Nexterra, which is using a thermo chemi-cal process to turn woody biomass into clean syngas to pro-duce electricity, and International Com-posting Corporation which is transform-ing lawn, garden and food waste into a clean, synthetic biodiesel. “There’s no single magic bullet to replace petroleum, so we have to develop processes that produce a variety of energy forms,” says Weedon. “This naturally means that in addition to solid wood and forest residuals, we need to use low-cost feed stock like municipal biosolids, wastewater, landfill gases, and agricultural animal and crop wastes.” Murray agrees – to a point. “Yes, there are lots of interesting proj-ects and proposals,” he says. “The one that really intrigues me is the prospect of pur-pose-grown crops such as fast-growing wil-lows being planted on private lands or sites not suitable for saw logs located near pro-cessing facilities,” he says. “Lots of attention is being paid to this strategy globally because it solves the problems of economical access and transportation, and I’m sure we’ll give it a shot after it’s tried out in the U.S. or Brazil. However, for the time being we’ll continue to be reliant on the primary sec-tor to secure raw material, and on that score more sawmills will reduce capacity or close.” He concludes by saying that sawmills will continue to close, no matter what. “That said, they won’t close all at once, and as each one closes there will be a lot of hand wring-ing while we’ll get more of the residuals and push up the price of our products as much as possible in Europe. The bottom line is we’ll manage. We’re in a tough industry in which a pellet will never be as valuable as a board foot of lumber – so we have to work doubly hard to make it viable.” • Biomass Processing Systems Liberating Untapped Energy Phone: (336) 252-4774 A worldwide leader in size reduction technology, Vecoplan works with individual customers to design, engineer, manufacture and implement technologically advanced, material specific, and application specific shredding, ferrous and non-ferrous removal, size and density separation, screening and classification technologies and extremely efficient conveyor and bulk material handling, metering, storage and unloading technologies. Contact Vecoplan today to learn more about our existing systems or to arrange a visit to one, or several, of our installations. vecoplanllc.com 22 Canadian BIOMASS JULY/AUGUST 2012
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