airlines coming into effect in 2012. A suc-cessful commercial test flight was made in April 2010 using a blend of synthetic jet fuel and conventional Jet-A. heat & power KD Quality Pellets president Ken Doupe, left, and Timiskaming-Cochrane MPP David Ramsay at the site of the new pellet plant. in Commerce City, Colorado, which is in many ways, says Dawoodjee, a “mini Olym-piad project.” The process involves gasify-ing biomass and upgrading it to drop-in transportation fuel. Rentech is on track for producing renewable fuels from that tech-nology chain by the end of 2011. The SDTC, through its NextGen Biofuels Fund, offers potential funding of up to 40% to a maximum of $200 million of eligible project development and construction costs, which would be repaid from a percentage of the completed project’s cash flows. Dawoodjee notes that the fuel, which is already certified, will be in high demand by commercial airlines facing the potential carbon tax brought about by the EU emis-sions trading scheme, with changes for Olav Haavaldsrud Timber Company is us-ing its 220,000 cubic-metres/year allocation of merchantable wood to expand produc-tion its lumber mill. The residuals will sup-ply an adjacent cogeneration facility that’s now under construction. The Becker plant will use a bubbling fluidized bed boiler to burn the residual biomass, producing high-pressure steam that will run an extraction/ condensing steam turbine generator. Construction of the partially built cogen plant was briefly suspended while power connection issues were resolved, says Carlo Bin, the company’s president. The company has since reached an agreement with Hydro One on the connection issues, which required some re-engineering. The generating capacity will be 10 MW, down from the original 15 MW. Agreements with equipment providers were in place, but in some cases those contracts may have to be redone. The commercial start-up date is now August 2013. Under a 2009 request for proposals, the company was granted a contract to sell the electricity to the grid under a CHP-3 agreement. Residual steam will be used for drying and heating purposes at the mill. For Haavaldsrud, the chance to acquire wood to augment the supply already ear-marked for the project was too good to pass up. “We’ve never had such an opportunity in the history of the company to expand our operations, and to the extent that the wood competition allowed,” says Bin. heat, power & pellets Photo: KD Quality Pellets Whitesand First Nation, located north of Thunder Bay near Armstrong, is planning to produce 60,000 tonnes/year of pellets, as well as to supply heat and power to three local communities. The cogen facility will initially produce 1 MW, but will have the capacity to increase to 3 MW, supplying Whitesand, Armstrong, and Collins. “I can’t get tired of telling this story,” says Clifford Tibishkogijig, economic development officer for Whitesand. “In 1992, Whitesand First Nation and the community of Armstrong had approached the Ministry of Northern Development, Mining, and Forestry, and the Ministry of 34 Canadian BIOMASS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011
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