BURNINGissues PLANS FOR WEST COAST CELLULOSIC ETHANOL Paramus, NJ - The increasing demand for ethanol that is made from nonfood sources has created growing interest in producing cellulosic ethanol from woody biomass. To meet this need, Ra- ven Biofuels is poised to build two new cellulosic ethanol biorefiner- ies on the west coast. Ground breaking is planned for early 2009 in Washington State and late 2009 in British Columbia. The feedstock for the Wash- ington plant will come from con- struction wood waste supplied by a large construction aggregate. The plant in British Columbia will be built and owned in a joint venture with Spectrum Energy of BC and will be supplied by pine beetle-infested wood from north- ern BC. Each plant will consume approximately 450 tonnes of wood per day, with an initial expected yearly capacity of 26 million litres of ethanol and 15 million litres of furfural chemicals SYNGAS SYSTEM READY FOR BUSINESS Vancouver, BC - The latest product development tests by Nexterra Energy Corp. indicate that the renewable synthesis gas, or “syngas,” produced by its direct- fi re biomass gasification system can be used to replace 60–90% of the fossil fuels that are used in pulp mill lime kilns and up to 100% of those that are used in certain types of boilers. This could lead to substantial savings for industries such as forestry, mining, cement, and ethanol pro- duction by reducing the reliance Jonathan Rhone, CEO and president of Nexterra. on increasingly costly fossil fuels and by decreasing greenhouse emissions and their associated carbon taxes. Gasifi cation is the energy- effi cient conversion of a carbon- based material such as woody biomass into a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen; this syngas is then used as an energy source. Nexterra’s gasification system is coupled with a heat exchanger to generate hot water, steam, or hot air. Because of the new direct-fi re application, syn- gas can be produced in one loca- tion and combusted elsewhere on site in the existing thermal process equipment. The “system is now ready for demonstration at commercial scale,” says Jonathan Rhone, Nexterra president and CEO. “Once proven at this scale, we plan a full commercial rollout for industries such as pulp and paper, wood products, mining, and others that want to reduce operating costs while lowering their carbon footprint.” Nexterra Energy is a private company based in Vancouver that develops, designs, manufactures and delivers advanced gasifica- tion systems that convert waste fuels into clean, low cost heat and power. for further industrial uses. Potential expansions in capacity are planned for both sites. Biomass supply for both plants will be managed by Price BIOstock, a seasoned biomass producer from the southern US represented in Canada by Ken Day. 6 CanadianBIOMASS DECEMBER 2008
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