Employees who work with chemicals are accustomed to watching for higher hazard rating numbers, indicating a more severe hazard. Now, with the changes to OSHA&rsquo;s Hazard Communication Standard, workers will have to adapt to a different rating system that makes a lower number the high risk. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going the opposite way,&rdquo; said Bob Yule, product launch manager for Solenis, formerly of Ashland Water Technologies, during a presentation at the International Fuel Ethanol Workshop &amp; Expo. Complicating things even further, the Hazardous Materials Identification System from the American Coatings Association and the National Fire Protection Association will continue to use the hazard rating scale that sets higher numbers as higher risks. That&rsquo;s one area of potential confusion created by OSHA&rsquo;s changes to hazcom, which it is making in order to align it with the United Nation&rsquo;s Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals. Another is the differences in the Department of Transportation's pictograms and the new hazcom pictograms. &ldquo;They are very similar but yet very different,&rdquo; says Kristi Ross, environmental, health and safety manager for U.S. Water Services. Just the fact that the standard is changing will create some confusion, at least at first. Mike Mowbray, U.S. Water&rsquo;s marketing and technology manager, says it currently takes him longer to find information in the new safety data sheets, although he believes that will change as he gets more familiar with the new system. Ross agrees. &ldquo;I think with any new regulation, especially one of this magnitude, there is always going to be a little bit of confusion and wrinkles that need to be ironed out as it rolls out,&rdquo; Ross says. &ldquo;... As people get used to it, and understand how to apply it to their industry, that will become more second nature for them.&rdquo; The GSH is being implemented in Canada, the European Union, Australia and Japan, according to OSHA. But, because it&rsquo;s a voluntary standard, not all countries are adopting every section in exactly the same way or in exactly the same timing, Ross says. During his FEW presentation, Yule further explained that the U.S. is lagging in the global standardization process. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of like the metric system, we&rsquo;re a little bit behind the times and catching up,&rdquo; he said. The changes to hazcom in the U.S. incorporate version three of the GSH standards, while the rest of the world is on version five. &ldquo;So there is going to be more of this change going on,&rdquo; he said. In the U.S. employers were already required to train employees by last Dec. 1. Looking ahead, all chemical manufacturers, importers, distributors and employers must comply with the final rule by June 1, 2015, with the exception that distributors can ship containers without the new product labels until Dec. 1, 2015. This effects ethanol production companies, whose employees must understand the new system and who must swap out old chemical labels and safety data sheets (under the old standard, material safety data sheets) as chemical supply companies comply with the new requirements. It&rsquo;s also having a big impact on companies like U.S. Water, which is having to revise more than a thousand safety data sheets. This is a difficult and time-consuming process, Mowbray says. At ethanol plants, the transition period is likely to be confusing, especially while safety information and labels of both old and new formats are in use. Generally, ethanol plants store safety information both electronically and, by law, around the plant, where the chemicals are used, so workers can access the information. As chemical supply companies start rolling out the new safety data sheets, in advance of the compliance date, this will create work in the ethanol plants. &ldquo;They will have to go through the bookkeeping exercise of getting rid of all the old versions and replacing them with the new ones,&rdquo; Mowbray says, adding that it&rsquo;s very important that old information is expunged and replaced with new information. Despite the work it involves and the potential for confusion, standardizing the format of hazard warnings and labels is a positive step in the right direction, agree Ross and Mowbray. That&rsquo;s the case for companies like U.S. Water, that do business internationally, as well as within the United States. &ldquo;For many years there have been different definitions for hazards, which can lead to unsafe situations for people that are handling chemicals,&rdquo; she says. So this ... brings everybody under the same definition, which is a good thing.&rdquo; Even within the U.S., there&rsquo;s been a wide range of formats used by various companies, for safety information on chemicals, Mowbray adds. &ldquo;This will standardize it, which helps certainly internationally, but I think it&rsquo;s going to have some impact domestically as well,&rdquo; he says.&nbsp; The goal of both old and new standards is human health, Yule said at FEW. Having a better understanding of the hazards is about protecting the workers. The company takes very seriously the task of providing very concise and precise information in the new labels and safety data sheets. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about safety, reducing injuries,&rdquo; he said. Author: Holly Jessen Managing Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine 701-738-4946 hjessen@bbiinternational.com
&nbsp;
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Hazcom at a glance The new standard applies to more than 43 million people working to produce or handling hazardous chemicals in more than 5 million U.S. workplaces. The changes to the standard are expected to prevent more than 500 on-the-job injuries and 43 deaths a year. Major changes: &bull; Hazard Classification: Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to determine the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import. &nbsp;Hazard classification under the new, updated standard provides specific criteria to address health and physical hazards as well as classification &nbsp;of chemical mixtures. &bull; Labels: Chemical manufacturers and importers must provide a label that includes a signal word, pictogram, hazard statement and precautionary statement for each hazard class and category. &bull; Safety Data Sheets: The new format requires 16 specific sections, ensuring consistency in presentation of important protection information.
source: osha&nbsp;
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Changes to OSHS's hazard communication rules will standardize classification and labeling of chemicals globally in an effort to protect workers. At the same time, it's creating confusion during the transition to the new system.

Clear Sign of Confusion

Nathan Vander Griend joined ERI Solutions Inc., in 2007, just a few months after Bruce Pearson launched the company as an offshoot of the original insurance program he started in 2003. ERI now manages Ethanol Risk Management SPC Ltd. With its roots in insurance, ERI offers several environmental, health and safety and loss control services, and at its core, ERI is about sharing lessons learned on compliance, safety and property protection. Vander Griend became president of the company two years ago and in that role has a unique perspective to share on some of the challenges the ethanol industry faces. Can you describe how ERI has evolved over the years, and how that reflects the changes in the ethanol industry?&nbsp; Our original goal was simply to drive down the insurance rates for the ethanol industry.&nbsp; From there, our goal was to make an insurance company successful for the owners, which in our case are the ethanol companies insured. In order to accomplish that goal, ERI Solutions was formed to make sure they have resources at their fingertips. That is why we perform the environmental, health and safety and loss control services we do. In 2010, we responded to a need in the industry and added process safety management services, and in 2011, we started doing nondestructive testing of assets in critical areas handling highly hazardous or flammable materials. As plants age, equipment is wearing and some kind of testing throughout the life of the equipment is important so you can tell when it&rsquo;s getting close to end of life.&nbsp;&nbsp; We also are seeing it&rsquo;s quite a long time since some operators have received some kind of formal training. In business seven to 10 years, the first operators were trained by the original equipment manufacturer or design engineer and, since then, there&rsquo;s been a lot of tribal knowledge passed on from operator to operator. The concern we have is that someone operating a plant is pushing a button because he was told to push this button when this level hits X. If the operator doesn&rsquo;t know why and doesn&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going on when the button is pushed, he may not know what kind of risk is involved.&nbsp; As a result, we are working on making more formal education available to operators. As a whole, the ethanol industry has come a very long way since I became involved.&nbsp; The &ldquo;when it breaks, we will fix it&rdquo; and &ldquo;that will never happen to us&rdquo; mentality is mostly gone, leaving an industry that is open to understanding its risks and making the necessary changes and investment to protect against them. The industry has seen a couple of significant events with dryer and RTO (regenerative thermal oxidizer) explosions. Can you discuss what you&rsquo;ve learned about the root causes?&nbsp;&nbsp; To summarize, the important points are preventative maintenance, training in standard operating procedures and ensuring equipment is run within design parameters and not&nbsp; altered.&nbsp; It goes beyond just property damage when these things happen. Company management at affected companies will tell us they had an issue with their employees being worried about coming to work&mdash;they didn&rsquo;t know if they were going to retain everybody after an explosion. The employees had always thought that piece of equipment was this docile thing fluffing grain. They soon found, it can turn into a bomb. It&rsquo;s a miracle, at this point, that we haven&rsquo;t had a fatality from these gas-fired equipment explosions, and we plan on making it good engineering and common sense, rather than a miracle, for why we don&rsquo;t have fatalities going forward. In handling workers&rsquo; compensation claims, you keep track of trends in the ethanol industry in order to share that with the ethanol plants you work with. What is the most significant issue you&rsquo;ve observed recently? In the past 12 months, we&rsquo;ve seen a trend in people improperly lifting things&mdash;a lot of strains and sprains. You can&rsquo;t always work ergonomically correctly, but you can do things to be sure you don&rsquo;t have an ergonomic injury. As an example, if you are bending over in a compromised position in order to do a job, it doesn&rsquo;t mean you have to get hurt. You can stop every minute or so and make sure you stretch your back to avoid an injury. What have you learned about creating a culture of safety? What does it take to change, if the safety attitude isn&rsquo;t strong enough? &nbsp; One of the things we always say is, if it&rsquo;s acceptable to management to have a loss, it will be acceptable to employees. There are people who put enough focus on it and really do believe there should be a zero-loss scenario every year. Three-quarters of the plants we work with have never had a property claim. And over half of them have never had a workers&rsquo; comp claim. So the mentality that &ldquo;things happen, they happen to everybody,&rdquo; doesn&rsquo;t hold water.&nbsp;&nbsp; We&rsquo;ve seen the culture change in facilities where the top level manager has changed, but if you can change the culture of all those people by changing one person, you should also be able to do it by changing the attitude. Managers have to stick to their guns and they have to walk the walk. They need to set the right incentives and, in order to do that, they need to understand how each of their employees are wired, or what makes them tick, and align incentives based on that. This sounds tedious, but the extra effort will pay dividends. As the industry&rsquo;s culture of safety has evolved, what&rsquo;s happened with the role of the environmental, health and safety manager? I&rsquo;ve seen a huge change when it comes to the respect and the authority that the folks in these roles are given today. Company managers have experienced or heard about the citations that have occurred or they&rsquo;ve experienced or heard of claims and they realize the importance of the things that could have prevented them. It also has a lot to do with seeing the level of work that needs to go into being an environmental, health and safety person. There has been a transition. We used to work with plants where the lab manager was the EHS manager and, when they weren&rsquo;t doing that, they were the purchasing manager. It&rsquo;s so much different now. We have plants that have a two- or maybe three-person environmental, health and safety team. There are so many regulations and rules and things get dropped, if they don&rsquo;t have somebody in that role. People often complain about regulations and the accompanying paperwork and expense. With your interest in avoiding claims for injuries or property loss, what is your take on that issue? We do get that and it&rsquo;s true in some aspect, but I also think it&rsquo;s about how things are presented. These past three months we were focusing on how to effect those significant dryer-related explosions and fires. When we work with our companies, we have the full ability to mandate measures or we can&rsquo;t work with them, we can&rsquo;t insure them. The much better approach is to educate them on the risk, how things actually occurred and how these things you implement will keep them from happening. The popular way for people to get these requirements done is to say, &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t do it, you&rsquo;ll get a citation.&rdquo;&nbsp; The likelihood that EPA or OSHA is going to walk through the door this year is a nominal percent. People need to do these things because it&rsquo;s the right thing to do. It&rsquo;s a tell-tale sign for us that they do have the right culture, if their response is &ldquo;We need to do this because we&rsquo;re concerned about the safety of our staff, and we want to be able to sleep at night. We want our staff to know that we care.&rdquo;

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Companies should take steps to improve safety, compliance and loss control because it's the right thing to do, rather than simply to avoid citations.   

Cultivating a Culture of Safety

Marilyn Katz&rsquo;s activism on clean fuels goes way back. In 1984, she led the successful campaign that made Chicago the first city to ban leaded gasoline. Today, her firm, MK Communications, has been retained by the nonprofit Americans United for Change to lead the effort to make Chicago the first city to require E15. The ordinance introduced in the finance committee in July would require self-service filling stations to offer E15, with exemptions for small-volume stations and those who would have to replace incompatible underground tanks. Early in November, amendments were accepted that would exempt marinas and stations with annual sales volumes of less than 850,000 gallons and give a year for compliance instead the originally proposed six months. Katz says there&rsquo;s a strong prospect the ordinance will be adopted when it comes up for final testimony and a vote, now scheduled for Dec. 8. &ldquo;We think we have the majority of the alderman going into the finance committee,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;even though they are being heavily lobbied by the American Petroleum Institute with big money during an election year.&rdquo; She reports 28 aldermen have already cosigned, &ldquo;but we would like to get up to 35.&rdquo; With a 50-member city council, Chicago politics are very local, she explains. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had to really go retailer by retailer to assure the retailer, and therefore the alderman, that business in his or her ward would not be negatively impacted.&rdquo;&nbsp; She points to the broad group of supporters, which includes environmentalists, health advocates, the former city commissioner of the environment, labor groups and scientists from the University of Illinois, among others. &ldquo;The only people on the other side are the American Petroleum Institute and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association.&rdquo; Katz finds the retail merchants&rsquo; opposition puzzling. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve given them the facts. That, this is really good for station owners,&rdquo; she explains. &ldquo;You know, Chicago has the highest price gas in the country and a tax rate higher than anywhere else, including in the suburbs. By being able to offer a better quality fuel at 10 or 15 cents less than regular, it would actually make Chicago gas stations more competitive.&rdquo; &ldquo;When the ordinance first came up, the petroleum institute guys sent out a scare notice to retailers,&rdquo; she continues. &ldquo;As we&rsquo;ve being doing our work, speaking to alderman and groups, we&rsquo;ve spoken to individual retailers.&rdquo; In addition to explaining the exemptions, she says, &ldquo;Once they&rsquo;ve learned we put together a $10 million fund to defray any costs, and that we will help them become more competitive with the suburbs, they&rsquo;re very happy with this.&rdquo; She doesn&rsquo;t expect the full $10 million to be needed, however. The size of the fund was targeted to answer the biggest objection raised by the American Petroleum Institute&mdash;that it would cost $80,000 for stations to convert. Although those numbers are exaggerated, she says, it did influence the size of the fund. &ldquo;We took a number of $40,000, which is high&mdash;most stations are only going to need something like $1,000&mdash;but we said, if every station of the 250 that are eligible needed $40,000 that would be $10 million,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;That comes from corn growers, the lung association and from the ethanol industry&mdash;the Prime the Pump program.&rdquo; When asked to compare the E15 campaign to the one she led in 1984 to ban leaded gasoline, Katz says the atmosphere has changed. &ldquo;E15 is an important, but incremental improvement. So it&rsquo;s not on the top of anyone&rsquo;s list of economic or environmental issues. In 1984, kids were getting poisoned by lead and lead poisoning was major issue in the city. There was a passionate group of moms and health care folks who were really concerned.&rdquo; One strategy of the 1984 campaign, she recalls, was to test the level of lead in the playground soils next to the expressways. &ldquo;The lead levels were astronomical. It was very graphic.&rdquo; Today, she says, the sky is mostly blue, the steel mills are gone and the last coal plant was shut down. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not something people feel nervous about, even though, in fact, in communities west of the expressway, the cancer rate and asthma rates are much higher.&rdquo; Chicago has long been a leader in clean fuel causes, Katz says. In 2000, the city was the first to ban the oxygenate MTBE (methyl teritary butyl ether). That time, it was a slam dunk, she said. The city council overwhelming approved the ban. This time, the issues aren&rsquo;t so easy to visualize. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t see carbon dioxide,&rdquo; Katz says. &ldquo;The positive environmental impacts [for E15] are very clear, but it&rsquo;s definitely not the same sort of popular cause. That said, it&rsquo;s such a sensible thing to do. You get a huge, up to 85 percent, improvement in air quality, and very importantly, you get the reduction in particulate matter&mdash;cancer causing particulates. This time around, it&rsquo;s the health professionals, the environmentalists and folks like the veterans who are intimately involved with the issues who get it.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; An example of one of those more complex arguments in today&rsquo;s campaign involves the greenhouse gas (GHG) benefits. Steffen Mueller, principle economist at the University of Illinois Energy Resources Center, was asked by the Illinois Corn Growers to weigh in on the technical side. In July, he testified at the finance committee hearing, providing updates on the carbon intensity of corn ethanol and estimating the GHG reduction potential for the Chicago E15 proposal. Assuming 20 percent of annual fuel consumption in the city of Chicago becomes E15, an estimated 138.8 million gallons per year, &ldquo;the total CO2 savings from E15 over E10 for the Chicago market would be 20,690 metric tons CO2 equivalent annually. As these assessments are often stated in terms of EPA&rsquo;s Greenhouse Gas Equivalency Calculator, this would equate to the carbon sequestered by 17,000 acres of forests annually,&rdquo; Mueller testified. The measure, Mueller says, &ldquo;would be a step in the right direction.&rdquo; Explaining that the midlevel pump is underutilized&mdash;the 89 octane between 87 and 93 octane blends&mdash;&ldquo;why not put it to use with a biofuels blend that improves greenhouse gas emissions?&rdquo; Katz adds that she was surprised to learn in her research that just 4 percent of total sales come from the 87 octane pump and just 3 percent from premium. Joining Mueller as scientists weighing in on the proposal, Jennifer Dunn and Michael Wang from the Argonne National Laboratory wrote an op-ed column in support of Chicago E15. &ldquo;We wanted to express that we viewed it as a small but positive step in tapping the potential of biofuels in reducing greenhouse gas emissions,&rdquo; says Dunn, who leads the biofuels life cycle analysis team at ANL. &ldquo;The incremental reduction in GHG emission could be small, but even a small change, if adopted broadly can have a bigger impact.&rdquo; Introducing a higher blend of ethanol could help increase overall acceptance of biofuels, she adds. &ldquo;Also, if the market for ethanol would expand, it would help new technologies like cellulosic ethanol and increase its deployment.&rdquo; &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good step,&rdquo; concurs Katz. &ldquo;It doubles the amount of renewables and opens the market for cellulosic and next-generation fuels. We can envision a time when much of our waste can be converted to fuel. What a boon for cities that would be.&rdquo; While the economic benefits can be somewhat abstract, the problem of city garbage is a real issue, she says, but you have to create a market to insure the more efficient creation of fuel. &ldquo;Making room for the cellulosic and second generation fuels&mdash;that&rsquo;s going to drive the industry.&rdquo; Author: Susanne Retka Schill Senior Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine 701-738-4922 sretkaschill@bbiinternational.com
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Chicago Clean Air Choice Supporters Abengoa Bioenergy Advanced Biofuels Research Advanced Ethanol Council American Coalition for Ethanol American Council on Renewable Energy American Lung Association of Illinois Archer Daniels Midland Company Argonne National Laboratory Association of Equipment Manufacturers Biotechnology Organization Carbon Green Chicago Area Clean Cities Chicago Wilderness Citizen Action DuPont Environmental Law &amp; Policy Center Fuels America Gen. Wesley K. Clark (Ret.) Governors&rsquo; Biofuels Coalition Growth Energy Health &amp; Medicine Policy Research Group Illinois Corn Growers Association Illinois Farm Bureau Illinois Renewable Fuels Association Illinois Science &amp; Technology Coalition Jim Houlihan, former Cook County&nbsp; Assessor NASCAR National Corn Growers Association National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center National Farmers Union Novozymes Poet LLC Power Energy Prime the Pump Renewable Fuels Association Third Way United Auto Workers University of Illinois at Chicago Professor, Steffen Mueller Urban Air Initiative Vote Vets&nbsp;
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CITIZEN ACTIVIST:  Marilyn Katz led the campaign that made Chicago the first city to ban leaded gasoline in 1984. She is now working on making Chicago the first to require gas stations to offer E15.

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Having led the charge to ban leaded gasoline 30 years ago, Marilyn Katz is leading a campaign to require E15 in the Windy City.

Chicagoan Sets Her Sights on Clean Air

Hugoton, Kansas&mdash;Javier Garoz Neira, CEO of Abengoa Bioenergy, told attendees at the company&rsquo;s grand opening celebration they were witnessing the first step into the start of a new era. &ldquo;It is, without question, a major achievement and we believe that it will revolutionize the biofuel industry and our future,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Welcome to the future of biotechnology and the bioindustry.&rdquo; Garoz Neira was one of several speakers at the company&rsquo;s Oct. 17 event at it's newly completed facility, which will, at full capacity, produce 25 MMgy of cellulosic ethanol. He gave audience members a quick timeline of the project, starting in 2007, with Abengoa&rsquo;s announcement that it planned to build a cellulosic ethanol plant. Less than a year later, the company had successfully produced biofuel at its biomass pilot plant in York, Nebraska, and, by 2009, the demonstration facility in Spain began operations, he said. 2011 was the year that the company received a $132.4 million loan guarantee from the U.S. DOE to help build the Hugoton plant. Since that time, Abengoa has completed four biomass harvests and about two years of construction with as many as 1,500 construction workers employed on site. The facility can convert a variety of feedstocks into biofuel, including corn stover, wheat straw, prairie grasses and more utilizing enzymes developed by the company. Those enzymes work equally well on municipal solid waste, which the company has been converting to ethanol at its Spain demo plant since July 2013, Garoz Neira said. Abengoa is also working on new uses for the sugars extracted from cellulosic materials so that it can produce new products, such as replacement materials for the petroleum in plastics. Chris Standlee, executive vice president of Abengoa Bioenergy, told Ethanol Producer Magazine the company was in a unique position in the industry. First, using the high-lignin material left over after the ethanol production process, the facility is able to produce all the process steam and electricity it needs to power the plant, plus sell between 5 and 10 MW of electricity to the grid. Another unique aspect of Abengoa is that the company provides every aspect of the technology from start to finish. That includes its proprietary enzymatic hydrolysis technology as well as in-house engineering, procurement and construction services. Further, the company is 100 percent owner of six U.S. first-generation ethanol plants as well as partially or fully owned facilities in Europe and Brazil. That gives Abengoa 30 years of experience in maintaining and operating ethanol plants, including trading, marketing and hedging.&nbsp; &ldquo;Really, nobody else has all of those aspects, from total start to finish,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So that really sets Abengoa apart.&rdquo; Author: Holly Jessen Managing Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine 701-738-4946 hjessen@bbiinternational.com

Abengoa's grand opening celebration was held Oct. 17 in Hugoton, Kansas.

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An Abengoa employee displays corn stover. 

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Danny Allison, plant manager, at right, leads a group through the pretreatment area.  

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The company is aiming for full capacity production of 25 MMgy by the second quarter of next year.  

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Abengoa CEO Manuel Sanchez Ortega, second from left, and U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, third from the left, pose with other VIPs.  

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Construction on Abengoa's self-powered cellulosic ethanol facility is complete. But that doesn't mean efforts to innovate are over.

“Welcome to the Future”

Static electricity is virtually always generated at hazardous locations&ndash;&ndash;commonly called hazloc&ndash;&ndash; in process industries. Static accumulators are materials known to be powerful attractors of electrons from other materials that also resist letting go of those electrons. Ethanol is among a host of chemicals and petroleum products categorized as static accumulators. In a typical operation, ethanol is transferred from a storage tank via a rack loading system into a receiving tank car. As the ethanol makes its way through the transfer system, the molecules become electrostatically charged. If the tank car is not grounded, contact with the charged ethanol will cause it to become electrified, presenting a potentially serious source of ignition in the presence of flammable ethanol atmospheres. As the tank car builds up electrostatic charges on its surface, the voltage present on the tank car can rise very quickly and dramatically. This excess potential energy seeks the most efficient way of discharging excess electrons, with the best object being the earth or something directly connected to it&mdash;something grounded. Grounded objects in close proximity to charged objects are good targets for electrostatic sparks. Allowing the uncontrolled accumulation of static electricity in a hazloc atmosphere is no different than having an engine&rsquo;s spark plug exposed to a flammable atmosphere. The energy in a static spark is a product of the capacitance of the tank car and the voltage present on the tank car. The electrostatic voltage on the tank car is a combination of the charging current generated by the flow of the liquid, the capacitance of the tank car and the tank car&rsquo;s isolation from ground. Increased flow rates and turbulence can increase the size of the charging current, but even at safe, recommended flow rates the electrostatic voltage of the tank car can build up to hazardous levels in less than 20 seconds if the transfer system is not grounded. The potential spark energy from a tank car charged to 20,000 volts can be as high as 1,000 millijoule (mJ). When compared with the minimum ignition energy for ethanol, which is 0.23 mJ, it&rsquo;s easy to see why the tank car and any equipment connected to it, like flexible hoses and piping, should be bonded and grounded. Grounding and bonding are not simply achieved by connecting alligator clips on wires back to the loading rack. Because of the serious ignition hazard that static electricity presents to a wide range of hazloc operations, industry codes of practice aim to control the risk of fires and explosions. Codes of Practice The National Fire Protection Association and the American Petroleum Institute publish codes of practice. NFPA 77 &ldquo;Recommended Practice on Static Electricity&rdquo; (2014) and API RP 2003 &ldquo;Protection Against Ignitions Arising Out of Static, Lightning, and Stray Currents&rdquo; (2008) are publications written by committees of hazloc industry professionals who are recognised experts. In the codes, grounding is defined as the act of ensuring the tank car is connected to an object that has a verified connection to the general mass of the earth. Article 250 of NFPA 70, the National Electrical Code, describes these points as &ldquo;ground electrodes.&rdquo; Typical ground electrodes include metal rods buried up to 8 feet in the ground, pipes in direct and continuous contact with the earth for more than 20 feet and structures such as loading racks, which should be grounded for electrical fault protection and lightning protection purposes. Grounding provides a continuous and uninhibited path for charges generated during the transfer operation to flow to earth. What is clear from the recommendations of NFPA 77 and API RP 2003 is that 10 ohms in the grounding and bonding circuit is the maximum resistance recommended for equipment at risk of electrostatic charging in hazloc atmospheres. API RP 2003 goes one step further in recommending 1 ohm or less, but if a grounding system with signal lights is in use, 10 ohms is satisfactory. This is because the grounding system continuously monitors the resistance and notifies the operator of the potential hazard if it rises above 10 ohms. Another important recommendation is to use interlocks wherever possible, to ensure the transfer does not take place if grounding is not present. By halting the movement of product, the charge generation source is eliminated, thus preventing additional charging of the tank car. To comply with the recommendations found in NFPA 77 and API RP 2003, grounding systems should do the following: 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Monitor the grounding circuit to 10 ohms or less. 2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Provide operators with a visual reference that indicate a GO/NO GO action via red and green indicators. 3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Provide dry contacts to interlock the grounding system with the loading rack pump or control system. 4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Display the full range of hazloc approvals with the mark of a nationally recognized testing laboratory. One of the main problems with static electricity is that it is not something the operators can see, smell or hear which, unfortunately, can foster an attitude of &ldquo;it can&rsquo;t happen to me&rdquo; or &ldquo;it doesn&rsquo;t exist&rdquo; amongst personnel operating skids and loading rack systems. An effective means of controlling the risk is a grounding system that combines a simple visual indicator utilizing a traffic-light style of GO/NO GO communication along with interlock control capability. Interlocking the transfer system with the grounding system is probably the ultimate layer of protection one can take to ensure a tank car is properly grounded. Author:&nbsp; Mike O&rsquo;Brien Head of Product Marketing, Newson Gale Inc. Contributing author: Richard Puig, Regional Manager Richard.Puig@newson-gale.com 732-606-7717

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Earth-Rite ground status indicators pulse continuously when grounding is in place. 

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The schematic shows the key elements in a tank car loading rack installation utilizing Newson Galeâ€™s static grounding system, Earth-Rite Plus.  

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Codes of practice outline best practices for reducing risks when loading ethanol tank cars.

Proper Grounding  Reduces Static  Electricity Hazard

The Food Safety Modernization Act grants the Food and Drug Administration significant new authority and imposes significant new requirements on facilities producing animal feed, including ethanol facilities that produce animal feed coproducts. Since 2011, when FSMA was signed into law, FDA has been busy drafting various proposed rules and reviewing industry feedback. In September, FDA released supplemental proposed regulations, including key changes to the current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) and hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls for food for animals regulation (also known as the preventive controls for animal feed rule). These proposed changes have the potential to impact all ethanol producers, and the industry should be thinking about how facility procedures should be amended to ensure future FSMA compliance. Although several rules may impact ethanol facilities, the preventive control rule is the one likely to have the most significant impacts on day-to-day operations. Two key components of this rule form the basis for the required written food safety plan that each facility will be required to implement and maintain. The first is the hazard analysis and preventive controls section. Very generally, this section would require that covered facilities (a) perform a hazard analysis to identify and evaluate known or reasonably foreseeable feed safety hazards; (b) establish preventive controls to prevent or significantly minimize any &ldquo;significant&rdquo; hazards (hazards for which a person knowledgeable in food safety would establish controls); (c) monitor the preventive controls (including written procedures); (d) verify the controls are working; (e) maintain a written food safety plan that incorporates all of the above elements; and (f) maintain records regarding the monitoring and verification steps. Ethanol facilities without existing feed safety expertise will need to engage outside technical experts, as the hazard analysis and a number of the related steps must be done by a qualified individual. All of this will need to be in writing and maintained for review by FDA upon request. The second key aspect of this rule is the CGMP requirement, something that has been required for many years for food facilities, as well as feed facilities manufacturing medicated feeds. However, this is the first time they have been applied broadly to all animal feed facilities. The CGMPs form the basic principles upon which a facility&rsquo;s food safety system is built. As revised, the CGMPs would cover areas such as plant personnel (hygienic practices), plant construction and grounds (waste disposal, ventilation, easy to clean facility), sanitation (maintaining plant in good and clean repair, effective pest control), sanitary facilities and controls (clean/adequate water supply, properly designed plumbing system, hand wash facilities), equipment and utensils (able to be cleaned and well maintained), plant operations (proper procedures to prevent contamination), and holding and distribution (proper containers to avoid contamination, inspection of incoming containers). Just one example of a rule that may significantly impact ethanol facilities is proposed 21 CFR Section 507.17, which, among other things, would require facilities to: &ldquo;protect animal food stored outdoors in bulk by any effective means, including (i) Using protective coverings; (ii) Controlling areas over and around the bulk animal feed to eliminate harborages for pests; and (iii) Checking on a regular basis for pests and pest infestation.&rdquo;&nbsp; At first glance, this would appear to require ethanol facilities to cover DDGSs and other coproducts stored outdoors, control the pests (birds, rodents, insects, etc.) around the bulk storage, and regularly check for pest infestation.&nbsp; Although there are a few exemptions to these requirements, they primarily apply to very small businesses, farms and certain facilities engaged solely in holding feed products. It is unlikely these exemptions will apply to many, if any, ethanol facilities. As a result of a lawsuit by a consumer activist group against FDA, followed by a court-issued consent decree, FDA must release a final preventive controls for animal feed rule by Aug. 30, 2015. Once the final rules are released, ethanol facilities that produce animal feed coproducts will have one year to become FSMA compliant. Given the detailed and potentially onerous requirements of these rules, we highly recommend that facilities take concerted steps to engage technical experts to assist with implementing CGMPs and preventative controls well before the 2016 compliance deadline.&nbsp; &nbsp; Author: Andrew Anderson, Partner, Faegre Baker Daniels 515-447-4703 andrew.anderson@FaegreBD.com Contributors: Steve Toeniskoetter, Associate Rachael Dettmann Spiegel, Associate

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Although several new requirements in the FSMA may impact ethanol plants, writes Andrew Anderson of Faegre Baker Daniels, the preventative control rule is likely the one that will have the most significant impact on day-to-day operations. 

New Food Safety Rules  Mean Big Changes

When Mike Gustafson took a job at Corn Plus in the summer of 2011, he became the environmental, health, and safety manager at an 18-year-old ethanol plant still in recovery. After two decades in the compliance business, the longtime EH&amp;S consultant joined the management team of the Winnebago, Minnesota, facility knowing the plant wasn&rsquo;t just old, but working to resolve a number of issues. By 2010, Corn Plus faced a series of challenges, including financial stress from increasing corn prices, regulatory issues, and a recent change of senior management.&nbsp; Ultimately, the farmer-owned cooperative decided that rather than sell the plant or simply shut its doors, it would invest an additional $21 million in upgrades to keep the facility competitive. That also meant it had to work through the environmental,&nbsp; legal and enforcement actions it was facing.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Today, the dust has mostly settled at Corn Plus and Gustafson&rsquo;s job is beginning to resemble that of a typical EH&amp;S manager. &ldquo;Until now, my role has been to fix, recover, replace and repair, rather than only hold compliance,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve made progress, and I&rsquo;m not just putting out fires now.&rdquo; Gustafson&rsquo;s initial assignment at Corn Plus bears little resemblance to the experiences of EH&amp;S managers at newer, larger ethanol plants. It does, however, illustrate the range and variability of the profession. Tyler Schwarck, for example, has had a less adventurous tenure running EH&amp;S at Absolute Energy LLC in St. Ansgar, Iowa. Splitting his time between safety and environmental compliance, Schwarck oversees employee training, plant audits, and just about every regulatory issue the 125 MMgy ethanol facility faces. On any typical day, Schwarck says, he might be found on the phone with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, in a briefing about a new technology trial, or walking the plant floor examining rigging, hoses and fire extinguishers.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Down at E Energy Adams in southeast Nebraska, Joe Oswalt also has to manage big issues while keeping an eye on the little things. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re constantly on the watch for potential hazards,&rdquo; he says, describing what he looks for when he walks through the 60 MMgy facility. &ldquo;Is all of our motor and conveyor guarding in place? Are there any &lsquo;slip, trip and fall&rsquo; hazards present&mdash;hoses laying out, slick floors or strung out extension cords?&rdquo; Like Schwarck, Oswalt wears many hats. E Energy Adams has managed multiple capital projects over the past two years, including a grain storage expansion this year, so Oswalt&rsquo;s focus has been weighted toward environmental permitting lately. He is, of course, responsible for the ethanol plant&rsquo;s overarching environmental and safety compliance, including the requirements of state agencies like the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and federal agencies including the U.S. EPA and the Occupational Safety and Health Agency. Additionally, because Oswalt has spent a portion his career working in the rail industry, he manages E Energy Adams&rsquo; rail safety and logistics program. Back in Minnesota, Corn Plus is doing better these days and Gustafson says his EH&amp;S responsibilities are, in fact, becoming more orthodox. But he&rsquo;s still got his hands full. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s OSHA and EPA, DNR, DOT and Homeland Security &hellip; emergency response, fire brigade, confined space rescue, HAZWOPER and HAZMAT,&rdquo; he rattles off. &ldquo;Where would you like to start?&rdquo;&nbsp; Staying on top of it all is a challenge made easier by teamwork and interplant communication. Oswalt is part of an EH&amp;S managers&rsquo; group in Nebraska that meets on a semiregular basis, and Gustafson says he communicates regularly with fellow EH&amp;S managers in Minnesota. Most ethanol producers outsource their environmental permitting work. Likewise, dozens of them work with ERI Solutions Group, which administers safety programs and plant safety audits (see Q&amp;A on page 40). Working with the Kansas-based firm allows plants like Absolute and Corn Plus to operate with a streamlined EH&amp;S structure. E Energy Adams handles its safety training in-house these days. At the plant, Oswalt administers computer-based safety training regularly, as well as twice-a-year classroom sessions. &ldquo;Those semiannual meetings are face-to-face, all-day training meetings where I get up in front of the team and talk about plant issues driven by anything that&rsquo;s happened over the last six months,&rdquo; he explains.&nbsp; Team Approach Even with the help of outside companies, EH&amp;S managers must lean heavily on their in-house staff to achieve their safety and compliance objectives. At Absolute, Schwarck&rsquo;s safety committee assists him with facility audits, for example. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s helpful to have those extra eyes on the plant,&rdquo; he says. Every ethanol plant is, in fact, required to have a safety committee that includes a variety of personnel, and just a few managers. &ldquo;You want open dialogue,&rdquo; Gustafson says. &ldquo;Sometimes the more management that is on a committee like that, the less effective it is.&rdquo; Oswalt agrees, explaining that E Energy Adams has both exempt and non-exempt employees on its safety committee. &ldquo;We typically have two managers and three to four hourly employees,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Every department has a team member on the safety committee&mdash;production, maintenance, lab and EH&amp;S, as well as the administrative group.&rdquo; Increasingly, ethanol plant safety committee members have real, on-the-floor compliance responsibilities. Oswalt wants the members of his plant&rsquo;s safety committee to carry out specific monthly safety audits at E Energy Adams. &ldquo;If you can engage people, you should,&rdquo; he says.&nbsp; Gustafson agrees. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t be here 24/7, so I need their help with inspections, monitoring and data collection,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It needs to be a part of their job, too.&rdquo; Motivation Matters EH&amp;S managers say ethanol plants with enviable safety cultures find ways to incorporate EH&amp;S into everyone&rsquo;s job and then incorporate prudent incentives for compliance-driven behavior. Most prefer to use carrots over sticks, Schwarck says, adding that Absolute has a record of very few safety related incidents since its startup in 2007. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve created a culture that keeps people engaged with safety, rather than enforcing by sheer discipline,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;You can be a cop or a coach in this profession. I&rsquo;ve chosen to be more of a coach.&rdquo;&nbsp; Despite Corn Plus&rsquo; turbulent past, Gustafson says, the plant has an impeccable safety record. The facility has exceeded 1,600 days without a lost day due to accident or injury. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s nearly four and a half years,&rdquo; he says, explaining that Corn Plus is in the top five plants that ERI tracks in that category. Gustafson and Schwarck agree that when a plant goes long periods of time without experiencing safety related issues, it has a reinforcing effect. &ldquo;It boosts morale and prolongs what you&rsquo;re achieving,&rdquo; Schwarck says. &ldquo;Your team will want to maintain that record and everyone essentially helps enforce it.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Safety is a part of E Energy Adams&rsquo; individual performance appraisals, too, but the plant&rsquo;s management has deliberately kept some distance between safety and pay. &ldquo;Completing 100 percent of your safety training is a requirement here, but we don&rsquo;t have a defined incentive program for safety,&rdquo; he says, explaining that OSHA discourages overt compliance enticements because they can stymie incident reporting. Whatever E Energy Adams is doing is working. The plant has gone five years without a reportable or recordable incident. &ldquo;Whenever we reach another year, we do something for the employees,&rdquo; Oswalt says, explaining that safety milestones should be acknowledged, even celebrated, but not turned into a cornerstone of a plant&rsquo;s approach to safety. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not what drives our program,&rdquo; he says. Rigid Regulations As onerous as plant safety regulations can be, it is rarely a problem for most U.S. ethanol plants. &ldquo;The nice thing about the ethanol industry is that we&rsquo;re not one of OSHA&rsquo;s high-risk industries,&rdquo; Oswalt says. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t spend a lot of time in our facilities. Ethanol plants are pretty safe.&rdquo; Environmental regulation, on the other hand, weighs more heavily on producers. &ldquo;We have more exposure with the state and the federal environmental agencies just because of what we do,&rdquo; Oswalt explains. &ldquo;We have boilers. We have dryers. We have fermentation scrubbers. We have baghouses. We have a lot of things that fall under those environmental controls. We&rsquo;ve been here for seven years and I have seen pretty much every inspection you can think of on the environmental side.&rdquo; EH&amp;S managers say the agencies that define and enforce the ethanol industry&rsquo;s environmental regulations knew relatively little about the industry during its construction boom six to eight years ago. Some ethanol plants even worked with state agencies to create the baseline environmental standards that are today&rsquo;s tough regulations. In fact, EH&amp;S itself, became a prevalent ethanol plant management position during the pinnacle of the industry&rsquo;s expansion. As the ethanol industry grew, Schwarck says, regulators began to realize that it needed its own regulations. &ldquo;Before that, regulators classified ethanol plants like grain elevators,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Those agencies really didn&rsquo;t know what we did or how we did it. We worked with them, and in some ways we educated them.&rdquo; In his consulting days, Gustafson wrote some of the ethanol plant inspection forms initially used by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t know what to look for,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;Their eyes weren&rsquo;t really calibrated to the industry.&rdquo; Oswalt worked with the state, too, inviting Nebraska regulators into E Energy Adams to learn about the components of ethanol plants that are subject to environmental permitting. &ldquo;At least then, when they&rsquo;re writing permit language about a baghouse or a thermal oxidizer, they could picture what it was,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Our hope was that education would lead to better permits.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp; The openhandedness that ethanol producers have afforded the agencies that regulate them hasn&rsquo;t necessarily been reciprocated the way many had hoped. Nebraska environmental regulations for ethanol plants, for example, became more stringent than the federal EPA&rsquo;s rules. That has perplexed Oswalt and other EH&amp;S managers in the state. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to understand why that is,&rdquo; he says, explaining the wide regulatory variation among the four states within EPA&rsquo;s Region 7&mdash;Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri. In Minnesota, Gustafson says, the MPCA&rsquo;s rules and enforcement activity are also more aggressive than producers think they need to be. For example, he says, the agency views administrative missteps in the same light as actual pollution. &ldquo;Sometimes it seems to me that the MPCA almost treats missing a flow meter reading as just as serious a matter as an actual spill or emission," he says. "We treat our record keeping responsibilities seriously, of course, but we get concerned that our regulator sometimes loses perspective.&rdquo; When inspections do occur, they are usually unscheduled. Oswalt says federal regulators rarely make impromptu plant visits, but the Nebraska DEQ does them frequently. &ldquo;They won&rsquo;t tell you they&rsquo;re coming,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll show up on your doorstep and say, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re here to do an air permit audit today.&rsquo;&rdquo; EH&amp;S managers say having your records in order makes surprise inspections less stressful. &ldquo;If you can&rsquo;t produce what the auditors are looking for, expect them to take a more in-depth look at your facility,&rdquo; Oswalt says.&nbsp; When regulators visit ethanol plants, they tend to come in pairs. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll typically see two auditors,&rdquo; Oswalt says. &ldquo;One will focus on your regulatory paper trail and the other will go out and walk the plant, looking at equipment&mdash;your baghouses, your thermal oxidizer, your [continuous emissions monitoring equipment]. They&rsquo;re looking for red flags.&rdquo; Schwarck says surprise inspections aren&rsquo;t a problem for producers who don&rsquo;t cut corners. &ldquo;Review permits, slow down and do things the right way,&rdquo; he advises. Oswalt says producers who don&rsquo;t put compliance first will usually pay a price later on. &ldquo;Getting a fine is more than a checkmark next to your name for being bad,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It can jeopardize lending on your next big project. Banks look at regulatory compliance, and they don&rsquo;t like bad actors. You need to be driven by your permitting.&rdquo;&nbsp; When in doubt, Schwarck says, talk to regulators and be candid with them. &ldquo;Use your state regulatory agency as a resource,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Just be honest with them.&rdquo; For Schwarck, establishing an open dialogue usually starts with a simple phone call to the Iowa DNR field office in Mason City. &ldquo;A lot of times, I&rsquo;ll call and simply ask a question,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;My experience with that has almost always been very good. The more willingness you show to be compliant, the more they are usually willing to help you achieve your goals.&rdquo; Gustafson, who is also the ethics officer at Corn Plus, has plenty of experience communicating with state agencies. Negotiating with regulators was essentially his full-time job when joined Corn Plus three years ago. Once, he and another Corn Plus executive went straight to the top officer of the MPCA with a blunt request. &ldquo;We told him that we perceived that the agency had a predisposed mindset about Corn Plus, and that they needed to respect our new management and our focus on environmental compliance and give us a chance to prove ourselves," Gustafson says. &ldquo;You know what, it helped.&rdquo; Author: Tom Bryan Editor In Chief, Ethanol Producer Magazine tbryan@bbiinternational.com 701-746-8385

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While every EH&S manager's playbook is unique, safeguarding human health and protecting the environment are their common goals.

Coaching Compliance  

I&rsquo;m old school. I remember fondly the sound a typewriter carriage makes. I remember the days before cell phones. That sure complicated my life on my wedding day when I ran out of gas and had to syphon gas from an amused farmer&rsquo;s truck to get to the festivities because I couldn&rsquo;t reach any of my buddies. True story. I remember 8-track tapes, party lines, UHF and Funk &amp; Wagnells. I also remember how excited everyone was the day a thermal fax was introduced to the congressional office I worked in during the early &rsquo;80s. And that taught me an important lesson. Information is critical and the faster and easier information can be distributed, the more efficient everyone can be. That&rsquo;s why the Renewable Fuels Association has always tried to be on the cutting edge of technology and information dissemination. The RFA started using email soon after Al Gore invented the Internet. We were the first in the industry with a website and Facebook page. The RFA staff are all prolific tweeters on Twitter. We make strategic use of webinars, can blog with the best of them and offer an RSS newsfeed to keep folks abreast of the latest ethanol news and information. I know that people are no longer waiting around for the afternoon edition of the Washington Times to find out what has happened on Capitol Hill that might affect their business or what new U.S. EPA regulation is going to cost them money. But with all that the RFA currently offers, I am particularly jazzed about our latest venture onto the information superhighway. The RFA now offers a mobile app that can be easily downloaded to your iPhone or Android-powered smartphone to put the most up-to-the-minute news, talking points, graphs, videos and infographics at your fingertips at all times. The app is interactive, allowing you to take action directly from the device to write your member of Congress or post on your social media pages. It is easy to navigate and it is free. We&rsquo;ve designed this app to be an effective tool for ethanol advocates to have the timeliest information and factual support to address the issues policy makers, the media and the public want to know about. It will help those who want to respond to an oil company-inspired editorial or your neighbor who&rsquo;s hung up about the food vs. fuel canard or misinformation about ethanol&rsquo;s energy balance. Most importantly, it will allow those inspired to do so to reach out and take action, employing their constitutional right to petition the government right from their phone. Is that cool, or what? All one has to do to take advantage of this new tool is go to the App Store or Play Store on your mobile device and type in &ldquo;RFA Advocacy.&rdquo; Then download the free app (did I mention it is free?) and begin enjoying the ready access to RFA&rsquo;s impressive library of data, infographics and talking points. It&rsquo;s so easy, even an old guy who knows Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings can use it! Mobile App Download Instructions iPhone: 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ensure that you have iOS 4.0 or above (Check settings &gt; general &gt; about &gt; version). 2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Click the App Store icon on your iPhone. 3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In the search box, type in &ldquo;RFA Advocacy&rdquo; to find the app. 4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Touch free, then install to download. Android: 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ensure that you have Android 2.1 or above &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; (Check settings &gt; about phone and look for Android version or firmware version). 2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Click the Play Store icon on your Android phone. 3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In the Search box, type in &ldquo;RFA Advocacy&rdquo; to find the app. 4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Touch install. 5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Touch accept after reviewing the app&rsquo;s permissions to download. Author: Bob Dinneen President and CEO, Renewable Fuels Association 202-289-3835

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A new free mobile app offered by the RFA provides smartphone users with access to ethanol news and information, writes Bob Dinneen. 

What's App-ening?

As the year draws to a close, we are presented with an opportunity to look back on our successes and look forward to what lies ahead. 2014 has been a great for the ethanol industry, and 2015 appears to be just as promising. While Washington wraps up its final items and we prepare for the holidays, I&rsquo;d like to take a moment to reflect on where we are, how we got here and where we want to be. The renewable fuel standard (RFS)&mdash;our nation&rsquo;s most successful energy policy in the past 40 years&mdash;came under heavy attack this year, and our industry rose to its defense time and time again. You also stepped up to the plate, literally, by taking part in our Step Up to the Plate campaign to defend the RFS. Tens of thousands sent letters to policymakers and hundreds flew to Washington, D.C., to attend more than 360 meetings on Capitol Hill and with the administration. We could not be happier to report that with these combined efforts, Congress headed home for the campaign season without making any legislative changes to the RFS. Our offense was just as good as our defense. E15 made inroads across the nation&mdash;from Texas to the Twin Cities&mdash;as major players like Mapco, Minnoco, Murphy USA, Protec, Petro Serve USA, Zarco USA and Cenex responded to strong consumer demand for a low-cost, high-performance fuel that improves the environment, creates jobs at home and strengthens our energy and national security. Retail leaders recognized the competitive advantage E15 offers and were eager to give consumers a much-needed choice and savings at the pump. The higher ethanol blend is compatible with the majority of cars on the road, and is also the most tested fuel in history. E15 has withstood 6 million miles of testing by the Department of Energy, more than 6 million by NASCAR and now millions by American motorists. The momentum we gained over the past year is unstoppable. Stations offering E15 will continue to pop up across the nation as we work to make it a standard offering at the pump. Nationwide, moving to E15 will create another 136,000 American jobs that can&rsquo;t be outsourced, reduce our demand for foreign oil by 7 billion gallons and reduce greenhouse gas emissions relative to regular gasoline, all while saving consumers between 5 and 15 cents per gallon at the pump. As we reflect on this past year and begin to look forward, installing the infrastructure and creating consumer demand for higher blends such as E15 will be among the industry&rsquo;s top priorities. Additionally, three cellulosic ethanol plants began producing next-generation biofuels in the Heartland this year, proving that what some critics called a pipe dream could indeed become a reality. The extensive research and development pioneered by Poet-DSM, Abengoa and Quad County Corn Processors will soon be used across America and throughout the world to convert cellulose, the world&rsquo;s most abundant organic compound, into energy that will not only fuel our cars, but fuel our future. When this column was written, the 2014 renewable volume obligations rule had not been finalized; however, we must continue to insist that the U.S. EPA move forward, not backward in meeting the goals of the RFS. It is the right thing to do for America, for jobs, for our environment, for our national security and for consumers. The coming new year is sure to bring new challenges and opportunities, and I am confident that we will meet them all with the ingenuity and resolve that our industry is known for. I&rsquo;m looking forward to seeing what our talented, hardworking men and women will achieve next. From all of us at Growth Energy, we wish you a safe and happy holiday season. Author: Tom Buis CEO, Growth Energy 202-545-4000 tbuis@growthenergy.org

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In the year 2014, the ethanol industry stepped up to defend the RFS, E15 was offered at new gas stations and three cellulosic ethanol plants began producing ethanol, writes Tom Buis, predicting that 2015 will be just as promising. 

A Year Makes  a Big Difference 

As we wrapped up this issue of Ethanol Producer Magazine, one of my sources emailed me with a small edit to our feature, <a href="http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/11641/coaching-compliance" target="_blank">&ldquo;Coaching Compliance.&rdquo;</a> Corn Plus&rsquo;s Mike Gustafson asked me to use commas to separate the words that make up the EH&amp;S acronym&mdash;expressing it as &ldquo;environmental, health, and safety&rdquo; rather than &ldquo;environmental health and safety.&rdquo; The first comma was a must, but I wasn&rsquo;t sure about the second. Our style rules don&rsquo;t call for a comma after the next-to-last item in a series unless it&rsquo;s needed for clarity. This is something only editors care about, or so I thought until Gustafson informed me that the omission of either comma in the full expression of EH&amp;S might suggest that the responsibilities of his profession are more narrow than they are. A lack of delineation, he worried, might confuse the meaning of the job title or dilute one facet of the role. Before press time, both commas were added, if only for that story.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m glad Gustafson&rsquo;s comma request happened, not because it vexed our copy editor, but because it illustrates how astute, vigilant and engaging ethanol plant EH&amp;S managers are. They care about the finest details&mdash;like commas&mdash;while overseeing the enormity of compliance. Splitting their time between permitting, regulatory documentation, plant audits, employee training and more, today&rsquo;s EH&amp;S managers bear long and growing lists of responsibilities. Despite their heavy workloads, they are raising the bar for the whole profession, actively collaborating with one another, gladly communicating with regulators, engaging their staffs with new responsibilities and building operational cultures steeped in safety cognizance. An EH&amp;S manager&rsquo;s job is never done, it seems, because regulations never stop changing. As we learn in Holly Jessen&rsquo;s feature, <a href="http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/11640/clear-sign-of-confusion" target="_blank">&ldquo;Clear Sign of Confusion,&rdquo;</a> changes to OSHA&rsquo;s Hazard Communication Standard is just one recent example of how ethanol plant EH&amp;S managers must pivot, adapt and teach when regulations are altered. For more depth on EH&amp;S, Senior Editor Susanne Retka Schill visits with Nathan Vander Griend of ERI Solutions Inc., which handles loss control services, safety audits equipment testing and employee training for more than 70 U.S. ethanol plants. <a href="http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/11639/cultivating-a-culture-of-safety" target="_blank">&ldquo;In Cultivating a Culture of Safety,&rdquo;</a> we learn just how much ethanol plant EH&amp;S has advanced in the past decade.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; You may have noticed that our cover story isn&rsquo;t about EH&amp;S at all. We reserved the face of our final 2014 issue for a topic that will undoubtedly shape our industry&rsquo;s near-term future: E15 implementation. In <a href="http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/11637/chicagoan-sets-her-sights-on-clean-air" target="_blank">&ldquo;Chicagoan Sets Her Sights on Clean Air,&rdquo;</a> Retka Schill introduces us to activist Marilyn Katz and the broadly supported effort to bring E15 to America&rsquo;s third-largest city.
Finally, you'll find photos of the <a href="http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/11638/undefinedwelcome-to-the-futureundefined" target="_blank">grand opening of Abengoa Bioenergy's 25 MMgy cellulosic ethanol</a> plant. Congratulations Abengoa.&nbsp;&nbsp;
 Author: Tom Bryan &nbsp; President &amp; Editor in Chief tbryan@bbiinternational.com

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The December issue of EPM contains several articles based on the issues theme of plant safety and emergency response, as well as more information about the E15 situation in Chicago and Abengoa's recent plant ground breaking, writes Tom Bryan. 

Sharp-Eyed EH&S

Just before Halloween, the American Coalition for Ethanol got to do what Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers got to do every Saturday morning when I was a kid. We got to prove that monsters aren&rsquo;t real, and that most of the time, they&rsquo;re fabricated by someone with a self-serving agenda who scares people because the truth isn&rsquo;t on his side. It was just like we were those &ldquo;meddling kids&rdquo; and their big talking dog, Scooby-Doo. Actually, it was Gene Hammond and Mark Muncey, owners of Travelers Motor Club and Association Motor Club Marketing, who pulled the mask off the monster created by AAA. Hammond and Muncey heard the warnings of AAA about E15, and began monitoring their organizations&rsquo; service call records, and after two years, found nothing. In an Oct. 27 press release the two clubs, with 18 million members in 50 states, said that since E15 became available in the marketplace, none of their members has reported a problem related to E15. Two years earlier, AAA said they were concerned that consumers would be confused by the new blend. Rather than helping educate drivers about safe use of E15, however, AAA instead added to the confusion by parroting talking points from rigged and deliberately misinterpreted studies, spoon-fed to them by Big Oil. AAA recently repeated its call for the suspension of E15 sales, even as the number of vehicles built and warrantied for use of E15 went from 3 million to 16 million. Along with 17 million-plus flex-fuel vehicles, 15 percent of the car and light truck market can already use E15 under warranty. Meanwhile, real-world findings of Travelers and AMCM motor clubs mirror what fuel station owners who sell E15 have been saying. They&rsquo;ve had no customer complaints, no breakdowns and no repair bills from drivers who fill up with E15. In fact, because E15 is a higher octane fuel that costs less than regular fuel, stations with E15 are adding customers and E15 has become the second highest volume fuel in most of the stations that sell it. That fact alone&mdash;that E15 is the second highest volume fuel&mdash;proves that AAA&rsquo;s misfueling concerns were misplaced. The real reason groups are worried about E15 misfueling is they think drivers will buy E15 because it costs less. But if that theory were correct, and price were all that matters, E15 would be the highest seller at those stations, not second. Shortly before the Travelers and AMCM announcement, a lawsuit containing similar anti-E15 claims, filed by Big Oil, automakers and the boat and small engine lobby, was thrown out by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. In its terse ruling, the court pointed out&mdash;several times&mdash;that there was no evidence to support claims of misfueling or damage and at one point called claims against E15 &ldquo;conjectural&rdquo; and &ldquo;hypothetical.&rdquo; That&rsquo;s judge-speak for &ldquo;making stuff up.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s been more than two years since the first station started selling E15. With as much time and money as the oil and engine groups have spent on creating their E15 horror story, if there were any cars stranded because of E15, or a single warranty claim denied because of E15, we would know about it. The cars and their drivers would be household names. But they aren&rsquo;t, because they don&rsquo;t exist. E15 ghosts and monsters aren&rsquo;t real. And the Freds, Daphnes, Velmas, and Shaggys continue to pull the masks off the imposters. The latter half of October was a good time for the truth, and hope remains that truth will win out over fear-mongering. Just as it did every Saturday morning. Author: Ron Lamberty Senior Vice President American Coalition for Ethanol 605-334-3381 rlamberty@ethanol.org

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AAA's claims about E15 don't stack up to the facts, writes Ron Lamberty of ACE. With the help of two motor clubs, that organization helped reveal the truth just like Scooby-Doo and his friends do in the cartoons. 

A Good Time  For Truth

Brazil&rsquo;s sugarcane ethanol industry has grown along with the U.S. industry to create a global market for clean and renewable biofuels, and Brazilian producers are poised to invest and increase exports.&nbsp; But they need the right policies to reach full potential. Brazil&rsquo;s October presidential election will have a major influence on the future of its sugarcane biofuels industry. President Dilma Rouseff&rsquo;s policies have kept domestic gasoline prices below market averages, limiting new investment and creating problems for renewable fuel producers who want to increase output but face unfair market footing. Despite these headwinds, Brazil&rsquo;s sugarcane ethanol output has grown in recent years, producing 7 billion gallons in 2013 on the strength of market-driven infrastructure investments and is on track to have up to 1.7 billion gallons of low-carbon sugarcane biofuel available to U.S. markets in 2020. Industry growth has been impressive, but it would have been even greater if not for the biggest policy challenge faced by our industry, artificially low gasoline prices. Brazil&rsquo;s biofuels sector needs fair competition between renewable fuels and petroleum at market prices. Sugarcane producers hope Rousseff&mdash;fresh off her successful but narrow re-election&mdash;will adopt policies to boost domestic markets, grow Brazil&rsquo;s economy and increase exports. One of Rousseff&rsquo;s main economic policies to keep inflation in check has been artificially limiting domestic gasoline prices to below-global market levels. This approach has decimated the alternative fuels sector. For context, consider that by November 2013, only 23 percent of flex-fuel car owners were regularly using ethanol, down from 66 percent in 2009. During her acceptance speech, Rousseff said she will be the president of dialogue and change, and is ready to talk to all sectors of the Brazilian economy.&nbsp; Sugarcane ethanol producers look forward to such an open and direct conversation. To her credit, we saw some positive signals during her campaign. The government approved the reinstitution of tax reimbursements for exports, and the Brazilian congress approved an increase to the level of ethanol blended into gasoline. But more needs to be done. We need a clear definition of the long-term role of biofuels and bioelectricity of Brazil&rsquo;s energy mix. We also need a tax system that rewards renewable energy for being cleaner than fossil energy. Brazil&rsquo;s sugarcane-ethanol producers have shown enormous investment ability in recent years, provided the right market opportunities exist. For instance, when an influx of flex-fuel vehicles combined with rising export demand in 2003, the industry built more than 100 new mills from 2005 to 2011. This new capacity also doubled sugarcane production in less than a decade, demonstrating the sector&rsquo;s ability to quickly expand and planting the seeds for even greater yields. According to the Center for Cane Technology, today&rsquo;s sugarcane ethanol productivity is 7,100 liters per hectare but it will grow to 24,500 liters per hectare within a few years. Existing mills maintain vast ability to produce hydrous ethanol (sold at the pump as an alternative to gasoline) and anhydrous ethanol (blended into gasoline) with installed capacities of 105 million and 205 million liters per day, respectively. However, during the 2013-&rsquo;14 harvest season, Brazil produced just 70 million liters of hydrous and 90 million liters of anhydrous ethanol per day. Most Brazilian mills are small- to midsized facilities and the 2008 financial crisis resulted in consolidation with international companies such as Bunge, Cargill, Shell, Petrobras and Noble, among others. Also, while some mills have been shuttered in recent years, a majority of them could easily go back online if domestic demand increases. Combined with prior investment trends, it&rsquo;s a clear signal that rising demand will result in mill expansion to provide adequate supply. The industry has also invested in infrastructure and efficiency. More than $30 billion has gone toward boosting sugarcane-ethanol production capacity since 2004. In addition, more than $3.5 billion may be invested in pipelines and waterways within the next three years. These investments mean 90 percent of Brazil&rsquo;s exports will be transported via pipeline or waterway, decreasing logistics costs. Brazilian sugarcane producers are eager to supply low-carbon solutions that meet the world&rsquo;s energy and environmental needs.&nbsp; And like our American colleagues, we are active players in the international arena working to develop a global market for biofuels and bioproducts.&nbsp; But we still have plenty of work to do in our own country getting domestic fuels policy right for Brazil&rsquo;s future. Brazil&rsquo;s sugarcane industry is ready to engage in productive dialogue with the president and increase investment to provide those clean, sustainable and affordable solutions for Brazil and the world. We just need the right policies in place. UNICA congratulates the president and looks forward to the continuing opportunity to work with her to accomplish these important goals. Author: Leticia Phillips North American Representative, Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association, UNICA 202-506-5299 leticia@unica.com.br

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UNICA is looking forward to working with Brazil's newly re-elected President Dilma Rouseff on putting the right policies in place for the country's future, writes Leticia Phillips. 

Brazilian Biofuels Policy Under a Second Rousseff Term

During the global financial crisis, the federal government provided hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out Wall Street bankers. While I, like most people, may have my own thoughts on the efficacy of those actions, I personally am not qualified to pass judgement. It is, however, confusing to observe the reluctance of the government to intervene in the current rail crisis in America. My natural cynicism would lead me to believe that the reason Congress is doing nothing more than saber rattling on this issue is because this crisis is largely affecting main street instead of Wall Street. I&rsquo;m not an expert in transportation or the complexities of the rail industry. In my view, this is a national security issue, it&rsquo;s an energy independence issue and it affects America&rsquo;s economic well-being and very fabric of agriculture. If you want to talk about trickledown, anything that affects agriculture affects main street and when you negatively impact main street, it will eventually trickle-up to Wall Street. BNSF, for example, spending $5 billion on infrastructure enhancement may, in fact, be a drop in the bucket of what is actually needed. The Bakken oil reserve looks like it will be around for many years to come. As agriculture continues to produce more and more, it will continue to put pressure on the rail industry. More and more freight is being shipped via rail. The ethanol industry depends on rail to move billions of gallons of product every year. In other words, the health of America&rsquo;s rail system is part and parcel to the health of America. It&rsquo;s not just agriculture that is being penalized for this rail crisis. The automobile industry, the oil industry, tens of thousands of other smaller industries and businesses that rely on rail service to move millions of tons of product every day are all being hit hard by this unnecessary delay in meaningful action by the rail industry and the federal government. Intervention by the federal government is certainly nothing new. They are actually quite good at it. History is replete with examples of government intervening to help industry, especially when matters of national security are at stake. Even I could make the argument that an over-burdened rail system is a threat to energy security, economic security, environmental security and, in fact, our national security. What happens if the rail industry over-builds and a couple of decades down the road (or rail in this case) we have more rail cars than we need? While I really don&rsquo;t think that this is going to happen, even if it did, I would rather see the steel from thousands of unused rail cars being recycled than doing too-little too-late and needlessly creating devastating impacts on our economy. Clearly the government has spent billions of dollars on things that have far less of an impact on America then a few billion pumped into one of our country&rsquo;s major transportation resources. This seems like a no-brainer to me, but then, like I said, I&rsquo;m not transportation expert. That&rsquo;s the way I see it.
&nbsp;
Author: Mike Bryan Chairman, BBI International mbryan@bbiinternational.com

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It's confusing to watch Congress do nothing but saber rattling in the face of the current U.S. rail crisis, writes Mike Bryan. Government intervention in this issue seems like a no brainer. 

Government Intervention  a No-Brainer

Fluid Quip Process Technologies has announced the addition of Neal Jakel, who will lead the company&rsquo;s strategy and technology growth efforts. In this role, Jakel will oversee the company&rsquo;s current growth plans with the primary focus on bringing a broad array of technologies and solutions to the biorefinery and renewable chemical industries. He previously served as the general manager of Illinois River Energy and has more than 20 years of technical and operations expertise. Red River Energy LLC has signed an ethanol marketing agreement with Noble Mansfield Commodity Services, a marketing organization jointly owned by Mansfield Oil and Nobel Americas Corp. Energy Management Solutions, a subsidiary of ICM Inc., is managing the day-to-day operations and activities of the 25 MMgy plant located in Rosholt, South Dakota. Compagnie Industrielle de la Mati&egrave;re V&eacute;g&eacute;tale has signed a collaboration agreement with Dyadic International Inc. to commercialize second-generation biofuel and biobased chemical technology. Taurus Energy AB cooperates with both companies and will provide the yeast.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The European renewable ethanol association, ePURE, has appointed Robert Wright as its new secretary general. Wright has a more than 20 years of experience working in EU public policy and public affairs. He has worked for the EU Commission and in the energy and technology sectors. Wright replaces Rob Vierhout, who officially stepped down from secretary general of ePURE in September. U.S. Grains Council recently announced the members of the organization&rsquo;s 2014-'15 Advisory Teams (A-Teams). This year, the USGC&rsquo;s A-Team structure has changed to include an Ethanol A-Team, which is designed to give a better focus and more in-depth attention to the USGC&rsquo;s new ethanol export promotion program. Raymond Defenbaugh of Big River Resources LLC has been named leader of the Ethanol A-Team. Alan Germain has joined Blue Ocean Brokerage LLC in a business development role. A veteran trader at Hess Corp., Germain has been instrumental in the development and growth of the U.S. biodiesel, ethanol and RIN (renewable identification number)over-the-counter markets. Syngenta has announced 52 new corn hybrids for the 2015 planting season, including six new Enogen corn hybrids. Enogen corn is bioengineered to enhance ethanol production. It enables ethanol plants to purchase alpha amylase enzyme in the form of high-quality grain directly from local farmers, increase ethanol yield and throughput, and decrease costs associated with natural gas, electricity, water and chemical usage. The Renewable Fuels Association elected new leadership at its annual meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, in October. Randall Doyal, general manager and CEO of Al-Corn Clean Fuel, has been selected as the next chairman of the board of directors. Mick Henderson, general manager of Commonwealth Agri-Energy, will serve as vice-chairman. Walter Wendland of Golden Grain Energy LLC was elected treasurer. Bob Dinneen, CEO of the RFA, was re-elected president.&nbsp;&nbsp; Ceres Inc.&rsquo;s board of directors has elected Cheryl Morley to serve as its chair. She has served on the company&rsquo;s board of directors since 2011. From 2003-2009, Morley was senior vice president of corporate strategy with Monsanto Co. She will replace Walter De Logi, former chairman of the board and co-founder of Ceres. The company also announced that former director Pascal Brandys has rejoined the board and will assume the chair of the company&rsquo;s audit committee, a position previously held by Morley.
Joule has announced its engineered photosynthetic biocatalyst has been shown to divert 95 percent of fixed carbon, normally converted to biomass, directly to fuel. The achievement was made at the company&rsquo;s demonstration facility in Hobbs, New Mexico. Joule also recently entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Scatec Solar ASA. Terms of the MOU anticipate that Scatec Solar will become a preferred supplier and operator of photovoltaic power installations for Joule plants. A separate MOU was announced with DNV GL, a provider of technical assurance and advisory services to the energy industry. DNV GL and Joule will define specific areas of collaboration to accelerate the production of carbon dioxide-neutral fuels. Lallemand Biofuels &amp; Distilled Spirits has announced that Craig Ammann has been promoted to director of sales for the North American region. He is responsible for leading, communicating and directing the regional sales, technical, and product managers within this group. Ammann will also manage and direct new start-up business in the region and manage key customer groups. He has more than 15 years of sales and marketing experience, including experience working for a major biofuels project management and engineering company emphasizing the development of cellulosic ethanol production and optimization of existing ethanol production facilities. A new publication featuring spray guns and a detailed technical reference section on spray technology is available from Spraying Systems Co. GunJet Catalog 75 provides specific information on hundreds of low-, medium- and high-pressure GunJet spray guns that are widely used for cleaning and rinsing applications.

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Business Briefs

To understand the biomass-to-energy supply chain, first divide it into two parts: suppliers and end users.&nbsp; End users in the biomass energy sector include pellet manufacturers, fuel producers, biogas producers, and combined heat-and-power facilities. Suppliers are also diverse, and include loggers, farmers, land clearing companies, sawmills, furniture mills, demolition companies, feed mills and many others.&nbsp; The supply chain only grows more complex from there, with a myriad of opportunities for success and failure. Factors may include: weather, transportation, contractors, employees, biomass specification data, storage management, sustainability, public opinion, public policy, regulatory enforcement and more. Mind-bogglingly, every single one of the above factors may affect one another and also has its own interconnected and consequential subcategories.&nbsp;
 Putting all of these factors into perspective is a great challenge, especially when one is trying to accomplish this on paper, in their mind, or on a spreadsheet. Large companies often have internal IT development teams that set up and manage data systems for their internal use.&nbsp;&nbsp; Numerous versions of generalized and industry-specific Enterprise Resource Planning Software have been developed, which may assist managers with understanding their supply chains more clearly.&nbsp; ERP software was a great leap forward in supply chain management because it was able to collect, store and manage the vast array of data points in any given supply chain. What&rsquo;s more, ERP software made it possible to make better decisions based on real and meaningful analysis.&nbsp; No more would managers have to base all of their decisions on unqualified or bad data and information.&nbsp; As ERP solutions gained in popularity, industry-specific solutions began to appear and the biomass energy sector can now benefit from this.
 A second leap in information technology for business operations was made recently with the advent of cloud computing. Cloud computing enabled ERP solutions to be deployed without the need for organizations to purchase costly servers or other computing and network infrastructure, because the software could be implemented as a virtual Software as a Service (SaaS) anywhere using the Internet.&nbsp;&nbsp; Other improvements came into being along with the cloud. Updates to the software no longer required additional copies or licenses.&nbsp; Users could be added easily on the fly, and a per-user or group-of-users licensing model could be offered.&nbsp; Since licensing was on a per-user basis, companies no longer had to pay high costs for software capacity they never used.&nbsp; Another benefit of the cloud was databases and functionality were shared within each user organization on a &ldquo;need-to-know&rdquo; basis, so when someone in the user community entered data or made a modification, each approved user could see it in near real time.&nbsp; A true community of users was emerging and costs of implementation were lowered.
 Today, ERP software has taken a third great leap forward by integrating and leveraging the power of mobile technology.&nbsp; According to the Pew Research Center, as of January, 58 percent of American adults had a smartphone, and 42 percent of American adults owned a tablet computer.&nbsp; The amazing part of this statistic is that each one of these individuals in carrying a highly sophisticated sensory device capable of video, photos, voice and text communication, Internet access, weather reports, and a host of applications ready to deploy.&nbsp; Mobile computing is a truly disruptive force, and we are all aware of just how disruptive it is.
 Mobile supply chain management integrates software applications with mobile devices (e.g. cell phones, personal digital assistants, pocket personal computers, personal computers) to give users the flexibility to operate in a wireless&nbsp; computing environment at any location. This enables users to take advantage of information systems linking business processes among different functions within the company and between companies at remote locations.
 Mobile has enabled ERP solutions to take another step toward real-time data management.&nbsp; Imagine being able to communicate directly with your supplier, the delivery truck, monitor progress on work orders, receive a photo or video of a remote job site, or instant document review not only on your desk, but across the organization based upon a &ldquo;need-to-know&rdquo; basis.&nbsp; The possibilities grow each day, and you will want an ERP solution provider who not only understands how to grow with your industry, but since biomass is a niche industry, it would behoove organizations to rely upon software solution providers who have built solutions especially for the sector.
 When selecting an ERP solution, no one size fits all.&nbsp; Factors such as cost, user friendliness and deployment models are all important.&nbsp; Most importantly, find an ERP solution that is specifically designed for the biomass industry. Make certain you understand what side of the supply chain equation the ERP solution is made for&mdash;producers or conversion facilities. In the case of biomass, there is a number with varying costs and user friendliness, as well as differing models for deployment (cloud-based or enterprise solutions). Make sure to understand security and do not jump to conclusions.&nbsp; Is having all of your data stored on server in the closet more secure than a datacenter with 24/7 security patrols and redundant power supplies? As you begin to review these options, predefine your selection criteria, and do your research. Consider your business model, its weakest links and what knowledge would strengthen them.&nbsp; Review your risk management approach to determine what functions are important or unimportant. The additional time it takes to perform a thorough due diligence effort is well worth the investment. It will pay dividends for many years to come, and ensure your satisfaction with a solid ERP solution for your entire supply chain team. Author: David Waechter President, Verdant&eacute; BioEnergy Services <a href="mailto:dwaechter@verdantebioenergy.com">dwaechter@verdantebioenergy.com</a> 828-394-1246

ACCESS ON-THE-GO: Mobile technology has enabled ERP solutions to take another step toward real-time data management.

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Mobile supply chain management integrates software applications with mobile devices to allow users to wirelessly operate at any location.

Mobile Cloud Computing in the Biomass  Industry

On Dec. 1, the U.S. EPA will close down the comment period for its proposed Clean Power Plan, the most significant environmental policy proposal in a generation. To control carbon dioxide (CO2), the agency places a significant emphasis on burying emissions underground (carbon capture and sequestration or CCS), but I believe it should equally encourage the beneficial reuse of carbon dioxide emissions (carbon capture and utilization, or CCU).
 Just about every biomass company has CO2 emissions in its portfolio, whether producing CO2 in fermentation processes or consuming it by growing a crop. While the EPA&rsquo;s new rule is mostly focused on coal plants, emissions are emissions, and the biomass industry could find a challenge in future regulations.
 To ensure that the EPA is casting a wide net in approaches to reduce emissions, the Algae Biomass Organization and its members spent the past several months making the case for reusing CO2 emissions to manufacture valuable products. The mission: convince the EPA to explicitly endorse CCU technologies.
 Regardless of the outcome from the EPA, the breadth of support we found has convinced me that the carbon kings of the future won't be the fossil fuel extractors of the past, they will be the innovators who build value from the waste gas streams the world is so desperate to dispose of.
 To spark interest on this topic amongst the public, ABO started a White House &ldquo;We the People&rdquo; petition to encourage CCU. We were pleased to see support for CCU from 45 states and 215 cities, a true reflection of this idea&rsquo;s geographical, ideological and demographic appeal.
 Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., Congressional Algae Caucus co-chair, wrote to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy asking her to clarify that using CCU technologies would be an option afforded states working to comply with Clean Power Plan rules. Peters noted that clarifying CCU&rsquo;s role in emission reduction plans would stimulate further investment and innovation:
 "Such affirmative recognition would provide states and sources of private capital with the confidence to invest in this promising CO2 solution while helping to create a market for CO2 that reduces the cost of compliance."
 In a sign of growing awareness on Capitol Hill, Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Joe Manchin, D-W.V., visited ABO platinum member BioProcess Algae in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, to learn how algae can be used to convert waste CO2 into valuable products at cost-competitive prices. According to the Los Angeles Times, Manchin was excited to see firsthand a technology that could be adopted by coal plants in his home state. &ldquo;As he left BioProcess Algae&rsquo;s facilities, he turned and said, &lsquo;This is what it's all about.&rsquo; "
 You might say support for CCU needs to be stronger. I would agree, and we won't stop promoting the approach, regardless of how the EPA ultimately drafts its Clean Power Plan. If you are looking to take advantage of CCU technologies, or have a carbon-consuming approach of your own, I urge you to check out the alliance forming at www.recyclecarbon.org.
 The reasonable idea that we can profitably reduce, reuse and recycle carbon could form the basis of a powerful political alliance that would help create a robust market for CO2 that reduces emissions, creates jobs and increases our domestic energy and food security. Author: Matt Carr Executive Director, Algae Biomass Organization <a href="http://www.algaebiomass.org">www.algaebiomass.org</a> 877-531-5512

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On Dec. 1, the U.S. EPA will close down the comment period for its proposed Clean Power Plan, the most significant environmental policy proposal in a generation. 

Biomass Producers Today, Carbon Kings Tomorrow

The U.S. EPA has taken action to improve and streamline the pathway petition process under the renewable fuels standard (RFS). In March, the agency said it would take approximately six months to improve the petition process for new biofuel pathways. That process is now complete.
 Improvements include a new website that features new tools and information resources, such as the Pathway Screening Tool, which provides biofuel producers with a way to receive tailored information from the EPA before they start preparing their petitions. A secure online portal has also been developed to allow petitions to be submitted electronically.
 The EPA is expected to continue to prioritize petitions for cellulosic pathways, particularly for near-term projects.
 &ldquo;We believe we have revised our website to provide more detailed information in a way that is easier for petitioners to understand.&nbsp; We hope they will use the new tools and information to develop high quality petitions so that the review process can be as efficient as possible,&rdquo; said an EPA spokeswoman.

EPA improves pathway petition process for the RFS 

Ensyn Corp. recently celebrated commissioning a renewable heating system at Memorial Hospital in North Conway, New Hampshire. The hospital&rsquo;s heating system was converted from traditional petroleum fuels to Ensyn&rsquo;s cellulosic renewable fuel oil (RFO).&nbsp; Ensyn is supplying Memorial under a five-year, renewable contract that provides the delivery of 300,000 gallons of RFO per year.
 Ensyn is producing RFO for Memorial at its 3 MMgy facility in Ontario, Canada. The fuel is liquid fuel produced from nonfood solid biomass including forest and mill residues. It directly displaces petroleum fuels in heating operations and is also a renewable feedstock for refineries for the production of gasoline and diesel.
 The company has also signed a contract with Valley Regional Hospital in Claremont, New Hampshire, to supply RFO. That contract provides for the delivery of approximately 250,000 gallons of fuel per year for a renewable term of seven years. Deliveries are expected to begin in April.

Ensyn supplies hospitals with cellulosic heating fuel 

The USDA has awarded a $91 million loan guarantee to Cool Planet Energy Systems to help finance the company&rsquo;s advanced biofuel facility, which is under development in Rapides Parish, Louisiana. The award was made under the Biorefinery Assistance Program, which was established by the 2008 Farm Bill.
 Cool Planet broke ground on the Louisiana biorefinery in February 2013. Company spokesman Wesley Bolsen said the site work is currently being completed. Construction on the biorefinery is expected to begin by the end of the year. Bolsen said the facility is scheduled to be operational by late 2015 or early 2016.
 Once complete, the facility, located at the Port of Alexandria, will have the capacity to produce between 8 MMgy and 10 MMgy of reformate, a drop-in ingredient in gasoline and jet fuel that can be added during the regular refinery process. The USDA noted that reformate enhances the energy content of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Pine chips will be the feedstock source for the plant. The company, however, can use almost any type of cellulosic material.
 According to the USDA, it reached an agreement with Silicon Valley Bank to provide the $91 million loan guarantee to Cool Planet. In addition to the USDA&rsquo;s contribution, the company has attracted private investments from numerous companies, including Google Ventures, BP, ConocoPhillips, GE, Exelon and NRG Energy. Cool Planet will contribute $50 million in equity to the project.

Moving Forward: Cool Planet Energy Systems has been awarded a USDA loan guarantee for its Louisiana facility, shown in this rendering. 

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Cool Planet awarded USDA loan guarantee 

When ethanol plants can provide excess sugar to neighboring anaerobic digesters (AD) and get something as good as cake out of the transaction, residing in the same neighborhood simply makes sense. Colocating these bioenergy sources seems to be trending amongst both traditional and cellulosic ethanol plants.
 Early U.S. commercial-scale corn ethanol plants left AD out of initial design because the concept wasn&rsquo;t mature, but nowadays, digesters are used to streamline the production process by converting waste streams inherent to the ethanol production process into renewable energy. Ever since AD colocation has become a viable and valuable option, digesters have been making their way onto blueprints and into upgrade plans of ethanol plants. &ldquo;Anaerobic digestion has been fine-tuned and modified over the millennia, and it&rsquo;s a shame to not take full advantage of that,&rdquo; says Evan Chrapko, CEO of Himark Biogas.
 Nontraditional ethanol plants are approaching AD as not optional, but rather, a necessity. &ldquo;Bioenergy technologies, such as cellulosic ethanol and anaerobic digestion, are being colocated to minimize external energy consumption and reduce emissions, making the overall solution more sustainable,&rdquo; says Chris Standlee, executive vice president global affairs with Abengoa Bioenergy.
 Abengoa&rsquo;s cellulosic ethanol plant in Hugoton, Kansas, is joined by Poet-DSM and DuPont in a series of cellulosic ethanol plants that came on line this year, incorporating digesters at ground-level construction. Iogen is another player working on AD in the cellulosic space. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s natural it would be part of the project investment,&rdquo; says Pat Foody, executive vice president of advanced biofuels with Iogen Corp.
 In fact, Foody believes the only time to decide to add AD to a cellulosic ethanol plant is at conception because of the need to determine where the soluble residues are going to go before construction. &ldquo;I think there is a huge amount of integration that occurs,&rdquo; Foody says. &ldquo;The natural thing is the AD is integrated into the design at the onset. I personally couldn&rsquo;t see that a bolt-on would really work commercially, it&rsquo;s so integrated.&rdquo;
 Some traditional, commercial-scale plants have been successful in implementing AD down the road, while others have not. Western Plains Energy LLC&rsquo;s 50-MMgy corn ethanol plant in Oakley, Kansas, implemented a Himark AD system onsite. The roughly $40 million installation consists of four digesters and a tertiary lagoon replacing natural gas used to heat the plant&rsquo;s boilers. Another Himark project is Growing Power Hairy Hill LP, which is the first integrated biorefinery in Canada. In September, Calgren Renewable Fuels&rsquo; 55-MMgy ethanol plant installed a DVO-designed digester built by Andgar in Pixley, California.
 Sharing the Stage
 On the cellulosic side, AD integration has always been the intent. Although the applications are just now beginning or nearing biogas production, they are expected to add value to their respective operations. Poet-DSM&rsquo;s Project Liberty in Emmetsburg, Iowa, is said to have the nation&rsquo;s largest digester, which, to date, has received little coverage as it shares the stage with one of the country&rsquo;s first cellulosic ethanol facilities that is in its final stage of commissioning. &ldquo;The AD is a known technology, but this unit is very large and has many different subprocesses,&rdquo; says Rod Pierson, vice president of operations at Poet. &ldquo;The Poet Research team had done a great job of developing expertise that will benefit in the start of the unit.&rdquo;
 DuPont&rsquo;s digester, collocated with its cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa, is smaller than Project Liberty&rsquo;s. &ldquo;Our anaerobic digester is a relatively small component of our cellulosic ethanol plant, simply meant to treat recycled water, not a major project or source of energy in its own right,&rdquo; says Wendy Rosen, global public affairs lead with DuPont Industrial Biosciences. Due to the operation&rsquo;s infancy, the company has little other public information to share at this time.
 Abengoa decided AD was worth integrating with its cellulosic ethanol facility after contracting with an independent laboratory to conduct bench-scale studies of pilot-plant-generated wastewater to determine the effectiveness of both anaerobic and aerobic digestion. &ldquo;These studies concluded that anaerobic digestion would be most suitable to produce the treated wastewater quality required by the cellulosic ethanol process,&rdquo; Standlee says.
 Abengoa&rsquo;s cellulosic facility is located where water resources are limited, so conserving overall water use is important. &ldquo;The long-term viability of the facility depends on minimizing water use and discharge,&rdquo; Standlee says.
 Nontraditional Nuances
 Whether traditional or nontraditional, digesters are implemented for similar reasons, although the drive to implement AD at cellulosic plants seems to be stronger. Some of the byproduct from starch plants can be processed into DDGs for sale into feed markets. Cellulosic ethanol plants do not have this option, however, the materials that remain after distillation at a cellulosic plant can be fed into a digester. Abengoa&rsquo;s 5.5 million-gallon digester&rsquo;s primary influent streams derive from pretreatment steam condensation and stillage evaporator condensate. &ldquo;Individual influent process streams are mixed and pH adjusted before entering the AD,&rdquo; Standlee says.
 Abengoa&rsquo;s AD effluent is temperature adjusted and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is digested further in an aerobic digester. Aerobic digester effluent is then filtered and sterilized with UV light before returning to the enzymatic process. Waste sludge from both the AD and aerobic reactors is combined. Once the AD microbes digest the influent BOD and produce biogas, the biogas is dehydrated, compressed and routed to a multifuel boiler. This boiler drives a turbine connected to a power generator at the plant supplying approximately 25 MMBtu per hour from the produced steam. The digester saves the facility money by recovering some of the energy from the wastewater contaminants, and the biogas will save an estimated $750,000 a year, according to Standlee.
 Project Liberty&rsquo;s digester, developed by Netherland-based Paques, is modeled after a small-scale AD operation at Poet&rsquo;s pilot plant in Scotland, South Dakota. The 1 million-gallon digester tank is fed a liquid stream from the whole stillage that contains residual organic materials. &ldquo;The organic material is fed into the reactor where the methanogens convert the organic material to methane (biogas), the biogas is then purified so it can be used to displace natural gas,&rdquo; Pierson says. &ldquo;Seed granular methogenic sludge will be transferred into the reactors in November, and organics will begin to be fed shortly after with an extended ramp-up for the sludge to acclimate to the feedstock.&rdquo;
 The biogas is used to fuel existing boilers and dryers. The steam that is not used at Project Liberty is sent to Poet&rsquo;s adjacent starch plant to displace natural gas use.
 Traditional Distinctions 
 Corn ethanol plants also use digesters as a way to replace energy sources with biogas, but feedstocks differ. Traditional plants require some feedstock outside of the ethanol production process. &ldquo;The main challenge and the first thing you need to address is the quantity and quality of the waste that you have available to feed the thing,&rdquo; Chrapko says.
 Corn plants can source feedstocks from various waste sources. &ldquo;The large number of dairies in our area led us to consider using biogas as a substitute for natural gas,&rdquo; says Lyle Schlyer, president of Calgren Renewable Fuels. &ldquo;Food waste from local plants will be taken at a later date.&rdquo;
 Andgar Corp.&rsquo;s installation of DVO&rsquo;s digester design will take in 55,000 gallons of waste per day into a 73-foot by 175-foot by 16-foot digester. This digester design is different from upright continuous mixed tanks. DVO&rsquo;s digester is a patented, two-stage mixed plug flow process in a concrete vessel partly below grade. Eric Dvorak, business development and design engineer with DVO, says it functions like a garden hose. &ldquo;Similar to a garden hose, you put the water in on one end, it has to travel all the way down to the other end and finally come out, so it&rsquo;s a set distance that material has to travel and if you put it in at a set rate you&rsquo;re going to have a set retention time,&rdquo; he says.
 The liquid height in the digester vessel is about 14 feet, but the top of the digester is about 16 feet. The two feet of air space across the entire digester is where the biogas collects and will come out a tube as it gets sent to the ethanol plant, Dvorak says.
 The biogas will offset 7,000 MMBtu of natural gas per month helping fuel a duct burner, which resides between the discharge of the turbine and the inlet of the steam generator. The electricity and steam cogeneration unit will be fueled partially with waste from Four J Farm Dairy, the closest source of manure. &ldquo;They also have plenty of farm land upon which to use the nutrient-rich liquid from the digester,&rdquo; Schlyer says.
 Calgren is also separating the fiber from the digester and trucking it back to Four J Farm Dairy, where it likely will be used primarily as cattle bedding material. Excess fiber can be sold as a fertilizer or a peat moss replacement, Dvorak says. DVO has this byproduct, &ldquo;Magic Dirt,&rdquo; currently being sold through Walmart stores.
 This integrated strategy of receiving waste from the dairy farm and looping it back as fertilizer or other byproducts is something Himark is also working on. The company&rsquo;s patented, integrated biorefinery design is used at its 10.5-MMgy Growing Power Hairy Hill project. Besides producing ethanol from high-starch wheat, DDGs are fed to cattle at the nearby feedlot in exchange for manure, which is fed to the digester to produce electricity and steam for the plant. The digester is also fed large amounts of residential organic waste from the Alberta area. GPHH will additionally produce 30,000 tons of premium biobased fertilizer per year.
 Trevor Nickel, general manager with Himark, says it was a no-brainer to combine AD and ethanol production, but actual implementation was less so. &ldquo;It was apparent fairly early on that the thermal energy generated when you have an energy production facility, like a digester, doesn&rsquo;t have a home it makes a lot of sense to use that in an ethanol plant,&rdquo; Nickel says. &ldquo;Not only could you find a home for that thermal energy, you could find a home for the distiller&rsquo;s grains.&rdquo;
 One Step Further
 Another reason operations are co-locating digesters is the high value for renewable identification numbers (RINs).&nbsp; One of the reasons Himark&rsquo;s AD operation was added at WPE&rsquo;s ethanol plant was derived from a business decision based on the company&rsquo;s projections that the D5 RIN value would be extremely high. Whether or not that ends up being the case, it will not affect the technology and other benefits in efficiencies, Chrapko says.
 Foody and his colleagues at Iogen are looking for ways to generate RINs from both the biogas and cellulosic ethanol. Iogen includes AD in all of its initial designs, and is taking it one step further by working with sources of biogas from cellulosic plants and other sources to provide the market with an alternative to compressed natural gas for RIN generation. &ldquo;We have been looking at increasing the yield of RINs from biomass and the first and most basic way to get RINs is to make ethanol,&rdquo; Foody says.
 Iogen is evaluating converting methane into hydrogen, and then transferring that hydrogen to a refinery to add to the finished fuel to generate RINs and Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s unique about this process is all the pieces are demonstrated, there is no additional process technology&mdash;it&rsquo;s really an approach for routing biogas into a qualifying application,&rdquo; Foody says. &ldquo;All the parts are already demonstrated, it&rsquo;s just the contracting path and the EPA approval that has not yet taken place.&rdquo;
 AD technology has developed over the millennia, and both traditional and nontraditional ethanol plants have been taking advantage of the opportunities biogas can add to operations. Whether moving digesters and ethanol plants into the same neighborhood is a good idea boils down to economics. Many are proving it&rsquo;s a decision worth making. &ldquo;I think that every ethanol plant out there deserves or needs to have one of these biogas plants,&rdquo; Chrapko says. &ldquo;If not only from an environmental point of view, but definitely from an economic point of view.&rdquo; Author: Katie Fletcher Staff Writer, Biomass Magazine 701-738-4920 <a href="mailto:kfletcher@bbiinternational.com">kfletcher@bbiinternational.com</a>

AD at ABENGOA: Abengoaâ€™s cellulosic ethanol plant is located in Hugoton, Kansas, an area with limited water resources. The cellulosic technology recycles treated wastewater to the process to conserve overall water use.

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Lately, cellulosic ethanol plant startups have basked in the bioenergy limelight.  While less celebrated, anaerobic digesters are adding value to operations and seem to be trending in blueprints.

Good Neighbors

In July, when the U.S. EPA published a final rule that expanded cellulosic fuel pathways to include renewable compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) derived from various sources of biogas, a surge of cellulosic fuel credits from biogas was widely anticipated. After two months of reporting, speculation proved correct. August and September saw record volumes of cellulosic renewable information numbers (RINs). These high volumes were not generated from liquid fuels like ethanol or renewable gasoline, but from renewable CNG and LNG.
 In August, the EPA reported 3.5 million cellulosic RINs from renewable CNG and LNG. In September, cellulosic RINs from renewable CNG and LNG surged to 7.5 million. This column went to press before October volumes were reported, but I expect to see similar volumes.
 Only 77,000 cellulosic RINs were generated during the first seven months of this year. For the entire calendar year of 2013, only 423,000 cellulosic RINs were generated. Expanding the cellulosic fuel pathways to include renewable CNG and LNG from biogas generated from landfills, wastewater treatment facilities, or agricultural digesters that process manure, crop residues or green waste is helping meet the volumetric targets for the renewable fuel standard (RFS). This comes at a time when the very first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facilities are beginning to come on line; thus, we will be seeing higher and higher volumes of cellulosic fuel reported each month. In order to keep the positive momentum, which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and diversify our fuel supply with cleaner sources, the RFS must remain intact.
 The generation of 7.5 million cellulosic RINs in September sounds impressive, but how does that translate into fuel? The amount of renewable CNG and LNG from 7.5 million cellulosic RINs is enough to run 471 garbage trucks for an entire year. The equivalent of 471 garbage trucks would be burning renewable fuel instead of conventional diesel, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve local air quality.
 Based on internal analysis conducted by the Great Plains Institute, the full potential for renewable CNG and LNG is roughly 30 billion gallons of fuel annually. We are only scratching the surface on accessing biogas&rsquo; potential as a source of transportation fuel. By reaching 10 percent of the full potential, we could run approximately 190,000 garbage trucks and an additional 50,000 heavy-duty vehicles on renewable CNG and LNG each year. This would exceed the needs of the current garbage truck fleet in the U.S.
 The recovery of biogas from organic materials in landfills, wastewater treatment facilities, and agricultural operations is nothing new. It has been happening for decades, even centuries. However, the RFS is providing a premium market for biogas that can be cleaned and compressed to be used as a transportation fuel. Renewable CNG and LNG can help to provide a renewable fuel source for the heavy-duty vehicle market, where there are not as many renewable options. These are exciting developments for the biogas industry, and they will have positive impacts for our environment, communities and economy. Author: Amanda Bilek Government Affairs Manager, Great Plains Institute 612-278-7118 <a href="mailto:abilek@gpisd.net">abilek@gpisd.net</a>

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 Renewable CNG and LNG can help to provide a renewable fuel source for the heavy-duty vehicle market, where there are not as many renewable options. 

Biogas Racks Up Cellulosic RINs 

Republic Services Inc. has announced the development of two new landfill gas-to-energy (LGTE) projects at its Forward and Vasco Road Landfills, both located in the Bay Area of California. The combined projects will generate 8.6 MW of energy for the local electric grid, or enough energy to power more than 5,100 area homes annually. Nationwide, Republic Services operates 72 LGTE projects. These projects harness enough electricity to meet the needs of 192,000 homes, or gas to heat another 201,000 homes.
 &ldquo;Republic Services is to be applauded for having the foresight to help advance both the Vasco Road Landfill and Forward Landfill projects to help meet their economic and sustainability goals through the measurable financial and energy benefits these initiatives provide,&rdquo; said Michael Bakas, senior vice president of Ameresco. &ldquo;In order to bring these projects to fruition, Ameresco partnered once again with Silicon Valley Power, a very progressive utility determined to provide the residents and local business community with clean energy at affordable prices.&rdquo;

Republic Services opens 2 new landfill gas projects in California

Biogas production could contribute 67.5 million D3 cellulosic biofuel identification numbers (RINs) to the U.S. renewable fuel standard (RFS) volume obligations in 2014, says Genscape in a recent white paper.&nbsp; Cellulosic ethanol production could contribute up to 9 million RINs if active plants achieve full capacity in the last four months of the year.
 If full capacities are reached in 2015, the report predicts biogas facilities could generate additional 162 million D3 RINs next year, with cellulosic ethanol facilities generating an additional 91 million D3 RINs. Cellulosic biogas has the potential for rapid expansion, says the report.&nbsp; Citing information released by the the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas, Genscape estimates the current production of transportation-specific liquid natural gas and compressed natural gas for this year would amount to 40 million ethanol-equivalent gallons per year from 38 facilities, and the coalition&rsquo;s members have committed to increasing that capacity to 141 million ethanol-equivalent gallons by the end of the year.

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Cellulosic RIN generation takes off 

Seeing is believing. This adage was the driving force behind facilitation of National Bioenergy Day, which just celebrated its second year with a series of nationwide events held on and around Oct. 22. Last year, Bob Cleaves, president of the Biomass Power Association, said the goal was to bring audiences to biomass facilities to witness firsthand what goes on. Building on the inaugural's momentum, the BPA saw participation nearly double this year to around 50 coordinated events in 22 U.S. states and Canada.&nbsp;
 The events provided opportunities for those attending to equip themselves with factual information about bioenergy. Cleaves considers the day an important vehicle for bioenergy proponents to rally together to dispel the many myths about bioenergy that persist. If nothing else, an awareness of local bioenergy use can be accomplished. &ldquo;Many events show people there is bioenergy being used in their area and they may not even know about it,&rdquo; says Jay Smrekar, civil engineer with the U.S. Forest Service.
 Events featured displays and demonstrations of biomass-to-electricity, thermal heat generated from wood, wood pellet manufacturing and forestry. National Bioenergy Day serves as a means to unite all aspects of the bioenergy supply chain, including foresters, landowners, manufacturers, power producers and consumers. Although the event is national in scope, the focus is on the local level. Or, as Cleave puts it, &ldquo;The role bioenergy plays in communities.&rdquo;
 One such local event was held at the newly constructed U.S. Forest Service Chippewa National Forest Ranger Station in Walker, Minnesota, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified (LEED) facility. As part of the construction for the LEED federal government certification program, the USFS installed a WoodMaster Commercial Series-CS80 pellet boiler. This bioenergy installation has an output of 272,000 Btu per hour and will serve as the facility&rsquo;s primary source of heat during the cold Minnesota winters. The pellet boiler is fully integrated with a propane boiler that will run when the facility needs to be heated in the morning and cooled in the afternoon. The pellets feeding the system arrive in bulk from Marth Wood Shavings Supply Inc. They produce an average of 8,000 Btu per pound with less than 5 percent average moisture and 0.5 percent average ash content. They are automatically fed into the pellet boiler from a 29.9-ton Schuld/Bushnell storage bin located just outside the facility.
 Visitors to the Walker Bioenergy Day event had the opportunity to tour the LEED facility and visit with the boiler manufacturer, pellet producer and representatives from the USFS about the boiler application. &ldquo;Our hope is, as people look at these different installations, they will begin a discussion about how they can use bioenergy themselves,&rdquo; Smrekar says.
 This thermal application event was joined by other bioenergy celebrations across the nation. SunWood Biomass hosted an event at the Waitsfield, Vermont, Washington County Courthouse, where a 1 million-Btu wood pellet boiler system, consisting of three boilers with 1,300 gallon heat storage, heat the 45,000-square-foot building and domestic hot water loads. Greenwood Clean Energy opened the doors of its Development and Innovation Center in Redwood, Washington, during the week of Bioenergy Day, inviting local residents and lawmakers to learn more about the bioenergy industry and Greenwood wood boilers.
 The company held another event in Burdett, New York, which was accompanied by other events across the state over the week in celebration of Bioenergy Day. A tour of SUNY-ESF's wood pellet-fired, combined-heat-and-power system, which is among the first in the nation, was part of the state&rsquo;s activities on Oct. 22, as was a discussion of the state&rsquo;s $27 million Renewable Heat NY Program. Oct. 23, the New York Forestry Resource Center offered a tour to see a wood pellet boiler, a residential high-efficiency/low-emissions cordwood boiler in action, and a screening of Community Biomass Energy Film in Rensselaer, which was followed by a residential pellet heating open house in Ithaca on Oct. 25. The series of New York events concluded with the U.S. Army and ReEnergy Holdings LLC participating in a renewable energy project signing ceremony to commemorate the largest renewable energy project in the U.S. Army history at Fort Drum.
 Mt. Poso Cogeneration Co. and its partners DTE Energy Services and Macpherson Energy Corporation hosted an open house for Kern County workforce development organizations and students to showcase job opportunities in the energy field. The 44-MW Mt. Poso plant was completely converted to run on biomass fuel, sourced from construction waste, tree trimming and agricultural resources, instead of coal. Murray State University in Kentucky hosted representatives from statewide agencies in the energy sector to observe Bioenergy Day. Sessions included a discussion of energy strategies, as well as the official lighting of Murray State&rsquo;s bioburners and an announcement of a state wood energy grant. The bioburners use the animal manure from the University of Kentucky Ag Equine Program to heat the arena.
 A number of other events were hosted across all regions of the country, celebrating locally the national effort to spread information about nature&rsquo;s energy source. &ldquo;The more awareness there is about bioenergy, the more use there will be. The more use, the better the markets are, and the better the markets, the more manufacturers and suppliers and the more innovation,&rdquo; Smrekar says. &ldquo;In the end, there will be more environmental benefits for everybody.&rdquo; Author: Katie Fletcher Staff Writer, Biomass Magazine 701-738-4920 <a href="mailto:kfletcher@bbiinternational.com">kfletcher@bbiinternational.com</a>

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With double the events from last year, National Bioenergy Day is evolving into an annual tradition.


Test to Tradition 

As I read through copious news releases, articles and general information about the biomass industry, I reflect on my personal experiences and lessons I&rsquo;ve learned growing up in the wood products industry. What I find most compelling is the continued impact the use of steam has had on our industry and society.
 During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Industrial Revolution began in England, spreading to Europe and then to North America. Our lives drastically changed forever when James Watt developed an engine that used steam to pump water out of mines. Later developments added the circular motion onto the engine, and with the invention of these circular gears, factories could begin to utilize the steam engine. Thus, powered by steam, the Industrial Revolution was born.
 I believe combined heat and power (CHP) and colocation played a major role in the Industrial Revolution. I was fortunate enough to grow up in the small town of Pollock, Louisiana, which was once home to the largest sawmill in the U.S. and possibly the world, during the late 1800s. This sawmill used steam engines to power the band saws, head rigs, edgers and other equipment. During this time, sawmills revolutionized the use of their waste products&mdash;sawdust, bark and chips&mdash;to make steam in the boiler.&nbsp; As a result, we have been utilizing CHP for quite some time.
 When I think about CHP, what comes to mind is the use of steam as an efficient approach to generate power and thermal energy from a fuel source. Of course, during the Industrial Revolution, the steam was directly used in the process as the power, whereas today, we may use the steam to turn a turbine that produces electricity that can be supplied as renewable energy, or heat for district heating or for use in other parts of the manufacturing process.
 In my lifetime, I&rsquo;ve been fortunate enough to be involved in projects within industries that have used these same ideas for generating steam, which leads me to think about the future. We&rsquo;ve all read about steam used in district heating and power generation for the grid. In my vision of the future, there will be some mix of this, along with the emergence of new industries not yet defined. New products such as biochar, liquid fuels, and chemicals all made from some form of biomass will be aided directly in their process by the use of steam or by colocation to the generation of steam. Many of these processes, like the steam engine, have been developing slowly over a period of years and progressing through expensive and limited devices. Like steam power, they will reach the point of practical application, perhaps triggering a new revolution of clean renewable products and forms of energy.
 I&rsquo;m excited about the future of biomass energy and its potential for widespread use. I believe the use of renewable resources can meet a large percentage of the total U.S. electrical needs, while drastically reducing the electrical sector&rsquo;s greenhouse gas emissions and water use. But in order for this vision to become reality, we must all play a role in discussing biomass openly and honestly with the public, explaining critical components such as sustainability practices in harvesting biomass. We even need to look outside the borders of the U.S. to learn from other countries and how they have successfully implemented renewable policies and equipment. Author: Justin Price Principal, Evergreen Engineering <a href="mailto:jprice@eeeug.com">jprice@eeeug.com</a> 541-484-4771

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New products such as biochar, liquid fuels, and chemicals all made from some form of biomass will be aided directly in their process by the use of steam or by colocation to the generation of steam. 

Paving the Way to a  Clean Energy Revolution

The U.S. EIA has released its short-term energy and winter fuels outlook, which predicts that homeowners will enjoy overall lower heating expenditures this winter. Prices, however, for natural gas are expected to be up 6 percent, with electricity prices in the Midwest expected to be 4 percent higher. Electricity prices in the Northeast are predicted to be up 2 percent. Lower prices will be paid for propane and heating oil, and users can expect to see bills 27 and 15 percent lower, respectively.
 The report indicates that while there are no readily available sources for estimating wood consumption or prices at the regional or national level, as of 2013, 2.5 million U.S. households use wood as a primary heating fuel, a 38 percent increase since 2004. About 8 percent of households use wood as a secondary source of heat, making wood second only to electricity as a supplemental heating fuel. New England&rsquo;s wood home heating percentage is nearly twice the national rate at 20 percent, or 1.1 million homes, according to the report, and is mainly used in rural households.

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EIA releases winter fuels outlook 

Upon examination, stark differences between Malheur Pellet Mill and Appalachian Wood Pellets become apparent.&nbsp; Malheur Pellet Mill is situated in north central Oregon and draws on the area&rsquo;s inventories of ponderosa pine, much of it harvested during stewardship activities on federal lands, while Appalachian Wood Pellets sits in a broad swath of privately owned, mixed hardwoods in northeastern West Virginia. Appalachian Wood Pellets markets its finished products to independent and chain retailers and must compete in a crowded marketplace. Malheur Pellet Mill is anchored by a handful of institutional customers it services with bulk delivery and has filled orders from Asian customers when opportunities presented themselves.
 As different as these two operations are, they share a commonality that largely defines how each came to be and advance as businesses. Malheur Pellet Mill and Appalachian Wood Pellets both grew out of existing sawmill operations, depend upon them to operate, and are an integral component of&nbsp; larger forest products operations.
 The Great Recession of 2008 hit the forest products industry hard. Housing starts plummeted, and demand for dimensional lumber went with it. These market conditions were felt acutely in John Day, Oregon, and Malheur Lumber Company. The facility, long dependent on timber sales from the U.S. Forest Service, was struggling to stay afloat in 2012, as the economy continued to sputter and timber sales from the federal government withered.&nbsp;
 Recognizing that allowing the area&rsquo;s only sawmill to fold would have a devastating effect on the local economy and virtually end any forest management that was occurring in the area, a unique coalition of loggers, business owners and conservationists successfully lobbied for a 10-year forest stewardship contract for the Malheur National Forest, making the economics of timber harvests from these stands work. The stewardship contract generates specific task orders for a particular section of the stand, and Iron Triangle LLC, the logging company that holds the contract, begins the work of sustainably managing the stand. While some of the felled trees are &ldquo;sound and round,&rdquo; many are not, and this presented a challenge for Malheur Lumber Company&rsquo;s management team.
 &ldquo;We were not so sure we were going to be able to make lumber [out of it] but we had a beautiful facility and we wanted to keep people working in our community,&rdquo; says Bruce Daucsavage, president of Malheur Pellet Mill&rsquo;s parent company, Ochoco Lumber Company. Colocating pellet production capabilities alongside the existing sawmill operation provided an outlet for the trees and materials that were required to be removed by the stewardship contract but weren&rsquo;t good candidates for conversion into dimensional lumber.
 The pellet facility and the requisite infrastructure cost over $6 million. The Ochoco team pulled together some American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds, state bonds, USDA monies and its own cash to get the facility built. &ldquo;We involved a lot of folks in this little project,&rdquo; Daucsavage recalls. &ldquo;Local leaders in the community, our judges, our commissioners. The state of Oregon has been absolutely fantastic. It goes on and on. I looked under as many rocks as I could to find grants, low-interest loans, and of course, our own cash, and here we sit today, still trying to expand the facility.&rdquo;
 Well-steeped in operating sawmills, the team counted on an easy deployment of onsite pellet production. &ldquo;We were naive, too. We thought &lsquo;we can make the best lumber in the world from the best trees in the world. Making pellets, this has got to be easy.&rsquo;&nbsp; We were fooled. We made an assumption that pellets were a very simple product that were easy to make. They&rsquo;re not. You&rsquo;ve got to be on it constantly.&rdquo;
 Appalachian Trail
 A sagging economy also catalyzed the development of Appalachian Wood Pellets, but for different reasons. &ldquo;At the time, the byproducts markets appeared to be at risk,&rdquo; says Appalachian Wood Pellets general manager Don Wagner. &ldquo;The paper industry did not appear to be strong and had gone through some very hard times. So that was a big part of it, controlling our own destiny relative to the byproducts from the mill.&rdquo;
 While Appalachian Wood Pellets is colocated with the Allegheny Wood Products Kingwood facility, it is very much folded into the larger Allegheny Wood Products organization. With an annual throughput of over 170 million board feet, the company is a major player in the dimensional hardwood market, selling most of its inventory to OEMs who use it to build an array of consumer products.
 Allegheny Wood Products&rsquo; journey into pellet production was the next evolution of a business model it has been pursuing for decades. &ldquo;It was the continuation of vertical integration,&rdquo; says Wagner. &ldquo;When John Crites started his company 40 years ago, he was sawing green lumber. He would sell that to companies that would kiln dry it. They were getting the value-added marketplace rewards, and he recognized there was an opportunity there, so he started putting in kilns and drying his own material.&rdquo;
 When Appalachian Wood Pellets was brought online in 2008, the Kingwood facility was not operating at its maximum capacity and unable to satisfy the fiber requirements of the newly commissioned pellet mill. Additional feedstock was trucked in from other Allegheny Wood Products facilities. As housing markets rebounded, Kingwood was able to begin operating at capacity, generating the requisite feedstock for the pellet plant. Fiber from other facilities is still trucked in, though only to meet species-specific blend ratios.
 Wagner and his team leveraged the fabrication and machining expertise they already had on staff to get the pellet facility built and commissioned. &ldquo;Obviously, any time you commission a facility like this you run into issues,&rdquo; he says.&nbsp; &ldquo;The biggest issue that you have is not whether the Andritz mill will do what it is supposed to do, but you run into issues with material handling, when something is bridging or not carrying the design capacity from the manufacturer, whether it is an auger or a drag chain or whatever. We had those standard issues starting the new facility, challenges that needed to be overcome, but from the time that we bumped the first motor, 12 days later we went to seven days a week, 24 hours a day [production], and we&rsquo;ve never looked back.&rdquo;
 Wagner&rsquo;s and Appalachian Wood Pellets&rsquo; feedstock situation is enviable. &ldquo;We do not buy raw materials from any outside source,&rdquo; says Wagner. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had people say, &lsquo;Boy I wish I had your scenario. You never want for raw materials.&rsquo; I tell them, &lsquo;What you don&rsquo;t understand is that works two ways. Not only do I get all of the raw materials I need right when I need them, but when I don&rsquo;t need them, I can turn them off.&rdquo; This competitive advantage is made possible by the colocation strategy executed by Allegheny Wood Products and Appalachian Wood Pellets. &ldquo;From an operations point of view, they are absolutely tied together as one,&rdquo; Wagner comments.
 To Market To Market
 Wagner&rsquo;s role at Appalachian Wood Pellets is finding customers for the plant&rsquo;s finished product. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got 35 years of marketing of consumer products,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I have a very good relationship with all of our customers nationwide.&rdquo;
 Leveraging that base of experience, Wagner has worked to win business from a handful of national big box chains. &ldquo;That part of my business plan was challenged by the ownership of the company because of limited experience and horror stories they had heard about dealing with the big box retailers&mdash;and nobody likes what is happening in the marketplace as far as the big box retailers taking a larger share out of the retail pie&mdash;but its reality. I had to convince them of that.&rdquo;
 &nbsp;&ldquo;What I&rsquo;ve had to deal with my whole life is &lsquo;Where are the consumer dollars spent?&rsquo; And every year, more and more consumer dollars are spent at those retailers, which are getting better and better at getting those consumer dollars. Someone who comes into this industry with the attitude that &lsquo;I&rsquo;m not going to deal with them because they are hard to deal with,&rsquo; is going to lose.&rdquo;
 Charged with moving significantly less volume while being removed from large population centers, Daucsavage and his team have worked to grow their customer base organically within the community. &ldquo;We like to keep our pellets as close to home as we can,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The schools, for example. There are two schools in our region, two hospitals, community centers and the airport, which, for heating, has replaced its bunker fuel systems with pellet burners. Now they&rsquo;re heating their facilities with our pellets, so we deliver in bulk. For the community as a whole, this thing has turned out to be fantastic.&rdquo;
 Results Are In
 Both Appalachian Wood Pellets and Malheur Pellet Mill are less than a decade old, and both are already achieving the operational and financial goals they&rsquo;ve set for themselves. &ldquo;We look at things in a different way than most companies do, because we are a partnership,&rdquo; says Daucsavage. &ldquo;The most important thing to our company is cash flow without a doubt. For the last couple of years, we have cash flowed and that&rsquo;s fantastic. The bottom line is certainly important, but cash flow, is the most important thing. It works beautifully within the ownership structure that we have in place.&rdquo;
 &ldquo;The financial results have exceeded our expectation,&rdquo; offers Wagner. &ldquo;A couple of cold winters have helped that. When we made the decision to go, it was a very bad market, but the market has swung. We have been able to exceed the production numbers that we expected.&rdquo;
 For Daucsavage, the economic success of the pellet production investment is complemented by the operational efficiencies gained and how it is supported by the stewardship contract. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re able to generate a revenue source and keep people employed in rural Oregon to keep those communities viable. At the same time, we&rsquo;re improving forest health. It&rsquo;s such a win-win.&rdquo;
 &nbsp;For Wagner, who enjoys easier access to a more diverse market, the outlook and long-term prognosis is easier to diagnose. &ldquo;This market is going to continue to expand,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We are always looking at opportunities. We&rsquo;ve got an infinite amount of raw material available. We just have to look at the strategic opportunity afforded by our market basket of raw materials. We are very bullish on the pellet market, and we are looking to expand. We have demand that far exceeds our production capacity right now.&rdquo; Author: Tim Portz Executive Editor, Biomass Magazine <a href="mailto:tportz@bbiinternational.com">tportz@bbiinternational.com</a> 701-738-4969

THE SUM OF ITS PARTS: Malheur Lumber's pellet facility is just one component of an interdependent system that relies on forest stewardship contracts, sawmill operations and pellet production to stay viable. This carefully planned model kept an import

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GUARANTEEING FRESH FEEDSTOCK: The two concrete silos next to Appalachian Wood Pelletâ€™s facility hold about three daysâ€™ worth of feedstock. The inbound feedstock is protected from the elements and converted into wood pellets before the material ha

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Appalachian Wood Pellets and Malheur Pellet Mill grew out of existing sawmill operations that learned to leverage a colocation strategy for maximum operational benefits.  

Hand and Glove

Canfor Corp. plans to colocate pellet plants at its sawmill sites in Chetwynd and Fort St. John, British Columbia. The facilities will have a combined capacity of 175,000 metric tons of pellets per year. The pellet plants will be constructed and operated in partnership with Pacific Bioenergy Corp.
 A long-term agreement is in place with a power utility customer for the sale of pellets produced at the plants. The total investment of $58 million will include electrical self-generation capacity of 3 MW from a combined-heat-and-power (CHP) plant located at the Chetwynd site. The CHP system is supported through BC Hydro's Power Smart Load Displacement Program.
 Feedstock for the plants will come primarily from the associated sawmill at each site, though some additional material will come from other Canfor mills and the open market, said Corinne Stavness, director of public affairs and responsibility at Canadian Forest Products Ltd.
 Construction is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter with the plants scheduled to commence production during the third and fourth quarters of next year.

Canfor plans 2 British Columbia pellet projects

Enviva has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed $100 million initial public offering (IPO) and announced plans to acquire Green Circle Bio Energy Inc.
 The IPO was filed by Enviva Partners LP. While Enviva operates five pellet plants, including those in Wiggins and Amory in Mississippi; Ahoskie and Northampton in North Carolina; and Southampton, Virginia, SEC filings indicate Enviva Holdings LP, Enviva Partners&rsquo; sponsor, will retain ownership of the Southampton facility. Green Circle Bio Energy and its 650,000-ton-per-year facility in Cottondale, Florida, are being acquired by Enviva Development Holdings LLC. That facility is expected to be contributed to Enviva Partners. As such, Enviva Partners LP is expected to own the Amory, Wiggins, Ahoskie, Northampton and Cottondale facilities upon the close of the IPO.
 In addition to the Cottondale plant, Green Circle previously announced the proposed development of a 500,000-ton-per-year plant in Mississippi.&nbsp;&nbsp; Morton Neraas, president and CEO of Green Circle, recently told Biomass Magazine that at present, it is not anticipated any changes will be made to the project due to the change in ownership.

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Enviva files $100 million IPO, announces acquisition of Green Circle Bio Energy  

On a gloomy, chilly September day, the vacant coal yard that sits alongside Ontario Power Generation&rsquo;s Atikokan Generating Station resembles an empty graveyard of sorts, a relic of a once-thriving industry that will soon be laid to rest in Ontario.
 Idle after 28 years of operation, the coal yard and its assets are being preserved and maintained. A view from atop the main building exhibits a long, closed conveyor that stems from the old coal transfer building, a tired arm desperately grasping on to its only existing connection to the power plant. At the opposite end of the plant site, a pair of concrete pellet storage silos rival the height of the new boiler building, protecting fuel from the light rain that has begun to mist from the gray sky above.
 Meanwhile, the wood pellet-fueled station hums with life, populated with an enthusiastic staff that is eager to show the world the energy feat that they&rsquo;ve become an important part of. Most were directly involved in the conversion work, including station manager Wray Clement, who, in his personalized hard hat, stands ready to explain the plant&rsquo;s retrofits and workings, proud to tell plant visitors that he was born and raised in Atikokan.
 The town of about 1,300 was &ldquo;shocked&rdquo; when it received the word that AGS would close, according to Mayor Dennis Brown, as it meant &ldquo;a huge loss to the community&mdash;about 90 full-time jobs and lots of spinoff jobs.&rdquo; Brown&rsquo;s soft-spoken and polite demeanor somewhat belies his papa-bear nature when it comes to his town, and he&rsquo;s eager to share the story of how determined town officials and citizens brainstormed and stuck necks out to prevent the town from losing much-needed jobs, including taking temporary ownership of a bankrupt fiber mill until a new owner could be found.
 Excitement and pride are in the air, and rightfully so. As of mid-September, Atikokan Generating Station became the largest woody biomass power station in North America, and not only that, but the first power plant to convert from coal to wood pellets. Having proved that it can indeed be done, OPG has turned the heads of energy producers throughout the U.S. and Canada.&nbsp;
 Plant Workings in a Nutshell
 Trucks deliver fuel to the facility above five days per week depending on fuel manufacturing operations. AGS&rsquo;s fuel is transported from Rentech Inc.&rsquo;s Atikokan pellet plant just 11 scenic and forest-packed miles away&mdash;Ontario&rsquo;s renowned canoeing paradise, Quetico Provincial Park, is just miles from both&mdash;as well as Resolute Forest Products, both of which recently finished commissioning new pellet plants. Today, a black and red Gardewine semitrailer sits in front of the AGS pellet unloading area, seemingly dwarfed into a child&rsquo;s toy truck by the sheer size of the fuel storage, handling and receiving infrastructure, work that was performed by Aecon Group Inc.
 Trucks take about 15 minutes to self-unload onto a feeder, explains Brent Boyko, the face of OPG&rsquo;s biomass business sector. Don&rsquo;t let his title fool you&mdash;Boyko knows the mechanics of the plant as well as anybody, as he worked as station manager for nearly four years prior to taking on his new role of expanding OPG&rsquo;s biomass endeavors.
 From the feeder, pellets are fed into a bucket elevator that lifts them to another transfer conveyor for movement into the storage silos, each 44 feet high and 68 feet around with a 5,000-ton capacity. In contrast to the simple-looking exterior, each is equipped with spiral chutes for fuel drop reduction, temperature monitoring systems, aeration, recirculation and inert gas injection systems, as well as explosion panels and dust control systems.
 While serving as pellets&rsquo; first major defense against the elements, on occasion, the silos may be skipped. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a bypass system belt into the unloading system, which allows us to top-load fuel directly into the process, bypassing the silos,&rdquo; Boyko explains. &ldquo;This has proven valuable during the commissioning phase, because it allowed us to burn wood prior to storage silos being fully complete.&rdquo; From the storage silos, a series of conveyors pull pellets into another bucket elevator that feeds a process conveyor that transports fuel into the power house. There, it enters a series of five bunkers, each with a surge capacity of 45 metric tons, replacing existing in-plant, 750-metric-ton bunkers.
 &ldquo;From there, it&rsquo;s run through a feeder and calibrated to control the amount of fuel based on the power we want to generate,&rdquo; Boyko says. From the feeder, pellets drop into one of five massive, cylindrical MPS-type pulverizers, which have been modified to increase velocity and reduce classification. Each pulverizer is equipped with a white canister, Clement points out, an explosion suppression system that injects sodium bicarbonate into the chamber.
 Pellets are ground to the consistency of saw dust, and blown into 15 purpose-built Doosan Mark III biomass burners. &ldquo;At that point, the fuel is combusted and produces steam that spins a turbine, which connects to the grid and produces electricity,&rdquo; Boyko says.
 Besides Aecon and Doosan, OPG&rsquo;s other major contractor was Nordmin Engineering Ltd., which provided controls system integration services for an extensive overhaul on all control systems in the facility, replacing the old panel system that was installed in the late &lsquo;80s when the plant was first commissioned. &ldquo;One thing we did was put in a hardwire panel, so that if there&rsquo;s a problem with programming, one can physically hit a stop button,&rdquo; says Clement.
 In all, the plant takes about five hours to transition from a cold shut-down to full operations. While AGS has received the bulk of attention, OPG has another conversion project underway 130 miles east of Atikokan, one that will also utilize pellets, but not traditional white pellets.
 Thunder Bay
 Quietly waiting in Thunder Bay next to the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority&rsquo;s Mission Island Marsh is the Thunder Bay Generating Station, another of OPG&rsquo;s plants that previously burned coal and has since ceased.&nbsp; The plant won&rsquo;t quite see the glamorous conversion and restart AGS did, but it will also make a name for itself through utilization of an innovative pellet fuel.
 In its prime, the 306-MW facility burned low-sulfur, Powder River Basin subbituminous coal. Braving the elements where previous fuel was piled sits a small mountain of black pellets that from a distance very much resembles coal, but upon examination of a handful can leave one guessing&mdash;something left in the oven far too long, perhaps.
 Project engineer Steve Carlson explains that the station, which went into service in the 1980s, burned its last load of coal in April. &ldquo;In the fall of last year, we began looking at bringing advanced biomass fuel on site, and in order to do that, we had to understand the characteristics of the fuel,&rdquo; he says, which included material handling tests and explosivity tests. &ldquo;We compared dusting capabilities to PBR coal and found that it is pretty similar&mdash;almost exactly the same&mdash;the only difference being the ignition sensitivity of the fuel,&rdquo; Carlson says.
 All of the testing cultivated modifications to the material handling system, dust collection capabilities and fuel storage bunkers, followed by more fuel testing that resulted in temporary modifications of two pulverizers. &ldquo;We were able to achieve full-blown throughput on those two pulverizers,&rdquo; he says.
 Following those trials, last fall, OPG brought in 300 tons of advanced biomass&mdash;steam-treated pellets&mdash;from two different suppliers. &ldquo;In January, when it was 40 degrees [Fahrenheit] below zero with lots of snow, we wanted to see how it would handle in cold and extreme weather. There were no problems, we just pushed them with snow plows, if you can believe that,&rdquo; he says, motioning to the pile of pellets that sits in the fuel yard. &ldquo;That pile has been on the property for well over a year&mdash;we&rsquo;re measuring water uptake and self-heating characteristics, all in an effort to understand how it will do on the ground for an extended period of time.&rdquo;
 As Carlson speaks, less than five miles away, a boat at the Port of Thunder Bay&rsquo;s Keefer Terminal is unloading 1,200 tons of advanced wood pellets sent from Zilkha Biomass Energy. &ldquo;Delivered, it has about 2 percent fines in it,&rdquo; Carlson says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll use this new fuel for commissioning and capacity check tests.&rdquo;
 He adds that on a Btu-per-pellet basis, the cost paid for the advanced biomass pellets is very similar to that the white wood pellets used at AGS.
 With study work and initial testing complete, OPG has deemed Thunder Bay a viable capital project, so the next objective is to minimalize additional investment in the facility. The capital budget for this conversion project is $5 million, according to Carlson, and what remains to be done includes an enhancement of the dust suppression and collection system at some transfer points, addition of belt metal and heat detectors, and addition of safety equipment inside the power house.
 Once fully converted, the Thunder Bay station will be used as a peaking unit and come on line when it is called upon.
 While the initial driver of both the Thunder Bay and the Atikokan Generating Station was a 2009 provincial law that requires all coal-fired power stations to convert or shut down, the impact of the stations&rsquo; transitions from coal to renewable fuel will likely reach far beyond the towns of Atikokan and Thunder Bay, much further than the borders of Ontario and Canada. Turning the heads and engaging the attention of utilities around North America that are mapping out their plans for the future, Ontario Power Generation has proven out a concept that undoubtedly be replicated elsewhere.
 Author: Anna Simet Managing Editor, Biomass Magazine <a href="mailto:asimet@bbiinternational.com">asimet@bbiinternational.com</a> 701-738-4961
&nbsp;
Catching up with Aecon
 With 280 of its employees and subcontractors on site during peak construction, Aecon Inc. made its debut into the pellet world with the design and construction of AGS&rsquo;s fuel handling and storage system. The company employs 12,000-plus people and has a presence mostly in the mining, fertilizer, coal power, steel and iron ore sectors, performing a great deal of conveyor work.&nbsp; Besides its first pellet project, the AGS conversion marks Aecon&rsquo;s first material handling and storage engineering, procurement and construction contract, according to Jason Smith, project engineer.&nbsp; &ldquo;We took what we knew from EPC deliveries in the past and material handling work that we&rsquo;ve done, and brought the two together,&rdquo; he says.
 On main differences between other work Aecon has done, Smith says the risk around wood dust and the potential for explosions was a new factor for consideration. &ldquo;While we were in the design phase, there were a couple of wood facilities in British Columbia that experienced fires and explosions, so a lot of work and attention went into preventing creation of dust, trying to minimize and extract it.&rdquo; Aecon used Jenike &amp; Johannson to define flow characteristics of the wood pellets and particles to optimize the design of the conveyors, chutes and silos, and researchers at Dalhousie University helped define the explosive parameters of the wood particles.
 While safety design was top of mind&mdash;for both employees and asset protection&mdash;another aspect that posed a challenge was scheduling of the project, Smith adds. &ldquo;A lot of attention went into that [scheduling] so we weren&rsquo;t executing civil work in the winter months&mdash;we tried to minimize that. When your temperatures reach minus 35 degrees Celsius, it becomes very costly to do construction in the winter, and it also affects the quality of work.&rdquo;
 A final key concept of Aecon&rsquo;s fuel infrastructure work at AGS was designing a very compact footprint to keep the overall capital cost competitive, according to Smith. Aecon was also awarded a traditional construction contract to complete retrofitting work in the plant, he added, which included retrofitting each of the boiler&rsquo;s 15 3.5-metric-ton burners.
&nbsp;
CBI'S Conversion Contribution
 Rentech Inc., one of Atikokan Generating Station&rsquo;s fuel suppliers, has completed a conversion of its own by transforming a wood processing facility previously owned by Fulghum Fibers into a 100,000-ton-per-year pellet plant. At the same time, it is also converting a similar facility in Wawa, Ontario, to produce 450,000 tons of pellets.
 At the front end of the conversions are atypical raw material sizing systems. The flail debarkers and chippers supplied by Continental Biomass Industries produces microchips in a single pass as a first step, rather than the traditional, two-step method of chip production followed by grinding. CBI has installed a single-line flail chipper in Atikokan, and at Wawa, a flail chipper and a standalone chipper, said Matt Skinner, stationary systems manager.
 &ldquo;At Atikokan, we start with a 50-foot-long chain infeed conveyor that takes logs inside of the building&mdash;it sticks out about 40 feet outside the enclosed building&mdash;and conveys the logs into the two-roll flail that debarks the logs, and directly behind that is our 8400 chipper,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;We bypass one whole grinding step by going directly from the round wood coming in to debarking, chipping, and then straight to the dryer.&rdquo;
 Start up at Atikokan was scheduled for the week of Oct. 27, and the crew at CBI was ready to make the final touches. &ldquo;Everything mechanically is already set into place, but we will load the controls program and test all wiring on machines,&rdquo; says CBI CEO Anders Ragnarsson. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t run those big motors in our New Hampshire shop; we have to wait until their permanently wired on site.&rdquo;
 What is done at the shop is complete equipment assembly, according to Ragnarsson. &ldquo;We engineer these systems to be transportable in the largest modules possible,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;Everything is prefit and preassembled. Then we break it apart into the biggest modules we can. It keeps assembly and rigging at a minimum and we ensure everything fits&mdash;it saves time.&rdquo;

FOSSIL FUELLESS FORERUNNER: Previously a coal consumer, Atikokan Generating Station produces 200 MW of renewable power from regionally sourced wood pellets.

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MICROMANAGEMENT: A major component of Rentech Atikokanâ€™s facility is a CBI Magnum Force Flail Debarker and Microchipping System.

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FROM FUEL YARD TO FOOTBALL FIELD: The old coal yard at Atikiokan Generating Station remains empty and idle, but maintained by OPG.

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ADOPTING ADVANCED BIOMASS: Serving as a peaking station, the Thunder Bay Station will use steam-exploded pellets supplied by Zilkha Biomass Energy. Advanced biomass was considered for use at AGS, but at the time of conversion, a supplier who could ge

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TAKING A LOAD OFF: Trucks deliver wood pellet fuel to AGS about five days per week. The storage silos designed by Aecon Inc. can collectively hold 10,000 metric tons of wood pellets.

2014/11/Pow-Biomass-Truckunloading-1214_14162501381459.jpg

Ontario Power Generation's Atikokan and Thunder Bay generating station conversions mark a turning point in Canadian power generation. 

A Dot on the Map

On Nov. 4, Americans voted. This election was a decisive victory for Republicans. Senate, House, gubernatorial and even state legislature races across the country saw conservatives prevail. These results were expected, surprising to political types only in the thoroughness of the wins across the board.
 &nbsp;What does this mean for biomass? It&rsquo;s clear that this election signals the need to adjust our interactions with elected officials, but it&rsquo;s not yet clear what shape that change will take. We will have a better sense of the new Congress&rsquo;s direction after it is sworn in. The initial signs, however, indicate that there will be a lot we can work with, beginning with an emphasis on the economic benefits of biomass.
 &nbsp;We expect that renewable energy, which had been gaining momentum as a key issue among Democratic leadership, will not be as high a priority for this Congress. Rather than focusing on the environmental benefits of biomass, there will likely be a renewed interest in biomass as an energy source that employs tens of thousands of Americans in rural areas.
 &nbsp;With a Democratic president and a fully Republican Congress, many anticipate a continuation of the gridlock that has defined Washington the past few years. However, that hasn&rsquo;t always been the case. President Clinton accomplished a lot, including balancing the federal budget, while working with a two-chamber Republican Congress beginning in 1994. To that end, one issue that may be possible for President Obama and Congress to work together on is tax reform&mdash;a prime opportunity to advocate for the much-needed energy tax overhaul that could help our industry. Unaffected by this week&rsquo;s elections is the fate of the tax extenders. With just a few days left in this year&rsquo;s legislative calendar, the lame-duck Congress will likely take up proposals in both chambers to extend Section 45 tax credits, including credits for biomass.
 &nbsp;Many strong biomass supporters kept their seats for the 114th Congress. Rep. Ann Kuster, a Democrat from New Hampshire and a prominent supporter of biomass, was reelected. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, also a Democrat from New Hampshire, managed a victory in a close race with former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a long-time supporter of the forest products industry, also sailed to victory. Many more biomass supporters whose races were not contested will be coming back to Congress as well.
 &nbsp;Right now, the most we can do is speculate as to how things will go over the next couple of years. We do know that there will be changes, but luckily for biomass, we have a lot of appeal for officials of any political stripe. As an industry, we will continue to work with our existing proponents, and ensure that newly elected officials are aware of biomass and the need to support the many men and women who work hard to create energy from wood residues.
 Author: Bob Cleaves President and CEO, Biomass Power Association <a href="http://bob@biomasspowerassociation.com">www.biomasspowerassociation.com </a> <a href="mailto:bob@biomasspowerassociation.com">bob@biomasspowerassociation.com</a>

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 We expect that renewable energy, which had been gaining momentum as a key issue among Democratic leadership, will not be as high a priority for this Congress. 

How Will 2014 Elections Impact Biomass? 

In October, Vega Biofuels Inc. announced that its joint venture with Agri-Tech Producers LLC broke ground on a pilot torrefaction plant in Allendale, South Carolina. The facility is expected to be complete during the first quarter of 2015.
 Once operational, the plant will use a patented torrefaction technology to produce a biobased coal product from wood and plant feedstock. The company plans to sell its biocoal to electricity producers around the world. The USDA recently awarded the pilot project a $200,000 Value-Added Producer Grant.
 Earlier this year, Vega Biofuels announced that Agri-Tech Producers had developed a patent-pending, combined-site-remediation biomass and biocoal production process that uses the phytoremediation powers of the roots of certain trees and crops that have been planted to clean contaminated sites. A patented leaching process is then used to remove the toxins and other problematic substances from the biomass prior to torrefaction.
 &ldquo;The $200,000 grant will help ATP-SC LLC, the joint venture entity, process the biomass of various trees and bio-crops that we will plant on sites convenient to our Allendale facility, including on some of the nearly 170 contaminated sites identified by EPA,&rdquo; said Joseph James, president of ATP and Vega advisory board member.&nbsp;

December 2014

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

New Food Safety Rules Mean Big Changes

What's App-ening?

A Year Makes a Big Difference

Sharp-Eyed EH&S

A Good Time For Truth

Brazilian Biofuels Policy Under a Second Rousseff Term

Government Intervention a No-Brainer

Biomass Producers Today, Carbon Kings Tomorrow

Biogas Racks Up Cellulosic RINs

Paving the Way to a Clean Energy Revolution

How Will 2014 Elections Impact Biomass?

Partners in Profit

Featured

Clear Sign of Confusion

Cultivating a Culture of Safety

Chicagoan Sets Her Sights on Clean Air

“Welcome to the Future”

Coaching Compliance

Good Neighbors

Hand and Glove

A Dot on the Map

Contributions

Proper Grounding Reduces Static Electricity Hazard

Mobile Cloud Computing in the Biomass Industry

Departments

Test to Tradition

December 2014.css-7jxktu{position:absolute;bottom:0px;left:0px;right:0px;height:3px;border-radius:3px;background-color:var(--chakra-colors-brandBlack);}

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

New Food Safety Rules Mean Big Changes

What's App-ening?

A Year Makes a Big Difference

Sharp-Eyed EH&S

A Good Time For Truth

Brazilian Biofuels Policy Under a Second Rousseff Term

Government Intervention a No-Brainer

Biomass Producers Today, Carbon Kings Tomorrow

Biogas Racks Up Cellulosic RINs

Paving the Way to a Clean Energy Revolution

How Will 2014 Elections Impact Biomass?

Partners in Profit

Featured

Clear Sign of Confusion

Cultivating a Culture of Safety

Chicagoan Sets Her Sights on Clean Air

“Welcome to the Future”

Coaching Compliance

Good Neighbors

Hand and Glove

A Dot on the Map

Contributions

Proper Grounding Reduces Static Electricity Hazard

Mobile Cloud Computing in the Biomass Industry

Departments

Test to Tradition

December 2014