Firm considers biomass-to-fuel plant
A Canadian biofuel company hopes to open a production plant for transforming biomass into high-octane gasoline in Northwest Montana by late 2012 or early 2013.
Don Sigler, the Whitefish-based chief financial officer for CORE BioFuel Inc., said he couldn’t disclose exactly where the company is looking to build a plant, but said preliminary talks have begun.
“We are pleased with our progress in developing our demonstration production facility in British Columbia and we are now seeking potential sites for additional licensee facilities in those areas of the United States where forestry waste is readily available,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for Montana.”
The company has tapped Department of Energy consultant and Whitefish resident Greg Olson for its advisory board.
“CORE Biofuel has developed a novel biomass conversion process for gasoline synthesis that is both energy efficient, carbon-neutral and whose feed stocks do not compete with our food supply,” Olson said in a news release.
CORE BioFuel uses an off-the-shelf gasification system to transform wood chips into a synthetic biofuel known as syngas.
A hydrogen-rich mixture combining carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, syngas is run through a reactor to create various fuels, including a 92-octane, carbon-neutral alternative to petroleum gasoline.
“The technology has been around for many, many years,” Sigler said.
Exxon Mobil creates syngas from natural gas at a plant in New Zealand. CORE plans to create its fuel from beetle-killed timber, mill waste and timber slash, all of which are readily available in the Flathead area, Sigler said.
Current estimates show the beetle infestation has affected more than 5 million acres in Montana.
“We understand the forest industry is looking for various ways to improve the economy here,” he said.
The demonstration plant in Houston, B.C., is expected to produce roughly 18 million gallons of gasoline and six million gallons of distilled water per year and will generate its own electric power. Adjoining the world’s largest lumber mill, Canfor, the demo facility will be online by the end of 2012. Sigler said CORE hopes to have the Northwest Montana plant open simultaneously.
The creation of a plant in the Flathead Valley would help provide forestry jobs even during downturns in the lumber market.
According to a website for the company, CORE’s practices will not produce toxic wastes and can be located in any area zoned industrial. Because the process creates large quantities of distilled water, facilities can be erected independent of water availability requirements.
CORE isn’t the first company to look to the Flathead for biomass projects.
Whitefish-based Algae Aqua-Culture Technologies is working with F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber to test its process for converting algae and wood waste into electricity, biodiesel and nitrogen-rich organic fertilizer.
Business reporter Erika Hoefer may be reached at 758-4439 or via e-mail at ehoefer@dailyinterlake.com