¦FIREDUP
Pellet Projects
The University of Montana is making biomass energy happen.
Developers plan to build two pellet mills in Virginia.
The University of Montana in Missoula is forging ahead with a biomass gasification combined-heat-and-power project that will replace 80 percent of its natural gas consumption. UM has been carefully evaluating biomass for about a year and a half, according to Bob Duringer, UM’s vice president for administration and finance. Wind and solar aren’t feasible energy options given the college’s location, he says, and because Missoula is in a heavily forested area, biomass made sense. On top of that, a fiberboard company in the area closed about two years ago. “So we knew there was a huge amount of marketable slash and other forest residuals out there,” Duringer says. The system would utilize 20,000 tons of wood waste per year to generate 34,000 pounds of steam per hour. Due diligence work with some wood chip and pulp firms within a 75-mile radius of the college has given UM a clear picture of fuel costs, according to Duringer. Feasibility studies completed by McKinstry, a Seattle engineering and construction firm, which will be UM’s performance contractor, and Nexterra Inc., the equipment provider, confirmed the viability of the project.
PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA
Breaking Away
GASIFICATION ON CAMPUS: The University of Montana plans to build a biomass gasification system that will replace 80 percent of its natural gas use.
Total cost for project construction/ system installation will be $16 million. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality has provided a $180,000 grant toward the project, and the rest will be paid with monies saved from reducing natural gas costs. “We’ll divert that money to pay for the debt service on the plant, as well as the plant’s operations,” Duringer says. UM already applied for an air permit, an economic assessment should be completed within a month and UM will take the project to the Montana Board of Regents for approval on May 19. “We anticipate that it will be approved, and then we’ll set the engineers loose to complete the design,” Duringer says. The goal is to have the system running by April of 2012. —Anna Austin
30 BIOMASS POWER & THERMAL | MAY 2011
Wood Fuel Developers LLC, an affiliate of Industrial TurnAround Corp., is developing two wood pellet facilities in Virginia, having received multiple grants. The company announced its plans for Greensville County in January of 2010, armed with more than $3.5 million in federal and state funds, and planning to invest $18.7 million itself, according to ITAC. The company reported that the project received $1 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, along with $2.3 million from the Greensville County Industrial Development Authority for construction of the plant and site improvements and infrastructure, $175,000 from the Governors Opportunity Fund and $175,000 from Tobacco Region Opportunity Funds. Also, in January, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell announced a new $8.6 million pellet mill undertaking for Wood Fuel Developers in Sussex County, with another $185,000 in state funds from the governor’s office and Tobacco Region Opportunity Funds. Wood Bioenergy US, a Forisk Consulting report, said the company will convert a former particleboard plant in the Sussex County town of Waverly into a pellet plant. —Lisa Gibson