FROM THE EDITORS

Restoration Fuels Offers Torrefaction Solution

Forest health projects that seek to reduce fuel loads generally work to thin out timber stands and convert to more open landscapes that are more resilient to wildfire. The biggest issues are on public lands in the U.S. West, where timberland managers have been using “stewardship” contracts that are different than traditional timber sales and instead try to address forest conditions over a larger area or in conjunction with other management activities to achieve specific management results.

This generally means thinning timber and removing brush. What this nets the stewardship contract purchaser are products that include a measure of sawlog or solid wood product-sized timber, but also a lot of lowvalue biomass that starts adding to costs as soon as it’s picked up and moved to the landing.

In 2014, officials with the U.S. Endowment for Forests & Communities saw an opportunity to pursue its goal of supporting rural communities through expanded wood utilization, and began an R&D process that resulted in the establishment of Restoration Fuels and a torrefied biomass plant that started up in 2021.

Make an announcement that you’re auctioning off ponderosa pine sawlogs and you’ll usually draw a crowd. Tell them the logs come with five or 10 times as much biomass tonnage that must also be removed and the crowd gets a good bit smaller.

Restoration Fuels located the new plant adjacent Malheur Lumber Co. in John Day, Ore., where the Malheur National Forest that surrounds the town is finishing up a 10-year forest stewardship contract and looking to award a similar contract next year.

Since the contract was awarded in 2013 to local contractor Iron Triangle, more than 55,000 acres have been treated to reduce wildfire risk and more than 140,000 acres of wildlife habitat have seen restoration activities.

To boost local markets, Malheur Lumber added a small log processing line to handle the small logs produced by the contract, and Iron Triangle started up a post and pole plant to handle smaller and shorter solid wood material. Restoration Fuels is still ramping up production, but the value the operation provides in the overall local forest health equation and solution is key.

Wood Bioenergy has covered the efforts to improve forest health on Arizona national forests through the stewardship process and the big concept 4 Forests Restoration Initiative. The lack of markets for biomass continues to pose a challenge when it comes to racking up the acres treated.

Restoration Fuels officials thought they’d have a ready-made market for their torrefied product with a converted power plant in Boardman, Ore., but the utility chose a complete decommission instead. The change has company officials looking at different products and markets than just fuel.

The plant is proving that torrefaction is a viable conversion process, with reduced carbon footprint thanks to using syngas produced as a process fuel. Especially promising is the development of high carbon content material (80%+) as plant operators are learning more about tuning the system for custom carbon percentages.

Restoration Fuels is still basically just getting started, but it is providing a scalable solution to issues associated with biomass handling and removal that have made forest health challenges so difficult in some areas.

Though not a one-size-fits-all solution, the Restoration concept can be adapted to different projects in other locations, officials believe.

6 Wood Bioenergy / August 2022