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As the demand for artificial intelligence grows, so does the need for sustainable power sources to operate data centers. By
Caitlin Scheresky
Locked in on the Keystone State Pennsylvania’s pellet industry is a critical user of waste generated by the state’s robust wood products industry—with many significant benefits to boost.
Katie Schroeder
RNG Coalition held its inaugural RNG Media Day in June, sharing expert insight and key industry updates.
Caitlin Scheresky
CONTRIBUTIONS
Zinovia Skoufa
13
22
Jerad Heitzler
ANNA SIMET DIRECTOR OF CONTENT & SENIOR EDITOR
asimet@bbiinternational.com
Pointing to the Positives
The industry is in a bit of limbo right now, from waiting on finalized renewable volume obligations to the budget bill reconciliations, both of which have considerable implications across the different bioenergy industry sectors, from sustainable aviation fuel to renewable natural gas to biomass power. As for the latest on the budget bill, the Senate released its version of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” on June 17, and as of June 30, there had not yet been a vote. The bill will then need to go through a House and Senate resolution, and although it’s unclear how long that may take, President Trump has told Congress not to go on Independence Day vacation until a deal is made. That will all be in the review mirror by the time this issue hits desks, but for now, we wait.
Regardless of all the uncertainty, there are plenty of positives to point to as of late. For example, the RNG industry just hit 500 operational facilities. In our page-24 feature, “Rallying for RNG,” junior staff writer Caitlin Scheresky covers the RNG Coalition’s inaugural RNG Media Day, where the industry’s momentum, driving forces and critical policy pieces were discussed. RNG Coalition Executive Director Johannes Escudero points out that the industry had grown from 31 facilities in 2011 to 505 operational facilities 14 years later, a growth increase upward of 1,500%. Potential for continued growth is vast, with estimates for new project sites being upward of 20,000.
On that same note of bright spots, our page-20 feature, “Locked in on the Keystone State,” by associate editor Katie Schroeder, dives into the many positive impacts generated by Pennsylvania’s wood pellet industry and why modern wood heat appeals to so many consumers there. For example, purchased residue alone—which totals around 500,000 tons a year— equates to an estimated $20 million annual spend by wood pellet producers.
Our final feature, “Powering AI” on page 14, digs into the massive energy demands required of data centers and the rise of artificial intelligence. In the story, Scheresky goes into detail regarding the origins of AI, how it works, and its projected power demands as its use and applications expand. We all know that bioenergy is renewable and baseload, so it makes so much sense for our industry to find a place in this build-out. While it’s still early, Scheresky provides some great examples of bioenergy already stepping in, and this includes our cover photo, which illustrates Neste’s partnership with data center solution provider Verne to supply Neste MY Renewable Diesel to power backup generators.
When the next issue of Biomass Magazine is printed, pending policy will be finalized, and we’ll be ready to report on it all. In the meantime, we remain optimistic. Be sure to watch our daily coverage on biomassmagazine.com and our social media pages to stay in the know.
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Serving the Global Sustainable Aviation Fuel Industry Taking place in September, the North American SAF Conference & Expo, produced by SAF Magazine, in collaboration with the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI) will showcase the latest strategies for aviation fuel decarbonization, solutions for key industry challenges, and highlight the current opportunities for airlines, corporations and fuel producers.
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2026 Int’l Biomass Conference & Expo
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Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, Nashville, Tennessee
Now in its 19th year, the International Biomass Conference & Expo is expected to bring together more than 900 attendees, 160 exhibitors and 65 speakers from more than 25 countries. It is the largest gathering of biomass professionals and academics in the world. The conference provides relevant content and unparalleled networking opportunities in a dynamic business-to-business environment. In addition to abundant networking opportunities, the largest biomass conference in the world is renowned for its outstanding programming—powered by Biomass Magazine—that maintains a strong focus on commercial-scale biomass production, new technology, and near-term research and development. Join us at the International Biomass Conference & Expo as we enter this new and exciting era in biomass energy.
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2026 Int’l Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo
JUNE 2-4, 2026
America’s Center, Saint Louis, Missouri
Now in its 42nd year, the FEW provides the ethanol industry with cutting-edge content and unparalleled networking opportunities in a dynamic business-to-business environment. As the largest, longest-running ethanol conference in the world, the FEW is renowned for its superb programming—powered by Ethanol Producer Magazine—that maintains a strong focus on commercial-scale ethanol production, policy, plant management, advancing technology and near-term research and development. The event draws more than 2,400 people from over 31 countries and from nearly every ethanol plant in the United States and Canada. (866) 746-8385 | www.FuelEthanolWorkshop.com
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Engineering the Carbon-Negative Future: IAC’s Role in Building Biomass and Bioenergy Facilities
As torrefaction and pyrolysis technologies move into mainstream adoption, they’re redefining what’s possible in the renewable energy and fossil carbon replacement worldwide economies. Commercial success in these fields requires more than just creative science; it also demands industrial-grade execution. That’s where IAC delivers. As a vertically integrated engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor and original equipment manufacturer, IAC builds full-cycle, future-ready systems for biomass, biochar, biocarbon and bioenergy production—with a focus on high-volume throughput, emissions compliance, and operational durability and reliability.
EPC Execution From the Ground Up
Founded in 1987, IAC is a trusted EPC partner for renewable energy producers across North America. Through its self-perform subsidiary Adelphi Construction LC, IAC manages every phase of project delivery—from permitting support and site prep to new plant erection and startup. This eliminates coordination gaps, reduces lead times, and ensures consistent quality across disciplines.
IAC’s turnkey approach is especially powerful for greenfield biomass and biochar facilities. Whether converting woody biomass into high-density fuel or scaling up biochar operations for carbon credit markets, IAC provides engineered plant layouts, drying and conveying systems, automated controls, bulk storage and smart automation—all under one roof.
OEM Systems for Biomass Product or Bioenergy Production
At the core of any biomass drying or pyrolysis process is thermal processing. IAC’s direct-fired and indirectly heated dryers and pyrolysis reactors are engineered to meet the nuanced demands of feedstock like agricultural waste, forest residues and recycled wood. Coupled with IAC’s advanced emissions technologies—including M-Pulse baghouses, dry sorbent injection and Smart Plant IoT controls—operators gain the process integrity required for regulatory compliance and performance guarantees.
Integrated Solutions
Conversion of biomass into products including biochar, biocarbon or bioenergy creates end-to-end material processing challenges. IAC delivers pneumatic and mechanical conveying systems, NFPA-compliant dust collection, bulk material storage and loadout solutions designed for continuous, contamination-free operation. These systems are engineered to integrate seamlessly with upstream and downstream processes, reducing manual handling and maximizing uptime.
From modular upgrades to full-scale plant design, IAC offers a deep bench of engineering talent, a U.S.-based fabrication footprint, and one of the most experienced field service teams in the industry.
One Partner. Every Process.
Whether you’re building a next-generation biochar facility or expanding a biomass processing line, IAC brings integrated capabilities to make innovation scalable. With thousands of successful projects across numerous industries and decades of expertise, IAC is the partner of choice for companies looking to lead in carbon-negative production, renewable fuels and beyond.
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IAC’s patent-pending biocarbon production solution involves a two-stage torrefaction process followed by pyrolysis.
IMAGE: IAC
INDUSTRY UPDATE: Biomass Power & Waste-to-Energy
BY CHLOE PIEKKOLA
In 2024, the biomass industry saw some notable movement. Four facilities shifted from proposed to under construction, narrowing the proposed list down to just two: McArthur Energy and Tubit Enterprise, both small-scale (3 MW) and in California. Separately, four facilities currently under construction are expected to be operational by the end of 2025, totaling 32 MW. Adding to the momentum, four previously idled facilities returned to operation, bringing 92 MW back onto the grid. This year also brought the permanent closure of six facilities (four biomass plants and two waste-to-energy plants), with most citing a lack of financial viability as the driving factor. Despite the shifts, the industry continues to hold strong. The total capacity of wood waste-to-energy facilities across the U.S. stands at 3,090 MW, while waste-to-power facilities contribute an additional 2,323.5 MW.
The following are a selection of plant updates derived from Biomass Magazine’s upcoming 2026 U.S. Biomass Power & Waste-to-Energy Map.
Biomass to Power
Blue Mountain Electric. In Wilseyville, California, this project has been in a state of proposal since 2022. The goal is to develop a 3-MW facility that converts local biomass into syngas and biochar. Due to funding delays, BME has requested to extend its 15% qualified property purchase requirement timeframe several times, the most recent of which was approved by the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority in April. The project also had a change in ownership from Calveras Healthy Impacts Products Solutions to Phoenix Energy.
Camptonville Biomass Plant. In northeastern Yuba County, California, this project is now under construction. The 5-MW plant will be fueled by forest thinnings and is expected to be operational in 2026.
Eagle Valley Clean Energy. As of April 2024, this facility has closed after not being able to remain financially viable to support operations. Parent company Greenbacker Capital has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Fernandina Biomass Plant. Parent company Rayonier Advanced Materials proposed a bioethanol conversion at this Fernandina Beach, Florida, facility. The city of Fernandina Beach rejected the proposal due to concerns with public health. As of April 16, an ongoing legal battle between the two ensues. RYAM believes the city didn’t take the proper procedure in evaluating the plant, whereas the city stands firm in its decision to reject this planned proposal.
Hat Creek Bioenergy. The 3-MW plant in McArthur, California, opened in May 2025. Fueled by wood waste, it’s also producing biochar as a coproduct.
North Fork Lumber Co. This 2-MW facility in Korbel, California, has moved from proposed to under construction, with plans to be operational by 2026.
Honua Ola Bioenergy. Located in Pepe’ekeo, Hawaii, Honua filed a lawsuit against Hawaiian Electric in May 2025, claiming it has created a monopoly that resulted in the plant’s inability to operate. The facility has been idle since 2018. After being retrofitted from a former coal-fired plant, this facility has never entered commercial operation.
Cox Waste to Energy. Cox Interior successfully upgraded one of two biomass boilers at its 5-MW Campbellsville, Kentucky, cogeneration plant while remaining operational through construction.
ReGenerate Stratton and ReGenerate Livermore Falls. Formerly ReEnergy facilities in Maine, the two plants received a grant in 2023 to fund equipment to produce biochar. As of February 2024, nearly 8,000 tons are produced annually from both facilities.
Cadillac Renewable Energy. Utility Consumers Energy put in a bid to end its power purchase with Cadillac Energy in May of 2024, but the Michigan Public Service Commission rejected the proposal, stating that ending the agreement early would pose potential risk to the state’s capacity needs. The 40-MW facility continues to operate.
Genesee Power Station. In partnership with parent company NorthStar Clean Energy, the 40-MW biomass processing facility in Grand Rapids, Michigan, developed a new AI system to help improve the biomass supply chain. This program is focused on waste reduction through image recognition with intent to process wood waste.
TES Filer City Station. A $300 million investment from Tondu Corporation and NorthStar Clean Energy will enable the plant to begin capturing CO2. Currently running on a mix of coal, wood waste and tire-derived fuel, the facility was on track to retire in 2025; rather than decommissioning, the project has extended its life a little longer.
Burgess BioPower. In February 2024, the plant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It ended its power purchase agreement with utility Eversource, yet has continued operating throughout the process. As of early 2025, the facility was still producing power, sourcing around 800,000 tons of wood annually and working through a reorganization plan to get things back on track.
Ryegate Biomass Power Plant. The 20-MW East Ryegate, Vermont, plant is currently under construction after receiving a $1 million USDA grant. This funding is being used to install a waste heat
recovery system that will expand the facility’s drying operations, enabling the production of pellets and biochar.
Waste to Energy
Arnold O. Chantland Resource Recovery Plant. Within the next three years, the city of Ames, Iowa, plans to phase out this facility and build a new resource recovery system where it will focus on sorting and composting waste to help landfill diversion. With funding including a grant of $50,000, the facility will prioritize recycling and composting over incineration.
Ecomaine. This Portland, Maine, facility is planning to spend $25 million on a recycling center upgrade to expand its landfill space, as well as its technology to better accommodate recent changes in material handling.
Hennepin Energy Recovery Center. On October 31, 2024, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey signed a resolution to have the 40-MW facility shut down by 2027. Frey stated that this facility did not align with Minnesota’s plan to achieve zero waste by 2032.
Kent County Waste to Energy. As an initiative to find a better way to manage waste, Kent County is planning to build a sustainable business park next to the South Kent Landfill in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The infrastructure design phase is expected to be complete this year, with plans to begin construction in 2026.
McKay Bay Waste-to-Energy Plant. As of June 2024, the 22MW facility wrapped up an upgrade project. The city of Tampa invested more than $100 million to get the facility up and running again.
Reworld Pasco. The 30-MW Spring Hill, Florida, facility is currently under expansion, with its expected restart date in 2026.
Wheelabrator South Broward. Previously owned by WIN Waste Innovations, the plant is now owned by Brazilian waste and recycling company FCC Environmental Services. FCC owns 12 waste-to-energy facilities around the world. In April, FCC was also awarded a contract to operate the South Municipal Solid Waste Transfer Station in Minneapolis, increasing its presence in North America. Spokane Waste to Energy. The 22-MW Spokane, Washington, plant is considering a $650,000 carbon capture study from CarbonQuest to determine whether carbon capture technology would be a feasible solution to lower emissions.
Taylor Biomass Energy. According to CEO James Taylor Jr., the 24-MW facility has moved from its long-proposed state to under construction. The biomass gasification plant is being built on 95 acres in Orange County, New York, and will process MSW and wood waste.
St-Félicien Cogeneration Power Plant, a biomass facility located in Saint-Félicien, Quebec, announced the signing of a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Hydro Québec, Canada’s largest electric utility and one of the world’s leading hydropower producers.
Under the terms of the agreement, Hydro Québec will purchase all of the electricity output of the plant. This extends the existing PPA between Hydro Québec and SFC, which has been in place since 2001. SFC is a subsidiary of Greenleaf Power, a leading energy transition company focused on recycling biomass waste into renewable, reliable energy.
The power plant uses bark and forest residuals as fuel and has a net capacity of approximately 22 MW, the equivalent to powering up to 4,310 homes. The plant also produces steam that is provided to the adjacent sawmill.
IEA Predicts 13% Increase in Bioenergy Investments in 2025
The International Energy Agency published its World Energy Investment 2025 report in June, predicting that investment in liquid biofuels, biogases and low-emissions hydrogen will increase 30% this year to a record high of nearly $25 billion. Investment was up an estimated 20% in 2024.
According to the report, many oil refineries are diversifying their businesses by investing in biofuel production facilities. Globally, biojet and renewable diesel capacity was up 25% last year and is set to increase another 40% in 2025 to 800,000 barrels per day. The U.S. accounts for half of that growth.
The IEA currently predicts investments in low-emission fuels will set a new record in 2025, but cautions that these projects remain heavily dependent on policy and regulatory support.
Investments in bioenergy are expected to increase 13% in 2025, reaching a record high of $16 billion despite a slight slowdown in
new capacity additions for liquid biofuels. Bioenergy investments were up 10% last year. According to the IEA, about half of the investments in bioenergy are for liquid biofuels, with most of that growth centered in the U.S. and Brazil. Investment in biogases is expected to increase by 60%, primarily in Europe.
While investments in most forms of bioenergy are growing, investment in bioplastics is down. The IEA estimates bioplastic investments fell by nearly 33% last year, to just over $1 billion.
Executive Order Encourages Federal Efforts to Find Innovative Uses for Woody Biomass
President Donald Trump on June 12 signed an executive order focused on wildfire prevention and response that includes language aimed at finding innovative uses of woody biomass and forestry products.
One section of the executive order focuses on strengthening wildfire mitigation. As part of that effort, Trump has directed the USDA and U.S. Department of the Interior to “consider promoting, assisting and facilitating, as consistent with applicable law, innovative uses of woody biomass and forest products to reduce fuel loads in areas at risk of wildfires.”
Other provisions in the executive order focus on efforts to streamline federal wildland fire governance, encourage local wildfire preparedness and response, and modernize wildfire prevention and response.
EIA: US biofuel production up 6% in 2024
Total U.S. biofuels production, including ethanol, renewable diesel, biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), averaged a record 1.39 million barrels per day last year, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on June 9.
The 1.39 million barrels per day of production reported for 2024 was up 6% when compared to the previous record, which was set at 1.32 million barrels per day in 2023.
According to data published by the EIA, ethanol production was up 4.1% in 2024. Renewable diesel production expanded by 22.64% while biodiesel production fell by 1.49%. The production of other biofuels, defined to include SAF, renewable naphtha, renewable heating oil and a variety of other biobased fuels, increased by 10.72% between 2023 and 2024.
Expanded biofuel production helped the U.S. set a new record for total energy production in 2024, which reached 103 quadrillion Btu, up 1% when compared to the previous record set in 2023. In addition to biofuel, the U.S. also set new production records for natural gas, crude oil, natural gas plant liquids, solar and wind energy.
USA BioEnergy Secures Long-Term Feedstock Supply for $2.8 Billion Texas SAF Refinery
USA BioEnergy has signed a letter of intent with LP Building Solutions outlining the parties’ plans to enter a long-term supply agreement for sustainably sourced wood fiber to support opera-
St-Félicien Cogeneration Power Plant
tions at USABE’s planned Texas Renewable Fuels biorefinery in Bon Wier, Texas. The advanced biorefinery will require raw wood feedstocks for the production of renewable fuel. Once finalized, the agreement would provide up to 2.2 million tons of woody biomass annually for an initial term of 20 years.
This advanced biorefinery will convert forest thinnings into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other renewable fuels. All biomass sourced under the agreement will meet stringent sustainability standards and will be verified through independent third-party audits and certifications.
In January, USABE closed on the acquisition of over 1,600 acres of land in East Texas for its new $2.8 billion advanced biorefinery, designed to convert wood waste into net-zero SAF. The planned greenfield facility is currently in detailed design and engineering. The SAF facility has secured a 20-year offtake agreement with Southwest Airlines.
After the engineering and design process is completed, construction of the biorefinery is expected to take approximately two years, followed by a six- to eight-month commissioning period. The state-of-the-art facility will annually convert one million tons of sustainably sourced woody waste into 65 million gallons of premium net-zero transportation fuel, including SAF and renewable naphtha. The plant will also capture and sequester over 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over the biorefinery’s lifetime.
Airex Energy Celebrates Inauguration of Canadian Biochar Plant
Airex Energy, Groupe Rémabec and SUEZ in mid-May inaugurated the first industrial-scale biochar plant in Canada, located in Port-Cartier.
The result of a partnership between the three companies, the plant is beginning with an annual production capacity of 10,000 metric tons of biochar, which is expected to triple by 2026, making it the largest facility of its kind in North America, according to the companies. The project marks the first step in Airex Energy and SUEZ’s planned roadmap to build a global annual production capacity of 350,000 metric tons of biochar by 2035 to meet the decarbonization challenges of industrial operations.
US Wood Pellet Exports Top 846,000 Metric Tons in April
The United States exported 846,693 metric tons (mt) of wood pellets in April, up when compared to both the 781,576 mt exported in March and the 819,341 mt exported in April 2024, according to data released by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service on June 5.
The U.S. exported wood pellets to approximately one dozen countries in April. The United Kingdom was the top destination at 644,445 mt, followed by Japan at 124,731 mt and Denmark at 33,147 mt.
The value of U.S. wood pellet exports reached $159.39 million in April, down from $165.18 million the previous month, but up from $157.26 million in April of last year.
Total U.S. wood pellet exports for the first four months of 2024 reached 3.25 million metric tons (mmt) at a value of $630.45 billion, compared to 3.2 mmt exported during the same period of 2024 at a value of $607.29 billion.
POWERING AI
As the demand for artificial intelligence grows, so does the need for sustainable power sources to operate data centers. Can bioenergy help answer the call?
BY CAITLIN SCHERESKY
In November 2022, ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot created by U.S.-based developer OpenAI, was released to the public.
ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM), an AI model based on calculating probability distributions to write the next word in a sentence or phrase. For example, the auto-generation of words above a keypad when writing a text is an LLM.
ChatGPT is a type of LLM called a natural language processing (NLP) model. According to teneo.ai, an NLP model utilizes algorithms, linguistics and patterns to “analyze and understand human language.” This allows machines to “understand, interpret, and generate human language in a way that is both meaningful and useful.”
ChatGPT was an overnight success. Generated responses, jokes and mild concern filled social media, and conversations around AI took over every major news outlet and school campus. Two months and $10 billion later, longtime partners Microsoft and OpenAI announced Azure OpenAI Service for general use, with Copilot shortly behind. Google and Anthropic, a research-focused AI startup, formed their own partnership to train and release AI, and the world familiarized itself with Bard, now known as Gemini. And in early 2025, Chinese startup DeepSeek announced its
own LLM of the same name, overtaking ChatGPT in Apple’s App Store as the highest-rated free application.
In the background, however, climate scientists, educators and artists found themselves seemingly yelling into the void. While the results of AI are impressive, the requirements to power such technology, as well as its impact on the climate and the Arts, are just as significant.
By now, most consumers are at least familiar with the energy demands of operating AI. However, many forget that AI isn’t the only thing operated through data centers—far from it. The Data Center Coalition defines data centers as “physical locations that organizations use to house their critical applications and data,” including anything “in the cloud.” This means logging onto social media, sending a text or an email, entering and tracking company and governmental data, customer relationship management, and more are all actions reliant on data centers.
The Electric Power Research Institute, among other projects, tracks the number of data centers around the world. In a May 2024 report, the EPRI determined that of the 10,655 data centers around the globe, 5,381 of them are in the U.S. An outage of even a handful of these centers can have instant consequences.
In late April, Spain and Portugal were hit by severe power outages, leaving areas without power for five hours. Data centers resorted to their diesel-fueled backup generators, but Data Centre Magazine cites an 80% and 90% drop in internet traffic in Spain and Portugal during the outage, respectively. Similarly, a six-hour Meta blackout across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp in Oct. 2021 was caused by only a handful of data centers going down.
AI’s energy demand is not limited to the product. AI also requires extensive training, storage and hardware, all of which require constant updating to remain top-ofthe-line. The EPRI report breaks down the energy requirements for AI over its lifetime, stating that 10% of the total energy used for a given AI model goes toward the model’s development; 30% goes toward training; and 60%, just barely over half of an AI’s total energy footprint, goes toward actual use of the model.
It is true, though, that AI prompting requires much higher amounts of electricity than the standard internet search. One ChatGPT prompt request requires 2.9 watt-hours (Wh) of electricity, whereas the standard Google search requires only 0.3 Wh. Current estimates put 20% of global data center energy demand toward AI, and with its growing global interest, so, too,
will its presence on data centers. And with ChatGPT kickstarting a technology race that tech giants have joined, the demand for efficient, carbon-negative fuel sources is skyrocketing.
Give and Take
For a data center to support AI, it is likely one of two types: a hyperscale data center or a colocation data center. A hyperscale data center is a large-scale data center ideal for AI and its heavy workloads. A colocation data center is a large, privately-owned data center—often a hyperscale center—whose facilities are rented out to other companies looking to develop their own data center. According to legacy tech company International Business Machines Corp., or IBM, data centers supporting AI need “high-performance computing, advanced storage architecture, resilient and secure networking, and adequate power and cooling solutions.”
To provide this storage, data centers utilize solid-state drives (SSDs), high bandwidth memory (HBM) and virtualization. SSDs are electric, nonvolatile storage devices that utilize electric bit switching and flash memory to supply durable, efficient storage. HBM is computer memory that operates via layered memory chips to be high-bandwidth and low-power. And virtualization, accord-
ing to IBM, “creates an abstraction layer over computer hardware, dividing a single system’s components such as processors, memory, networks and storage into multiple virtual machines,” effectively multiplying the amount of storage available.
Networking for AI-ready data centers appears in the form of Ethernet, InfiniBand and fiber optics. Ethernet is the most broadly known of the three networking technologies and is often used primarily in local area networks, creating a stronger, confined network. InfiniBand offers support for “connecting multiple data streams (clustering, communication, storage, management) in a single connection,” according to FiberMall. And fiber optics utilize several glass fibers to transmit data in the form of pulsing light through cables.
All this tech requires significant amounts of electricity to run. To remedy this growing need, more data centers have decided to invest in microgrids—miniature, localized power grids that support net-zero carbon goals without threatening broader power needs. Microgrids can operate off wind or solar power, among other fuel sources, when available, and the operator can switch between renewable and fossil fuels depending on cost and availability. And, on the off chance that an outage occurs, data centers can lean on their microgrids
and backup generators to prevent largescale disconnects. But while these backup generators provide near-constant connectivity, many rely on fossil fuels for power.
A data center’s used energy is not created or destroyed—it is transformed. When a data center utilizes 1 GW of electricity, it will produce 1 GW of heat. As a result, up to 50% of data center electricity goes to cooling systems alone. If left untreated, the tech would overheat, causing an outage. To avoid an outage, cooling becomes as important as the electricity producing the heat in the first place.
Many options exist to cool data centers, including air cooling and liquid cooling. Other methods include evaporative cooling, which uses evaporation to cool the air around the tech; or space cooling, which cools the entire center to regulate the temperature.
Many data centers utilize lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries to make up for the inconsistencies of solar and wind power. Li-ion batteries are leaders compared to alternative batteries in terms of their energy density, little maintenance requirements and lack of toxic metals like lead or cadmium, according to the Clean Energy Institute. However, Li-ion batteries can vary in cost and ability, reaching up as high as $150,000-$300,000 per 1 MW battery, and a battery manage-
ment system with abilities to monitor and balance the battery’s various capabilities could cost $20,000-$50,000 per 1 MW battery, according to Ritar Power. Assembly and scaling can also add up, increasing the total receipt.
Hydrogen fuel cells are a promising solution but have their own pitfalls as well. The two types of hydrogen fuel cells used in data centers, Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells and Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, significantly outweigh current batteries in their environmental benefits by only producing water and heat or, on the off chance of natural gas powering the SOFCs, fewer emissions than traditional generators, according to Plug Power. Hydrogen fuel cells also boast extreme efficiency and stability.
However, the significant costs of setup and infrastructure, difficulties in storing and transporting the cells, current research limitations, and safety concerns all present barriers to their application. In late 2024, ECL, a California data center developer, announced its plan to build a hydrogen cell-fueled data center near Houston, Tex-
as. The data center, reported to go live this summer, cost 50 MW of power and $450 million to develop; once live, the site will offer 1 GW of on-site capacity powered by hydrogen fuel cells and battery storage, costing $8 billion to supply.
Getting a Head Start
While many data centers are still powered by fossil fuel-based energy, some have made the wise transition into renewables— namely, biomass-based fuels—using renewable natural gas (RNG) and renewable diesel.
In 2022, Microsoft announced its plan for Enchanted Rock to provide backup power for its San Jose, California, data center, later stating that ER would purchase RNG made from food waste from U.S. Energy. Executive Vice President of Data Centers Pete DiSanto explains that “the RNG will be injected upstream in the pipeline to match natural gas usage at the site and reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions.”
ER’s on-site microgrid systems, according to DiSanto, offer scalability and flexibility. “Microgrids offer a powerful combination of energy resilience, sustainability and operational control...[and] help organizations manage peak demand, reduce energy costs and integrate lower-carbon or renewable fuels into their energy mix,” he says.
Similarly to Microsoft and Big Tech, Big Oil is also breaking into the clean data center market—for example, last year, Chevron and ExxonMobil announced their plans to utilize RNG to power data centers. Chevron looks to provide RNG for 1 GW-capacity data centers by 2027 or 2028.
The RNG Coalition’s Sr. Manager of Communications, Dylan Chase, sees this growth in RNG-fueled data centers as a given. “This AI wave promises to lift emerging forms of alternative energy like RNG,” he says. “RNG is unique [from] all forms of alternative energy for its dispatchability, compatibility with existing infrastructure, and diverse array of potential feedstocks. AI is just one of many reasons why, as the
IEA recently pointed out, global RNG/biogas demand is expected to someday meet up to one quarter of global gas demand.”
Meanwhile, renewable diesel is becoming an increasingly popular choice to power data center microgrids. Neste, a global leader in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel, has spent the past few years forming partnerships with and supplying their Neste MY Renewable Diesel, or HVO100, to various global data center providers. In 2022, Neste worked with LCL, a Belgian data center company, to become the first in Belgium to use HVO100 to power emergency generators for its data centers.
Two years later, Neste worked with ST Telemedia Global Data Centres to become the first data center company in Singapore to use renewable diesel to power their backup generators, and later partnered with Verne—a data center company with centers in Iceland, Finland and the United Kingdom—to transition their backups from fossil to renewable diesel as well.
Back in the states, Digital Realty, a real estate investment trust that owns, operates
and invests in carrier-neutral data centers across the world., last year announced the deployment of renewable diesel at two sites in California and one in Oregon, adding to its existing use at 20-plus sites in Europe. In France alone, the company said, the use of RD has reduced the company’s fuel-related life-cycle carbon emissions by 90%.
Reverse Engineering
The increasing burden on current power grids is forcing data centers to think sustainably, which could speed up the transition to carbon-neutral and carbon-negative energy exponentially. Despite the Trump administration’s Inauguration Day withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, many U.S.-based energy companies are still upholding the goal to keep the increase in the global temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
AI is surely a carbon-heavy endeavor, but it also offers the potential to move the world forward. In a January white paper report, the World Economic Forum discussed the opportunities for AI to be adopted at current and in the future. And
while the current state of AI is in virtual assistants and efficiency, the WEF cites significant promise in the future of healthcare, climate science and beyond.
The WEF lists several potential applications for the future of AI, including case studies analyzing current work in the sector. AI could be a critical tool in detecting diseases early, developing new drugs for medical treatment and analyzing patient records for serious health risks.
AI models are also likely to be used to predict climate disasters, says the WEF. The speed of analysis would allow AI models to “significantly impact three areas: 1) reducing emissions, 2) building adaptation and resilience to climate impact, and 3) advancing climate modelling, economics, education and related research.” The WEF cites Rolls-Royce’s ability to digitally replicate their engines using AI, allowing them to reduce carbon emissions from unnecessary maintenance and inefficiency. Meanwhile, the University of Leeds is using AI to map icebergs in milliseconds rather than slowly by hand.
AI could be the push needed to advance science across disciplines, even opening entirely new areas of study currently limited by technological advancements. Nuclear fusion, for example, is being approached using AI by the Swiss Plasma Center to move closer to a carbon-free nuclear energy source.
In other scenarios, human innovation leads the way. For data centers, heat and water waste are significant points of contention. To prevent equipment from overheating, large amounts of water are utilized in air conditioning systems. Once the heat has been produced, it is often unwanted and wasted because of its low temperature.
Placing data centers strategically in different climates can influence the level of carbon emissions produced and water needed for cooling. Building data centers in places with cooler climates and cold winters can significantly lower the amount of water needed for cooling the centers, but this can also lead to a spike in carbon emissions to produce and transport the energy needed. By building data centers near areas where
energy can be produced and transported locally, data centers might face lower emissions but higher water consumption.
Meanwhile, in Sweden, EcoDataCenter is piping its captured waste heat to a nearby factory, where it is used to dry wood chips used for wood pellet production. The resulting pellets are then used for residential building heat. A nearby combined heat and power district heating system also utilizes some of the data center’s waste heat.
The U.S. Industrial Pellet Association (USIPA)’s Executive Director, Darrell Smith, notes USIPA’s interest in becoming involved in the AI conversation. In a recent interview with Anna Simet, Smith said USIPA members “see tremendous potential for biomass to play a role in the growing demand for renewable energy to power data centers,” and shared that several are exploring this possibility.
One example of this is wood pellet manufacturer and biomass energy producer Drax, which has been evaluating the potential to use two generating units at its North Yorkshire, England, biomass plant—the
largest in the United Kingdom—to power data centers, aligning with the government’s focus on growing AI infrastructure. In its recently released annual report, Drax stated, “We have received positive engagement with data center providers in relation to the potential to colocate a data center with biomass generation, and Drax continues to explore such opportunities.”
The Complicated Now
Despite its promising future, AI could also lead us into a carbon-intense age. Conversations around the cost of AI computer chips have peaked. Recently, legacy computer chip producer NVIDIA announced a stronger-than-expected last quarter, reaching earnings of $44 billion. Despite the Silicon Valley company’s expected loss of $8 billion under the Trump administration’s export ban of chips to China, NVIDIA expects another quarter of growth ahead. If NVIDIA’s projections are correct, carbon emissions are likely to jump. A 2024 Stand.earth blog reports that Microsoft’s carbon emissions have steadily increased
from just over 11.5 million metric tons (mt) to over 16.6 million mt between 2020 and 2023. And in a 2022 release, Stand.earth found that emissions from semiconductor manufacturers Samsung Electronics, TSMC, Intel and SK Hynix—producers of the computer chips required for data centers, phones, computers and the like—had increased since 2019.
Computer part manufacturing is fossil fuel-intensive, adding to the strain. AI chips, including NVIDIA’s, are primarily produced in East Asia. A 2025 Greenpeace report showed a 350% increase in electricity use for chip manufacturing in Taiwan from 2023 to 2024; carbon emissions in Taiwan as a result jumped from 41,200 mt to 185,700 mt. Over the same period, South Korea’s chip manufacturing electricity consumption over doubled and carbon emissions followed suit, growing from 58,000 mt to 135,900 mt.
Cooling, an electricity and water burden for data centers, is also likely to face repercussions, though for different reasons. A University of Tulsa op-ed states that “a single data center can consume up to 5 mil-
lion gallons of drinking water per day.” To prevent corrosion, the potable, or safe to drink, water used in cooling systems is often treated with chemicals which make the water unpotable, or unsafe to drink. Broadly, the amount of potable water data centers use is unknown but estimated to be in the billions of gallons annually. This is an issue of critical importance; the United Nations World Water Development Report 2024 states that by 2050, more than half of the world’s population will suffer severe water insecurity.
In late 2024, the Associated Press reported that Google announced its plans to halt a $200 million data center in Chile due to its potential impact on the country’s water and electric resources. Chile has been in a severe drought for over a decade, and public outcry and a Santiago environmental court request forced Google to rethink its methods.
If data centers are utilizing potable water to cool their technology and subsequently rendering said water undrinkable, tensions between the public and local data
centers will rise. To contend with this tension, some companies are beginning to take the issue on. Amazon Web Services announced in 2023 that 20 of its data centers are using purified wastewater to cool their centers. The centers utilize a three-step filtration and treatment process to remove pollutants; after the water is used, it is cycled back to the treatment facility to be treated for re-use.
It’s safe to say that AI isn’t going anywhere, and neither is global reliance on data centers. And where technology develops, the potential for bioenergy grows. Industry leaders see greener pastures ahead across the board, but without a quick transition into renewables, current climate goals will surely suffer. With so many areas to consider, the industry’s biggest question—how bioenergy can join the tech race—becomes anew:
It doesn’t take much time living in Pennsylvania to realize you aren’t going to stop the trees from growing.
That’s according to Frank Kvietok, senior director of innovation with wood pellet manufacturer Lignetics Group Inc., the state and nation’s largest producer of wood pellets that operates three of the largest mills in Pennsylvania. The state lives up to its name, as the Latin word “sylva,” translates to forest, and over 60% of Pennsylvania (16.6 million acres) is covered by them, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources. The majority of these forestlands (12 million acres) are privately owned by approximately 750,000 landowners, while the remaining 5 million acres are held publicly by government entities. These forestlands have been the lifeblood of Pennsylvania’s robust wood products industry that began well over two centuries ago. It has not only shaped its forestry-immersed
culture, but makes an incredible economic impact, generating value to landowners, providing domestic and international lumber and wood products, and resulting in nearly 70,000 jobs that range from foresters to truck drivers to sawmill workers to pellet manufacturers, employment opportunities that are particularly crucial to rural communities.
As for wood pellet production specifically, the state’s lumber industry supplies residuals to a total of 10 facilities across the state with production capacities ranging from 1,800 metric tons (mt) of pellets up to 125,000 mt.
Packing a Punch
With a total annual production capacity of 358,200 mt of finished product worth $75.3 million, the fuel pellet industry utilizes over 500,000 tons of residue per year, purchased for an estimated $20 million.
Bruce Lisle, founder of Pennsylvania pellet plant Energex American, now works on strategic initiatives for Lignetics. With decades of experience, Lisle offers insight into the interplay between the state’s extensive wood products industry and the pellet industry. “We are the place people go to get rid of wood residues,” Lisle says. “And not just my plant, but all the rest of them. They’re part of the infrastructure. They are who the sawmillers know they can depend on to get rid of their [waste fiber]. In many cases, we cut travel costs. We have had guys who were driving by our plant and going 200 miles to deliver stuff to another market, but now, they only have to drive 25 miles.”
Kvietok highlights the symbiotic relationship between the two industries, explaining that without pellet plants, sawmills would run out of space, forcing them to shut down. This role is so crucial that pellet mills were deemed
an essential industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the service they provide. Lignetics Group owns and operates 29 facilities across the U.S. and Canada that process wood waste, with 27 of those producing heating pellets.
Kvietok emphasizes that the pellet industry does more than simply dispose of residuals, and instead “upcycles” the material into valuable heating fuel, along with products in the cooking, pet and industrial categories. “Without the pellet industry, for most wood products producers, those residues were a negative on their balance sheet, because they needed to pay someone to dispose of it,” he says.
The importance of the pellet industry to the state’s economy is well understood by its congressional representative, according to Tim Portz, executive director of Pellet Fuels Institute. “Representative GT Thompson
LOCKED IN ON THE KEYSTONE STATE
Pennsylvania’s pellet industry is a critical user of waste generated by the state’s robust wood product industry—with many significant benefits to boost.
BY KATIE SCHROEDER
IMAGE: LIGNETICS
(PA-15) is as well versed in the value proposition of wood pellets as anyone in Congress,” Portz says. “At our last fly-in, he echoed all of our points and urged us to go further with regard to the carbon implications of wood pellets as a heating fuel.”
Pennsylvanian Pellets
Some pellet mills in the state work independently, gathering fiber from nearby wood products facilities, while others are colocated with a sawmill or wood products facility.
Lignetics owns three pellet facilities in the state, all of which are standalone operations. PA Pellets, located in Ulysses, produces 37,200 mt of pellets. Started up in 2000 by Lisle and purchased by Lignetics in 2020, Energex American, located in Mifflintown, produces 125,000 mt of pellets. Lignetics of New England-Allegheny, located in Youngsville, produces 71,000 mt of pellets.
Greene Team Pellet Fuel Company, located in Carmichaels, is also a standalone facility and produces 50,000 mt of pellets. Michael Galis, chief financial officer with Greene Team, explains that the pellet industry plays a role in helping the wood products industry become slightly more profitable than it would be otherwise because the pellet industry buys the residuals. “I can say with confidence that 100% of the wood fiber we purchase is not cut down in the forest with the sole intent of making wood pellets out of it,” he says. “It is all a byproduct of other industries.”
The facilities tied to wood product manufacturers include Barefoot Pellet Co., located in Troy, which produces 70,000 mt of pellets; and C&C Smith Lumber Company Pellet Plant in Summerhill, which produces 22,700 mt of pellets. Pennwood Products in East Berlin produces around 9,000 mt of pel-
Lignetics Group owns several pellet plants throughout Pennsylvania, including the one pictured here, which is located in Ulyssess.
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The remaining facilities include the state’s smallest producer, Ironstone Mills, located in Leola, (2,000 mt); Pellheat Inc. in Glen Hope (5,000 mt); and Bio-Diversity in Sellingsville, which makes a wooden Envi Block and TruWood premium wood pellets.
Heating Consumers
Homeowners in the Northeast often seek alternative heating options, with natural gas and heating oil being the leading sources overall. A strong heating market, Pennsylvania has plenty of heating days per year, with the season stretching from mid-September into May. The rural areas of the state lack natural gas infrastructure, which would otherwise be a key source of cheap heat, Lisle explains. Often, pellets are a great option and are a more convenient source of heat compared to logs for wood stoves—for example, older generations who don’t want to split wood find them easier to use.
Another element that makes Pennsylvania a good market for pellet heat is the population dispersal throughout the center of the state. Although the population density is not comparable to regions around Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the rural region is more densely populated than the population of a state like Wyoming, Kvietok explains. “When you get to those [very spread out] population densities, it actually becomes challenging to run a pellet facility because you don’t have enough customers within that 200 mile radius to serve,” he says. “Moderately dense rural areas are more economically feasible to supply, and the folks living there maintain a connection to the land and a desire for independent living that makes wood a very sensible choice.”
Rural Pennsylvanians are comfortable with the idea of using wood as a “functional material,” he explains, not just as a fuel for something like a campfire or a wood fire in a fireplace on Christmas Eve.
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Jim Verbeke, vice president of sales for Hearth and Home Technologies’ stove business unit, explains that pellet stoves make up the biggest share of this unit, with roughly 20 different stoves and inserts available for purchase. Hearth and Home Technologies’ domestic production facility for stoves is located in Halifax, Pennsylvania. “We continue to produce and manufacture out of Halifax and—I would say just in general the Northeast, but specifically in Pennsylvania—there is a high demand for heating appliances like ours. This is for both pellets and wood, because consumers are looking for heating solutions alternative to what I call the traditional forms, and a lot of that also is driven by ways of lowering home heating costs,” Verbeke says.
Adam Martin, president of Martin Sales and Service in Butler, operates the family business of selling, installing and servicing heating stoves and fireplaces. Originally founded by Martin’s father, the shop sells pellets all year long, supplying homeowners who want to prepare for the winter during summer, and then more during cold fall and winter months. Martin explains that he works to ensure the pellets sold at his store offer customers high BTUs at the most affordable price possible. “I think it’s important our industry continues to sell a quality product backed by a retailer that can offer the proper installation and proper service, and then also continue to sell a quality fuel to convey a positive image of pellet fuel to the consumer—that they are saving on heating bills, have a reliable heat source and a reliable stove,” he says.
Martin emphasizes the importance of keeping prices down on both pellet stoves
Martin Sales and Service, located in Butler, Pennsylvania, supplies its customers with pellets and the stoves needed to burn them.
IMAGE: MARTIN SALES AND SERVICE
and fuel, as many of his customers look to pellet stoves as a way to offset heating costs. When sold at his store, pellet price averages range from $295 per ton to $325 per ton, with the majority of customers who use pellet stoves as a primary heating source purchasing two to three tons per year. “I can tell you that some [customers] have certainly told me over and over again that the amount of money that they’re spending to heat their home for a year with a pellet stove is what they were using to heat their home with alternative fuel for only a month’s ... worth of heat,” Martin says.
Martin keeps costs affordable by finding local pellets, reducing the shipping cost. He is also selective about the brands of stove he carries, choosing to carry the best products that the industry has to offer as well as the service needed to maintain it. Martin believes that selling U.S.-made products and high-quality brands differentiates his shop from a big box store, which carries a wide array of products, but may not all be high quality. “For a fresh customer who doesn’t have a pellet stove to get involved, between the cost of the stove, the venting and installation of the stove, and
then the fuel on top of it, I think it’s really important that our industry looks at these things, adds them up and understands that they’re making an investment in our industry,” Martin adds.
Appliance Manufacturing
The Harman brand pellet stoves sold at Martin’s store have roots in Pennsylvania. Verbeke explains that Hearth and Home Technologies’ history in the state began 18 years ago, when the company acquired the Harman stove brand and its manufacturing facility, located in Halifax. “Dane Harman, who was the original founder of Harman, lived in Halifax,” he says. “He saw a need for heating solutions and as a welder and engineer himself, it led to him creating the Harman brand.”
After acquiring the brand, Hearth and Home Technologies decided to stay in Halifax because of the strong legacy of the brand in the community and the region’s pervasive use of pellet stove and wood stove heating. The stoves heat around 1,000 to 4,000 square feet and are typically used to heat a room or a whole floor of a building—often used to sup-
plement a primary heating source—but they are capable of heating a small house.
Another enticement for pellet stove purchases has been the tax incentives available to buyers. “Our particular tax credit is up to $2,000 tax credit or 30% of the value of the appliance and installation up to $2,000,” Verbeke says.
While that has been the case since 2021, that tax credit is in danger of being eliminated. In May, it was stripped from the U.S. House of Representatives’ budget reconciliation bill, which is now in the Senate.
Pennsylvania’s appreciation for wood’s usefulness and renewability helps keep the state a significant market for the wood pellets in the home heating space, Martin adds. “In this area of the country, I do feel that [the] customer loves wood heat, and loves that it’s renewable energy,” Martin says. “With a pellet customer ... they’re buying a leftover byproduct, which is sawdust coming from the lumber industry, and it makes them feel good.”
The RNG Coalition held its inaugural RNG Media Day in June, sharing key industry updates, current federal and state policy, and economic and development reports.
BY CAITLIN SCHERESKY
RNG
In partnership with Guidehouse and Vanguard Renewables, the RNG Coalition presented its first RNG Media Day on June 18. Hosted by the RNG Coalition’s Senior Manager of Communications, Dylan Chase, the webinar kicked off with the exciting announcement that the coalition reached its 2025 Sustainable Methane Abatement & Recycling Timeline benchmark of 500 operational facilities in the U.S. months ahead of schedule, with a total of 505 operational facilities. Spearheaded by the RNG Coalition, SMART is an initiative to capture and control methane and CO2 produced from the 43,000-plus aggregated organic waste sites in North America by 2050, with incremental benchmarks set in 2025, 2030 and 2040.
Another 153 RNG facilities are under construction, according to the Coalition, and yet another 293 are in planning stages.
The RNG Coalition’s CEO, Johannes Escudero, shared renewable natural gas’s (RNG) history in the U.S. and the Coalition’s role in the industry’s explosive growth. RNG, according to Escudero, is “the derivative product from any organic material that decomposes naturally, creating a cocktail of gas constituents, primarily consisting of methane and CO2.” The first U.S. RNG facility appeared in New York in 1982. In 2011, nearly 30 years later, the Coalition was founded, he said, and at the time only 31 RNG facilities were operational in the U.S. “We knew what our industry was capable of with the right policy support, with the right public support and with sufficient market demand,” Escudero stated, citing the jump to 505 operational facilities only 14 years later.
Escudero attributed this success to the Coalition’s partners and supporters both at the federal and individual level. “Someone once said that if you’re leading and nobody is following, then you’re not really leading— you’re walking,” he continued. The Coali-
tion’s mission—leadership, education and events, advocacy (U.S. and Canada), development and industry growth, and sustainable solutions and markets (LEADS)—ties it all together.
Following Escudero, Geoff Dietz, senior director of federal affairs for the Coalition, dove into the hot-button topic of federal tax credits, starting with the history behind the U.S. EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard. The RFS’s goal, created in 2005, was to support the development and commercialization of biofuels. Under former President George W. Bush in 2007, the RFS was authorized via the Energy Independence and Security Act to expand feedstocks and fuel types, and another expansion in 2014 under the Obama administration permitted RNG and biogas under the cellulosic biofuel category. Today, RNG comprises 95% of available cellulosic biofuel credits.
As for more recently crafted policy, Dietz pointed to Section 45Z Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit—which currently offers up to $1 per gallon for non-aviation fuels and up to $1.75 per gallon for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)—as opportunistic for RNG, though it is subject to change under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act making its way through Congress. Dietz also suggested potential for RNG in Section 45V, which focuses on clean hydrogen. “RNG can play a role as a feedstock of that clean hydrogen,” he explained. And although not as well-known as the other Section 45 policy, 45Q, the carbon sequestration credit, offers potential; one of the two main gases within RNG is biogenic CO2, which has encouraged interest to take advantage of the credit.
Sam Wade, vice president of public policy at RNG Coalition, briefly touched on state-specific RNG policies. At current, four states have a clean fuel standard passed and in effect, with more seeing statewide advocacy. California has led the way with its Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which has dis-
placed over 70% of transportation diesel with cleaner alternatives and lowered California’s fuel carbon intensity (CI) by nearly 20%. RNG, according to Wade, offers the lowest-CI clean fuel.
Utilities are increasingly being subject to decarbonization goals through RNG channels, including renewable gas and clean heat standards. Oregon, which Wade described as a “leader in RNG,” set the statewide voluntary goal to add as much as 30% of RNG into the state’s pipeline system by 2050 under 2019’s Senate Bill 98.
In a jump to real-world examples, Coalition member Guidehouse’s Director of Energy Transition, Danielle Vitoff, demonstrated how far the industry has come in the past year, presenting economic data from mid-2024. Vitoff began with impressive statistics: the RNG industry supported 55,664 jobs in 2024, with 57% of employment coming from projects under construction, and generated $7.2 billion in gross domestic product. The majority of
these RNG jobs were middle income and required no advanced degrees. Facilities in progress as of mid-2024 could support roughly 94,000 jobs and generate $10.8 billion in GDP, Vitoff said.
Municipal solid waste (MSW) was found to have the largest economic impact due to its high levels of RNG production, according to Vitoff. Utilization of such RNG is focused on three sectors: transportation and freight, in which RNG has found itself for the better part of its lifespan and garners support from policies including the RFS and LCFS; utilities, which have faced increasing pressure to decarbonize and develop RNG drop-in compatibilities; and the hard-to-abate industries, which also face decarbonization pressure along supply chains.
Michael O’Laughlin, CEO of Vanguard Renewables, spoke to the importance of localized anaerobic digestion and the advantage the U.S. currently holds. “The U.S. is really positioned well as a global
The RNG Coalition’s 2025 SMART benchmark of 500 U.S. RNG facilities has been achieved months in advance.
IMAGE: RNG COALITION
leader because of the [pipeline] infrastructure that exists today,” he said. O’Laughlin cited Vanguard’s “fully circular RNG solution” as an example of such infrastructure. Food and beverage industry waste is supplied to anaerobic, farm-based digesters via organics preprocessing, which is then converted to animal bedding and fertilizer, effectively diverting waste from the landfill.
Anaerobic digesters benefit individual farmers and local economies by adding revenue, reducing farm odors and producing useful byproducts, as well as national companies looking to meet zero-waste-to-landfill goals, O’Laughlin continued. For now, he said, RNG must meet global regulation requirements, including production processes, existing gas and infrastructure, and multi-industry demand—a challenge the industry is hungry to take on.
Biomass-to-Methanol: A Scalable Solution for Synthetic Fuels
Biomethanol offers a flexible platform for converting available sustainable feedstocks into low-carbon fuel.
BY ZINOVIA SKOUFA
As the global energy system undergoes a fundamental transformation, pressure mounts to find low-carbon alternatives to fossil fuels across hard-to-abate sectors. Methanol, a clean-burning fuel with wide-ranging applications in shipping, power generation and sustainable chemicals, offers an alternative to traditional fuels. But biomethanol, technically mature and increasingly scalable, is building its case as a critical enabler of the net-zero transition.
Biomethanol, distinct from e-methanol (which is produced entirely from captured CO2 and green hydrogen), is produced by converting sustainable biomass sources into low-carbon methanol. It helps tackle two major challenges: cutting carbon emissions and reducing organic waste. Coupled with its compatibility with proven industrial processes, biomethanol stands a practical and attractive fuel option in the transition to cleaner energy systems. Biomethanol also lays a road to compliance with upcoming maritime emissions regulations, provides a renewable alternative to current chemical feedstocks facing Scope 3 reduction goals, and offers an outlet for organic waste disposal.
Process Pathways and Technical Readiness
The production of methanol from biomass typically follows one of two routes: biochemical conversion or thermochemical conversion. The former uses anaerobic digestion to create biogas, which can then be reformed into synthesis gas (syngas—a mixture of CO, H2, and CO2). Thermochemical conversion involves converting solid biomass into syngas. Biomass-derived syngas contains different toxins than fossil-based syngas, layering additional challenges in gasification and methanol synthesis. The gas is then cleaned and catalyti-
cally converted into methanol. Some advanced systems also incorporate partial oxidation during gasification to enhance syngas quality and increase methanol yield. Green hydrogen may also optionally be integrated into the biomass-to-methanol process to enhance syngas composition and increase methanol yield.
The process can accommodate a wide range of typically nonedible lignocellulosic and organic waste feedstocks such as forestry residues (branches, bark, wood chips) agricultural byproducts (straw, husks, corn stover); black liquor (a byproduct of the pulp and paper industry); and biogenic municipal solid waste (food scraps, green waste).
While the underlying chemistry is well understood, the integration of biomass gasification with methanol synthesis requires careful engineering. Companies with deep experience in methanol production, such as Johnson Matthey, have adapted their synthesis loop and catalyst platforms to manage biomass-derived syngas. These solutions are tailored to tolerate feedstock variability, including hydrogen availability, high-conversion efficiency maintenance, and product purity assurance—all critical for commercial viability. This is not an experimental pathway, however. Biomass-to-methanol leverages decades of industrial methanol expertise and infrastructure at significant scale. This means deployment can happen more quickly than some emerging fuel technologies.
Environmental Impact and Growing Policy Relevance
A 2021 study by the International Renewable Energy Agency estimated that methanol production and use contribute around 0.3 gigatonnes of CO2 annually, or about 10% of global emissions from the chemical industry. Lifecycle analysis shows that biomethanol can reduce global warming potential by up to 185%
(cradle-to-gate) relative to fossil-based methanol, depending on feedstock type and carbon accounting assumptions (this figure reflects the CO2 absorbed during biomass growth). Methanol produced from residual or waste biomass has the potential to deliver large carbon footprint savings, especially when it displaces fuels like heavy fuel oil or naphtha.
When used as a marine fuel, biomethanol offers up to 95% lower CO2 emissions (tankto-wake) than conventional fuels. It also provides immediate improvements in air quality by producing lower nitrogen oxides (NOX), sulphur oxides (SOX) and particulate matter during combustion. In regions facing tightening emissions standards for shipping, these benefits strengthen biomethanol’s case as a compliance-friendly fuel option.
Global maritime regulations are increasing momentum for low-carbon fuels. The FuelEU Maritime Regulation initiative mandates a progressive reduction in greenhouse gas intensity from marine fuels, creating long-term renewables demand signals. Meanwhile, the International Maritime Organization has set a global decarbonization trajectory, including a 20% reduction in shipping’s total GHG emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2050, with a global carbon price set in April 2025. These regulations are expected to accelerate the adoption of drop-in fuels, which offer compatibility with existing infrastructure and measurable lifecycle emission benefits. Policy support is not only helping close the investment gap but also solidifying biomethanol’s role in the maritime sector’s energy transition. However, many jurisdictions still lack specific frameworks to differentiate between fossil-based and renewable methanol, or to reward the full lifecycle emissions savings of biobased production. Closing this policy gap will be essential for investment certainty.
CONTRIBUTION: The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Biomass Magazine or its advertisers. All questions pertaining to this article should be directed to the author(s).
Scaling Challenges and Collaboration Needs
Scaling biomass-to-methanol is not without challenges. Feedstock availability, logistics and supply chain integration are common barriers. While biomass is theoretically abundant, practical access is shaped by geography, seasonality and competing demand from other sectors such as bioenergy, animal feed or composting. Effective scaling will depend on the development of stable, regional biomass supply chains. This includes investment in collection and preprocessing infrastructure, better data on feedstock volumes and quality, and systems for tracking sustainability credentials.
Technical challenges also remain. Biomass-derived syngas can contain a range of impurities including tars, sulphur compounds and chlorine, which can impair catalyst performance if not properly managed. Methanol synthesis technology must be resilient to variable gas composition and impurities. Here, advancements in catalyst design and process engineering such as those pioneered by companies like JM are helping make the utilization of sustainable feedstocks more reliable.
Equally important is project financing. While methanol synthesis technology is proven, the commercial viability of biomass-to-methanol still depends on access to incentives, predictable feedstock pricing and buyers willing to pay a premium for low-carbon methanol. Emerging low-carbon fuel standards and voluntary corporate commitments are helping close this gap, but market confidence remains essential. Project viability improves significantly when developers can partner with experienced technology licensors and supply chain integrators who can derisk project delivery.
Case Study: SunGas Renewable Energy Project
One of the most significant projects highlighting the commercial viability and scaling potential of biomethanol is the Beaver Lake Renewable Energy project by SunGas Renewables in Pineville, Louisiana. With a planned investment of $2 billion, this facility will be one of the largest biomethanol plants currently being developed in the U.S. Set on the site of a former paper mill, it reflects a growing trend toward repurposing existing industrial infrastructure to support the energy
transition. The plant is expected to produce approximately 500,000 metric tons of biomethanol annually, enough to power up to nine large oceangoing container vessels per year. This output is aimed primarily at the marine fuels market, but it will also serve as a feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel and other renewable chemical applications.
To support this high-capacity production, SunGas has selected JM as its methanol synthesis technology partner, along with Linde and Merichem. A final investment decision is expected by 2026, with operations commencing by late 2028. SunGas has already secured an offtake agreement with shipping giant Maersk.
A Pragmatic Fuel for a Complex Transition
The long-term role of biomethanol will likely vary by region. In feedstock-rich countries, it could become a dominant fuel. In others, it may complement hydrogen or e-methanol solutions, offering a near-term option
during scaling. What will ultimately determine its success is not just technical performance, but system thinking. Biomass-to-methanol sits at the intersection of energy, waste and industrial policy. Making it work at scale will require alignment across sectors, coordinated planning and smart regulation. It also calls for pragmatic partnerships between technology providers, feedstock suppliers, policymakers and end users.
As the world confronts the dual pressures of climate action and sustainable growth, fuels like biomethanol deserve close attention. It offers a flexible platform for converting available sustainable feedstocks into low-carbon fuel. In terms of impact, readiness and relevance, biomethanol is proving to be a vital contributor to decarbonization.
Author: Zinovia Skoufa Managing Director, Methanol Johnson
Matthey
More Than a Byproduct: a New Chapter for Biochar
Once a niche product, biochar has become a business opportunity.
BY MYLES GRAY
As the bioeconomy evolves, so must the way we think about biomass utilization. What if the key to unlocking new revenue, reducing waste and meeting sustainability goals could be part of your existing operation? Biochar has entered the spotlight in the biomass industry as a material and technology that can increase the value of residuals and help revitalize American manufacturing.
While biochar was once considered a niche product with limited market infrastructure, that perception is shifting. With increasing market interest and a growing push for carbon-smart, circular solutions, biochar is proving to be a high-value output.
Biochar is essentially charcoal, but instead of using it to heat your grill, it’s used as a versatile input across industries: as a concrete additive, a component in horticultural substrates, and a soil amendment that stores carbon for thousands of years.
Biochar production entails heating biomass in oxygen-limited environments where full combustion cannot occur, typically in gasification or pyrolysis systems. Most biochar production systems also produce excess heat, which can be used to meet on-site heat demand
or to produce electricity. Nearly any biomass will do, so most biochar producers focus on timber and agricultural processing residuals or other waste streams, presenting an opportunity to add value to these materials.
Although biochar is gaining fresh attention today, its origins go back in history. Indigenous groups around the world used it to improve the productivity of soils. In more recent history, many biomass energy producers and timber boilers have been making biochar for decades but either reburning the material as “reinjection ash” or landfilling it as “high-carbon fly-ash.”
This presents a new economic opportunity, largely driven by demand for biochar carbon removal credits by major corporations like Microsoft, Google and others. Payments for these credits cover much of the cost of producing biochar, rendering the physical biochar a lowcost input material in industrial, agricultural and infrastructure value chains. Increasing the use of biochar in these sectors is key to unlocking a thriving industry—one that adds value to agricultural and forestry residuals. The United States Biochar Initiative is also focused on building biochar into these markets to support a growing and thriving biochar sector.
Building with Biochar: Carbon-Sinking Concrete
One of the most headline-grabbing developments over the past year has been the use of biochar in concrete, which represents a major opportunity for the biochar industry, due to the size of the potential market demand. Biochar adds value in multiple ways; it sequesters carbon in low-carbon concrete blends, improves the performance and curing of lightweight concrete blends, and serves as a substitute for coal fly-ash, a common ingredient in concrete that is becoming scarcer with the decline in coal power generation.
Just in the past few months, Holcim, one of the largest concrete companies in the world, announced that it was using biochar in product lines, including a showcase at the Venice Architecture Biennial. According to Holcim, every ton of biochar used in concrete sequesters three tons of CO2, helping them to achieve ambitious decarbonization goals.
While the use of biochar among major industry players like Holcim reflects the potential scale of this market, many other efforts are underway to achieve that. This includes the development of a formal American Society for Testing and Materials standard for biochar in
CONTRIBUTION: The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Biomass Magazine or its advertisers. All questions pertaining to this article should be directed to the author(s).
concrete that would underpin the growth in this market.
Greener Gardens and Plants: Biochar in Potting Media
Biochar is also an increasingly popular material in the home and garden sector as a component of potting media and horticultural substrate. Potting media is commonly composed of a combination of materials like perlite, peat and coconut coir, all of which are excellent for growing plants. However, they are also expensive, carbon-intensive, primarily imported and subject to supply chain disruptions—and, very likely, tariffs. Major players in this sector have been looking for lower-cost, domestically produced, sustainable alternatives including biochar, which can be effective to replace perlite and a portion of peat in high-quality media. With increased biochar production, supported by carbon markets, biochar can also be a lower-cost alternative.
Just in the past year, SunGro, a leading producer of professional grower mixes and consumer brands, launched Black Bear media, which utilizes biochar in place of perlite. This hints at the potential for a large increase in demand for biochar. At the same time, smaller companies are getting in the game too, including Rosy Soil, a startup potting media company that makes carbon-neutral potting media based on biochar. Rosy Soil has seen impressive growth over the past year, garnering major purchase agreements with big box retailers including Target.
Biochar in Soil: The Foundation for Regenerative Agriculture
Using biochar as a soil amendment has been the key market for the biochar industry since its inception, and for good reason: it increases wa ter and nutrient holding, improves soil health, increases yields in many crops, and much more. While effective, historically, most farmers have not been able to make the dollars and cents add up, but as biochar prices have come down and its benefits are becoming clearer, the story is chang ing. Further, as interest in regenerative agriculture has grown, biochar is getting a second look. Un like other regenerative practices that increase soil carbon, the carbon in biochar is permanent, pro viding a long-term foundation that supports the effectiveness of other regenerative practices like cover cropping and compost amendment. Key to the growth of this market has been the availability of federal cost-share payments to
farmers through USDA programs, making it possible for farmers across the country to experiment with biochar and develop the most cost-effective ways to use it. In the Southeast United States, Ashwood Biochar, a major biochar producer, has been leading the way in helping farmers access these programs and deploy biochar on thousands of acres.
In certain high-value cropping systems in the western U.S., like vineyards in California and apples in Washington state, farmers are finding that biochar addition prior to planting increases growth rates and yields without sacrificing product quality, leading to increased farm revenues without any federal cost share incentives. In California, Monterey Pacific, a major vineyard manager, now uses biochar when planting most of its vineyards.
Writing the Next Chapter
As demand grows across these sectors, the need for clear, science-based specifications has become critical. The U.S. Biochar Initiative is currently leading the development of
an American National Standard (ANSI) for laboratory testing, with target completion of fall 2025. The anticipated next phase is establishing quality and end-use ANSI standards to support market growth and product consistency.
Biochar is emerging as a well-established industry. Producers and manufacturers are fueling rural economic development and supporting manufacturing jobs. This growth is attracting increasing attention from major agricultural and industrial corporations, policymakers, feedstock suppliers and more.
For biomass producers and industry stakeholders, the message is clear: Biochar is not just a byproduct—it’s a business opportunity. As demand accelerates, now is the time to engage, innovate and help write the next chapter of this rapidly growing industry.
Author: Myles Gray Executive Director, U.S. Biochar Initiative Biochar-us.org
From Wildfire Fuel to Bioenergy
Using at-risk biomass for bioenergy is a win-win solution to Canada’s off-grid communities.
BY NICOLAS MANSUY
Wildfires have become an escalating global threat as climate change accelerates. In Canada, the 2023 wildfire season was the most severe ever recorded, scorching over 15 million hectares (37 million acres) of managed forests—more than seven times the national annual average. These fires not only devastated ecosystems and threatened lives and infrastructure, but also released unprecedented levels of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. More than 230,000 people were evacuated, and many remote communities— particularly off-grid Indigenous communities in the north—found themselves on the frontlines.
These same communities already face chronic energy insecurity, relying heavily on inefficient diesel generators for electricity and heating. Diesel fuel must be transported over long distances, often by truck, making supply chains costly, unreliable, and carbon-intensive. The convergence of wildfire risk and diesel dependence presents a pressing dual challenge but also a unique opportunity.
A Transformative Solution
A recent study led by Nicolas Mansuy, PhD, published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment, outlines a novel approach: converting biomass at risk of wildfire into bioenergy. The strategy integrates firesmart fuel management with community-scale bioenergy systems to address two major challenges at once—wildfire mitigation and clean energy access.
Wildfire mitigation strategies such as fuel treatments often involve clearing flammable materials like deadwood, dry branches and dense undergrowth near infrastructure and populated areas. This biomass is typically discarded or left to decompose. The study proposes a different path: treating this material not as waste, but as a renewable feedstock to
produce local bioenergy. By doing so, communities can reduce fire hazards while decreasing their dependence on diesel.
This integrated approach directly supports several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) and SDG 13 (climate action), by expanding access to renewable energy and lowering emissions from both wildfires and fossil fuels.
Local Biomass, Local Power
The study identified 33 remote Canadian communities that are both diesel-dependent and surrounded by wildfire-prone biomass within a 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) radius. Most of these communities have populations ranging from 100 to 3,000 residents, with annual energy needs between 700 and 20,000 megawatt-hours. These energy profiles make localized biomass-to-energy systems technically and economically feasible.
One of the most compelling findings is that harvesting less than 1% of the available biomass within the 10-km buffer zone would be sufficient to meet these communities’ entire annual energy demand. In effect, biomass from local fire mitigation could provide all the necessary feedstock for bioenergy generation.
Two scenarios for energy conversion were explored in the study:
Wood chip-based model: This theoretical scenario shows strong potential for cost savings but would require greater investments in infrastructure, planning and on-the-ground logistics.
Wood pellet-based model: This operational scenario involves using commercially available biomass boilers and wood pellets. It offers a more immediate and scalable pathway, relying on existing technology and distribution systems.
In both cases, transitioning to bioenergy would significantly reduce diesel consumption
and associated emissions. As of 2020, remote communities in Canada consumed approximately 700 million liters (185 million gallons) of diesel annually—mainly for heating and electricity—serving an estimated 200,000 people. This level of consumption equates to about 9 metric tons of CO2-equivalent emissions per person per year, more than three times the emissions of the average Canadian household.
More Than Clean Energy
The benefits of this integrated approach go well beyond energy and emissions reductions. Since 2017, the Canadian government has supported over 100 clean energy projects through the Clean Energy for Rural and Remote Communities program, including several bioenergy initiatives. Yet, logistical challenges remain one of the biggest hurdles to scaling up biomass use in remote areas. Long transportation distances, seasonal accessibility and limited infrastructure make external biomass supply chains expensive and impractical.
By using biomass already located near these communities—biomass that would otherwise pose a fire risk—logistical burdens are dramatically reduced. In turn, this unlocks a series of important co-benefits, including the following:
Wildfire prevention: Removing flammable biomass reduces the risk of uncontrolled fires, protecting lives, homes and ecosystems.
GHG reduction: Emissions are mitigated both from wildfires and from the continued use of diesel generators.
Economic development: Local job creation and skills development is supported in the areas of forest management, energy system operation and environmental monitoring.
Community empowerment: Indigenous communities gain more autonomy over their energy systems and land management practices.
CONTRIBUTION: The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Biomass Magazine or its advertisers. All questions pertaining to this article should be directed to the author(s).
Combined Heat-and-Power Academy
The University of British Columbia’s Alex Fraser Research Forest is offering a five-day, hands-on training to provide knowledge regarding how to establish a combined-heat-andpower (CHP) plant and other bioenergy systems in remote communities. Participants will learn how to operate a CHP plant, perform maintenance, and carry out general forestry operations and supply chain management with real equipment. The course also covers forest management, including wildfire risk reduction and biomass supply and quality.
More information and course dates can be accessed at https://www.afrf.forestry.ubc.ca/ chp-academy-expression-of-interest/
Resilience building: Long-term resilience against both environmental threats and socio-economic vulnerabilities is enhanced.
Moreover, this approach aligns with Indigenous leadership and stewardship values, integrating traditional knowledge with modern clean energy technology. Indigenous organizations are already leading innovative energy and land management projects across the country. Supporting and scaling such efforts could accelerate both climate action and reconciliation.
Scaling the Vision
Although promising pilot projects exist, most communities have not yet adopted this approach. Scaling up requires more than good ideas. It calls for strategic investment, policy support and collaborative governance. To make this vision a reality, several key areas need to be addressed.
Local infrastructure and equipment: Biomass harvesting, processing and storage
facilities must be developed to support smallscale energy systems.
Education and training: Fire awareness campaigns and capacity-building programs will ensure communities can manage and operate these systems safely and effectively.
Coordinated policy frameworks: A cross-jurisdictional approach is essential, aligning forestry, energy, Indigenous affairs and emergency management.
Long-term financing: Sustained federal and provincial funding mechanisms are needed to support implementation and maintenance.
Inclusive governance: Indigenous leadership and collaboration with local stakeholders should be central to project design and decision-making.
Governments, utilities, fire agencies, researchers and community organizations must work together to build a national framework that supports community-scale bioenergy integrated with wildfire mitigation. This kind
of win-win solution shows how climate adaptation and energy transition can be tackled simultaneously.
Toward a Resilient Bioeconomy
While the study focuses on remote and off-grid communities, the broader implications are national and even global. The removal and use of fire-prone biomass can be integrated into commercial biomass supply chains, contributing to a growing market for renewable, sustainable feedstocks. As demand rises for low-carbon fuels and circular bioeconomy solutions, fire-smart bioenergy offers a compelling path forward.
In the face of increasing wildfire activity and energy insecurity, especially in Canada’s north, the opportunity is clear. By turning a major climate threat into a source of sustainable power, this approach addresses some of the most pressing challenges, energy access, climate resilience and community well-being, through a single, integrated strategy.
As Canada prepares for future wildfire seasons, the time to act is now. Empowering communities with clean, local energy derived from fire-risk biomass not only helps prevent disaster, but it also lights the way to more resilient communities.
Author: Nicolas Mansuy Researcher, Natural Resources Canada nicolas.mansuy@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca
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Unlocking Biochar’s Full Potential Through Pelletizing
The functional benefits of biochar pelletization offer agronomic, industrial and environmental advantages.
BY CRAIG VAUGHAN
In the growing movement toward circular bioeconomy solutions, biochar is emerging as more than just a soil amendment. When formed into high-performance pellets, biochar becomes a robust tool for pollution remediation and nutrient delivery, a cost-effective source of carbon for steelmaking, and a sustainable construction material design.
Mars Mineral has seen firsthand how precision pelletizing from milled biochar can transform waste materials into value-added products with wide-reaching commercial and industrial applications.
Shaping Biochar for Real-World Use
Biochar has been championed for its carbon-stable framework, water retention capability and porosity, making it a compelling candidate for environmental and agricultural use. In its raw powdered or crushed form, however, it is often dusty, hard to handle and
inconsistently applied. Pelletizing addresses these challenges.
Advantages of Pelletized Biochar
• Densification improves handling, packaging, transportation, storage and application efficiency.
• Mechanical stability ensures product integrity during handling and shipping.
• Consistent pellet size distribution enables reliable application rates in soil or filtration systems.
By tailoring moisture content, pellet size distribution, and binder selection, the pelletizing process optimizes biochar’s structural and functional properties for targeted use cases— from field spreading to wastewater treatment to steelmaking.
Mars Mineral’s proprietary pelletizing technology is engineered for industrial scalability and precise control over pellet properties. It is also optimized to handle a wide range of biochar feedstocks, including forest
waste such as slash, food processing waste and biomass ashes.
Mars’ pin mixer acts as a high-speed conditioner, mixing fine materials with moisture and binders to initiate microagglomeration. As a standalone pelletizer, the pin mixer generates round pellets typically in the 0.5–2mm range. When paired with our disc pelletizer, the result is dense, spherical pellets in the 1–4mm range.
This two-step process allows for shorter drying times, more efficient binder usage, higher throughput and greater control over pellet bulk density, strength and porosity.
What the Research Says:
Pelletizing Biomass and Biochar
Research by Rambhatla et al. (2024), published in Resources, Environment and Sustainability, shows that pyrolysis temperature and hold time within the 400–900 degrees Celsius range have a direct impact on biochar yield, structure and density. In the study, bulk
CONTRIBUTION: The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Biomass Magazine or its advertisers. All questions pertaining to this article should be directed to the author(s).
biomass was pyrolyzed in a nitrogen atmosphere under tightly controlled temperature profiles to assess how thermal treatment impacts material performance. Some of the findings were as follows:
• Maximum biochar yield occurs around 400 C, making it ideal for soil and nutrient applications.
• As pyrolysis temperatures increase to 600–900 C, biochar yield declines due to the increasing loss of volatiles, but carbon content, higher heating value and thermal stability increase.
• Biochar produced at 900 C has a highly aromatic carbon framework with lower oxygen and hydrogen content, making it suitable for filtration applications such as the removal of metal or organic contaminants.
• Morphology also shifts: Lower-temperature chars retain structure useful in soil amendments for water retention, while higher-temperature chars develop enhanced performance properties for pollutant adsorption.
The study also demonstrated that increasing pyrolysis temperatures used to convert biomass into biochar increases carbon and ash content and bulk density, and decreases surface area, porosity, hydrophilic functional groups and water adsorption, making the biochar surface more hydrophobic. These thermal effects are key to selecting pyrolysis parameters that align with intended end uses.
In practice, biochar produced under these conditions must be milled into a fine powder before it can be pelletized. Consequently, the binders, binder adjuncts and pelletization equipment settings must be optimized to meet functional pellet specifications for each intended application.
Process Development Considerations
Pelletizing biochar is not a one-size-fitsall process. Each feedstock varies in moisture, volatiles and particle shape, requiring customized process development. Mars Minerals uses lab trials and pilot-scale testing to validate performance before scaling up.
Key factors include:
• Moisture content: This is essential for green pellet strength without overburdening drying systems.
• Binder chemistry and loading: Options typically range from water alone to aqueous lignosulfonates, humates and starches, depending on application and sustainability goals.
• Pellet size, size distribution and strength: These characteristics are tuned for the application—smaller and harder for filtration, and larger and weaker for rapid soil dispersion as a soil conditioner.
Through iterative testing, Mars Minerals fine-tunes input ratios, equipment settings and post-processing steps to ensure that biochar pellets meet the demands of agriculture, remediation or material manufacturing.
Enabling the Circular Bioeconomy
Pelletized biochar exemplifies the convergence of carbon management and waste valorization. By transforming residual biomass into engineered pellets, producers can move closer to zero-waste, carbon-neutral manufacturing while generating materials that sequester carbon, purify water and restore soil health. Benefits include:
• Forestry: Biochar pellets support wildfire mitigation, improve water retention, balance soil pH, and enhance microbial activity for long-term regeneration.
• Agriculture: Nutrient efficiency is improved while handling and application challenges are addressed.
• Water purification: Biochar pellets act as sorbents for metals, dyes and other pollutants.
• Construction materials: Thermal and structural performance is improved in composites, bricks and cement.
• Environmental engineering: Attention is attracted for remediation of contaminants from heavy metals to industrial solvents.
One of the most urgent uses is in mitigating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in soil and water. With the right feedstock and high-temperature pyrolysis, bio-
char can be tailored for porosity and surface area to adsorb PFAS. When pelletized, it is easier to deploy in fixed-bed filters or in-situ soil treatments, offering a practical alternative to activated carbon in select applications. In every case, pelletizing turns waste into value, expanding biochar’s potential across multiple industries.
Carbon Sequestration and a Role in Carbon Credit Markets
Biochar stores carbon in a stable form that resists decomposition, making it a credible tool for long-term sequestration. When pelletized, it becomes easier to handle and verify—key requirements for participation in voluntary carbon markets.
Programs like Puro.earth recognize biochar-based credits, opening revenue opportunities for producers. Mars Mineral’s pelletizing systems support this market by ensuring consistent product quality and traceability.
Pelletized biochar transforms waste biomass into a durable, marketable carbon sink—advancing both soil health and climate goals.
The Path Forward
As policymakers and markets push for decarbonization and resource recovery, pelletized biochar offers an adaptable, science-backed bridge between waste streams and valuable products. With proven equipment such as the Mars Mineral disc pelletizer and pin mixer, and more than 60 years of experience, stakeholders across the biomass spectrum—from pyrolysis operators to soil amendment producers—can realize the full potential of their carbon-rich materials. However, successful implementation starts with partnership. Companies exploring biochar pelletization should engage in collaborative trials that reduce risk, speed development and deliver fit-for-purpose pellet solutions.
Author: Craig Vaughan General Manager, Mars Mineral
Protecting workers should be the top priority for any employer, especially those on the front line of materials processing. Beyond the substantial financial consequences of a workplace injury or fatality, the impacts are felt profoundly by an employee’s family, their coworkers and the wider community. Thus, investing in safe, well-engineered equipment and prevention-focused training that helps protect workers from injury or illness is essentially investing in people, company culture and the community.
Although return on investment (ROI) is a common calculation when installing new conveyor accessories, some safety experts emphasize the return on prevention (ROP). This long-term strategy prioritizes equipment with safety engineered into the design, allowing for more ergonomic ser-
CONVEYOR SAFETY AND THE RETURN ON PREVENTION
The return on prevention for durable, well-designed conveyor accessories and professional training makes good financial sense and can lead to a robust safety culture.
BY JERAD HEITZLER
vicing, faster and easier access, and other improvements that make maintenance less dangerous and more desirable to do. Although safer equipment is typically a larger initial capital investment, the whole life return is in faster maintenance with less downtime, longer equipment life and, importantly, a considerably lower chance of an incident, reducing the overall cost of operation.
The Real Costs of ROI
Calculating the ROI on conveyor safety is specific to each operation, but in general, they can be broken down into “direct costs” and “indirect costs”:
• Direct costs are explicitly associated with an accident or illness. In general, these include fines, medical bills, insurance premiums, indemnity payments and temporary disability payments.
• Indirect costs include a variety of other expenses resulting from the incident. They include: [Fig.1]
- Cleanup time and product loss
- Equipment repair/replacement
- Purchase/installation of safety components
- Overtime to fill in for the missing worker
- Cost of hiring, training and equipping new employees
- Legal fees and litigation costs
- Increased insurance premiums
- Production delays and missed shipment targets
- Reduced employee morale, greater absenteeism
- Negative publicity
- Increased scrutiny by regulators
CONTRIBUTION: The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Biomass Magazine or its advertisers. All questions pertaining to this article should be directed to the author(s).
Figure 1: Direct and indirect costs of worker injuries and fatalities
IMAGE: MARTIN ENGINEERING
The Price of Recovering from an Accident
To demonstrate the benefits of safety to a company’s bottom line, OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the U.S.) created the online tool, $afety Pays, which uses company-specific economic information to assess the potential economic impact of occupational injuries on that firm’s profitability. The program estimates direct costs (provided by the National Council on Compensation Insurance) and indirect costs (provided by the Stanford University Department of Civil Engineering) and weighs them against financial details supplied by the company. [Fig.2]
Return on Prevention
The commonly used ROI model calculates the time frame in which the capital expenditure on new equipment is recaptured through the improvements. If a proposed project meets budget expectations and has a payback period of less than one year, plant management usually approves it.
Working with abstract numbers implicitly creates pushback, making it more difficult for safety-conscious managers to obtain approval for their proposals. However, the hard costs of worker injuries and fatalities
are very real. The ROP model illustrates the direction and strength of occupational safety and health programs in helping to achieve company goals.
Conclusion
The death or serious injury of a worker is always tragic and can have long-term impacts for all those involved. Investigations usually reveal that incidents could have been prevented with the right knowledge and behaviours, combined with practical and cost-effective safety improvements. The
ROP on durable, well-designed conveyor accessories and professional training makes good financial sense and can lead to a safety culture that ripples throughout the company’s balance sheet.
Author: Jerad Heitzler Training Manager, Martin Engineering
Figure 2: OSHA $afety Pays Tool example IMAGE: MARTIN ENGINEERING
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