Garner Industries, parent company and manufacturer of the BinMaster brand of level controls in Lincoln, Nebraska, has received ISO 9001:2008 certification of its quality management system. First certified to ISO 9001:2000 in 2005, this updated quality certification confirms the company’s dedication to providing the highest level of customer satisfaction by adhering to processes supported by [...]
FirstEnergy Gains Biomass Approval
FirstEnergy Corp. has won a battle with environmentalists to burn wood and agricultural waste at an Ohio power plant and get state credit for it as “renewable.” In a quick and comment-free vote Wednesday, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved a 12-page order sweeping aside arguments from environmentalists and a wind industry trade group [...]
Akeida Finances Aspen Power Project
Akeida Capital Management LLC, an environmental asset management firm focused on investing in renewable energy infrastructure, recently closed secured financing of a waste wood-fired biomass electric generation plant in Lufkin, Tex. The 57-megawatt facility is the first biomass plant to be built in Texas. Akeida provided a $14.1 million junior loan to Aspen Power LLC [...]
Auburn Research Boosts Ethanol
Auburn University researchers have patented a new process for producing ethanol from paper mill waste materials through biological conversion. With research funded by the Masada Resource Group, the new conversion process can produce an estimated 2.5 million gallons of ethanol a year from one paper mill. The process takes waste sludge and converts it to [...]
BTEC Commends Legislators for Introduction of Thermal Renewable Energy and Efficiency Act
The Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC) extends its praise to Sens. Al Franken (D-MN) and Kit Bond (R-MO) and Reps. Betty McCollum (D-MN), Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Paul Tonko (D-NY) for introducing the Thermal Renewable Energy and Efficiency Act of 2010 in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives (S. 3626 and H.R. 5805, respectively). [...]
Klamath Falls Bioenergy Plans Plant for Oregon
Klamath Falls Bioenergy, a subsidiary of Northwest Energy in Bellevue, Wash., is seeking a site to build a 35 MW bioenergy power generation plant in Klamath Falls, Ore. The facility will cost $70-$120 million and employ 175 during construction, 30 permanent jobs during operation and 100 associated woods jobs related to logging and hauling biomass. [...]
Novozymes, Lignol Partner to Make Biofuel
Novozymes, the world’s leading producer of industrial enzymes, and Lignol Energy Corp., a leading company in the cellulosic ethanol sector, today signed a research and development agreement to make biofuel from wood chips and other forestry residues. The partners aim to develop a process for making biofuel from forestry waste at a production cost down [...]
Zeachem Breaks Ground In Oregon
Thanks in part to a $25 million federal grant, Colorado-based biorefiner Zeachem broke ground in early June on a cellulosic ethanol demo plant in eastern Oregon near Boardman. Company officials say the facility will produce 250,000 gallons of ethanol annually, plus ethyl acetate. The plant is using poplar fiber from Greenwood Resources irrigated fiber farms [...]
Florida PSC Approves 100 MW Cogen Plant
The Florida Public Service Commission recently approved the city of Gainesville’s proposal to build a 100 MW wood-burning power plant, reversing course from February, when the commission appeared poised to deny the project before giving city officials more time to answer concerns. The proposal features a 30-year contract between Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) and American [...]
First To Finance The Second Project
Financing is currently the biggest hurdle to building the first generation of pilot scale and industrial cellulosic ethanol plants, say two industry CEOs in a recent Minnesota Public Radio interview. According to Arnold Klann, of BlueFire Ethanol, which is trying to build a cellulosic ethanol plant, “What we’re hearing from all the lenders, and we’ve [...]