“Advanced biofuels are critical to securing America’s energy future,” said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This project, and others like it will help establish a domestic advanced biofuel industry that will create jobs here at home and open new markets in the Pacific Northwest and across America.”

Development of the first commercial biorefinery is already underway. The facility is expected to have capacity of 25 million or more gallons-per-year (GPY). It will be located at the Port of Morrow in Boardman, Ore., adjacent to ZeaChem’s 250,000 GPY integrated demonstration biorefinery. ZeaChem has agreements for 100% of the facility’s woody biomass feedstock from the nearby GreenWood Tree Farm Fund (GTFF), managed by GreenWood Resources (GWR), as well as from local agricultural residue processors.

ZeaChem’s first commercial facility will create 188 direct construction jobs and 65 full-time operations jobs, plus an additional 242 indirect jobs for construction and full-time operations.

“The USDA loan guarantee is a significant validation for ZeaChem’s highly efficient, economical and flexible biorefinery technology,” said Jim Imbler, president and chief executive officer of ZeaChem. “This commitment allows us to move forward with securing financing, beginning construction, creating jobs in the community, and producing economical and sustainable products for the fuel and chemical industries.”

LanzaTech is developing a process that uses proprietary microorganisms to convert carbon monoxide-containing gases from steel mills, oil refineries and chemical plants into ethanol and biochemicals. It is also working with the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) on making jet fuel.

Located in Soperton, Ga., the Range plant was sold January 3 for $5.1 million, a fraction of the financial support it received. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture required a foreclosure sale following Range’s default in 2011 on an $80 million loan guarantee the agency offered. The plant was also supported by more than $160 million in venture funding and part of a separate $76 million grant the DOE awarded.

Range Fuels, who broke ground on the Georgia plant in November 2007, had received a $76 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as an $80 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced in early 2009. The company received only portions of the funds, Bloomberg reported. Both federal commitments were made through an initiative under the administration of former President George W. Bush to find alternatives to corn as a raw material to make ethanol fuels.

Range Fuels had hoped to produce 100 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol from wood chips each year at the biorefinery, but the plant closed in January of this year due to technical problems. About 30 workers were laid off in the shutdown, the Macon Telegraph reports.

The Bioenergy and Sustainable Technology (BST) graduate certificate program was developed with the support of a USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant. The USDA recognized that expanding industries that utilize renewable feedstocks, and convert them to fuels and other needed products, will require a workforce with education that is relevant to these emerging areas.

The new program involves curriculum from SDSU as well as Kansas State University, Oklahoma State University and the University of Arkansas. The universities are collaborating through a framework called Ag IDEA, an affiliate of the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (GP IDEA).

The program curriculum has three areas of specialization for students to choose from: Feedstocks, Conversions, or Sustainability.

The NARA members include scientists from the Forest Service and other government laboratories, public universities, and private industry throughout the northwest. Four teams will conduct research on feedstocks, conversion, systems metrics, and education and outreach.

The teams plan to identify communities in each of the four states that comprise the NARA project (Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Washington) for possible development of biorefineries, and will serve as a conduit between researchers and community stakeholders, helping to transfer the science and technology of biofuels and important co-products to economic development in northwest communities.

The NARA will be conducting traditional extension activities, including providing workshops, webinars, and newsletters, with the aim of helping communities and companies throughout the Pacific Northwest determine their role in building a sustainable biofuels infrastructure and moving toward the establishment of a biofuels-based economy, while at the same time forming regional alliances and identifying communities that might fit into the supply chain.

“This project is important because it provides a perfect opportunity to address several critical issues, from decreasing the nation’s dependency on petroleum products to promoting resiliency and economic stability in forest-based communities,” commented Eini Lowell, a research forest products technologist at the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station.

These projects utilize processed woody biomass removed from forests during projects such as wildfire prevention to produce green energy for heating and electricity. The funds from the grants will be used to further the planning of building and operating bioenergy facilities by funding the necessary engineering services for final design, permitting and cost analysis.

The 17 recipients, chosen from 34 applications, were required to provide at least 20% of their total project cost. The grant program helps recipients complete the necessary design work needed to secure public or private investment for such projects as the engineering design of a woody biomass boiler for steam at a sawmill, a non-pressurized hot water system for a hospital or school, or a biomass-power generation facility.

“Biomass is a vital part of America’s clean energy future as we work to decrease our dependence on foreign oil. Projects like these will help grow regional economies, create new jobs, and improve and protect our environment. We will need architects and engineers to design these plants, skilled laborers to build them and well-trained technicians to operate them,” commented Vilsack.

The biggest news was the USDA’s announcement of $405 million in loan guarantees for cellulosic ethanol plants, under its Biorefinery Assistance Program. Coskata Inc. is set to receive a $250 million USDA loan guarantee to construct and operate a biorefinery facility in rural western Alabama. The project will use woody biomass to produce 55 million gallons of ethanol per year. Enerkem Corporation will receive an $80 million loan guarantee to build and operate a biorefinery in Pontotoc, Miss. The plant will be capable of producing 10 million gallons of ethanol per year, using 100,000 metric tons of dried municipal solid waste. The guarantee follows a DOE award of up to $50 million announced in late 2009. INEOS New Planet BioEnergy in Vero Beach, Fla., will receive a $75 million loan guarantee to build and operate a biorefinery capable of producing 8 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year from agricultural vegetative waste, yard cuttings, wood and municipal solid waste. The plant will also have an electricity capacity of 6 MW.

The USDA also announced payments to biofuel producers in 33 states under its Advanced Biofuels Payment Program and $1.6 million in grants for 68 feasibility studies under its Rural Energy for America Program. Under one such grant, the Cayuga County Public Utility Service Agency in New York receives $40,000 to study a proposal to connect 20 farms to a biogas collector pipeline, so heat and power can be generated for sale to business customers. Another grant sees the Texas Select Milk Producers of Hale County, Texas receive $17,500 to study a proposed anaerobic digester project, as part of a USDA effort to increase the use of anaerobic digesters on dairy farms.

The USDA said more opportunities for development of advanced biofuels projects will come up soon, when the department issues new rules for the Biorefinery Assistance Program, Repowering Assistance Program and Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels Payments.

Yesterday the Department of Energy also made a loan guarantee to a biofuel project, pledging $241 million to a project to create renewable diesel from animal fats.

The projects chosen are required to match the awards by at least 20% for research and development products and by at least 50% for demonstration projects.

The awards granted include: GE Global Research (Irvine, CA), for up to $1,597,544 and Gevo, Inc. (Englewood, CO), for up to $1,780,862.

The BCAP helps the participating plants by matching 50% of the amount paid to their suppliers.

Warden Electric is one of only a few companies selected for the program.

The plant currently produces 20 megawatts of electricity by using 400 tons/day of woody biomass.

These funds are targeted to help communities, entrepreneurs, and others turn residues into marketable forest products and green energy. The Forest Service Woody Biomass Utilization grant program has been in effect since 2005 and has provided over $26.3 million towards various projects, ranging from biomass boilers for schools and prisons, to helping businesses acquire equipment that improves processing efficiencies. During this time period, 110 grants have been awarded to small businesses, non-profits, tribes and local state agencies to improve forest health, while creating jobs, green energy and healthy communities.

The Forest Service, a USDA agency, selected 17 small businesses and community groups as grant recipients for these $250,000 awards. According to requirements, all 17 recipients provided at least 20% of the total project cost. Non-federal matching funds total more than $10 million.

The Forest Service’s State and Private Forestry, Technology Marketing Unit, at the agency’s Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wis., will administer the grant program. The recipients were chosen from 109 applications.

The following are the 2009 woody biomass utilization grantees:

• Rover Shavings & Post, Inc., Rover, Ark. – $250,000
• Pure Wood Products, LLC, Pinetop, Ariz. – $250,000
• California Wood Shavings, Inc., Jamestown, Calif. – $249,550
• CLT Logging, Inc., Grenada, Calif. – $250,000
• Franklin Logging, Inc., Bella Vista, Calif. – $250,000
• Scott Dunn Logging, Fortuna, Calif. – $250,000
• Trinity River Lumber Company, Weaverville, Calif. – $250,000
• Independent Log Company, Alamosa, Colo. – $250,000
• Intermountain Resources, LLC, Montrose, Colo. – $250,000
• Rogue Resources, Inc./More Lumber, Milner, Colo. – $250,000
• Idaho Forest Group, LLC, Athol, Id. – $250,000
• Eagle Stud Mill, Inc., Missoula, Mont. – $250,000
• Eureka Pellet Mills, Inc., Missoula, Mont. – $250,000
• Southwest Piñon, Inc., Datil, NM – $250,000
• Community Smallwood Solutions, Wallowa, Ore. – $249,819
• Marubeni Sustainable Energy, Lakeview, Ore. – $250,000
• Olson Brothers Enterprises, LLC, Crivitz, Wis. – $250,000