Restoration Fuels Closes Central Oregon Biochar Plant
Restoration Fuels in John Day, Ore. has closed its doors as of mid July, laying off 11 employees in a move that closely follows the closure of Malheur Lumber in town. Restoration Fuels, a subsidiary of the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, initially produced torrefied wood which ideally would have been destined to a converted coal-fired power plant along the Columbia River. The plant had gone as far as providing material for test burns as the potential conversion was analyzed. However, Portland Gas & Electric decided not to convert the power plant, leaving the torrefaction plant without a viable market.
Instead, Restoration Fuels in 2021 switched to producing biochar for soil amendments and industrial applications. The facility was in the process of establishing and expanding markets. However, the biochar plant, which is located adjacent Malheur Lumber, relied on sawdust and chips from the sawmill for its raw material supply. That evaporated when Malheur Lumber announced its closure earlier in July.
Despite the closure, plant officials say the facility had proven the torrefaction process using a thermal oxidizer that burns syngas to heat the torrefier and chip dryer for an overall smaller carbon footprint. In a 2022 feature article in Wood Bioenergy, plant officials said the facility offers a scalable solution to forest health issues, specifically the need to process low-grade biomass in addition to small logs generated from thinning projects, that could be replicated anywhere there are forest health challenges and a lack of local markets.
Latest news
Con-Vey Adds Sales Manager
Con-Vey, a leading provider of industrial automation and custom material handling equipment, has appointed industry veteran Jon Stults as its new sales manager. Stults, with nearly three decades of experience in the industry, will play a pivotal role in advancing Con-Vey’s sales strategies and processes…
Rotochopper Welcomes 120 To Minnesota Demo Day
Attendees and Rotochopper employees alike were excited for the return of Demo Day and the opportunity to gather while seeing Rotochopper’s newest equipment in action at Herman’s Landscape Supplies in Jordan, Minn. This was the 10th Demo Day event for Rotochopper, with 120 people from across North America participating…
Bruks Siwertell Launches New Mobile Chipper
Bruks Siwertell has expanded its product range with the introduction of the Bruks 1006.3 RT industrial mobile wood chipper. The truck-mounted chipper has a flexible design, and offers high-capacity chipping capabilities for a range of applications, like fuel chip production…
Metsä Group Starts Kemi Bioproduct Mill
The largest investment of the forest industry in Finland—the new Kemi bioproduct mill and paperboard mill expansion—came into operation as planned on Wednesday, September 20, 2023. The operations will start department by department. Pulp deliveries from the new mill to customers will begin in October 2023…
Find Us On Social
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Wood Bioenergy News Online hits the inboxes of subscribers in the wood-to-energy sectors.
Subscribe/Renew
Wood Bioenergy is published and delivered worldwide 6 times per year. Free to qualified readers in the U.S. Subscribers outside the U.S. are asked to pay a small fee.
Advertise
Complete the online form so we can direct you to the appropriate Sales Representative.