Biomass to Products - It Is Working What Are The Hurdles?

Presentation at Nevada Biomass Workshop, June 27, 2006

Basic Premise
It is a good thing to plan to operate a biomass to products business in a responsible manner expecting to make a profit That does not make it easy!!
Arrange for power sales For wood supplies/Biomass fuel/Other products For operating personnel For permitting and other business needs Arrange to survive accidents

BVP Site Map

Fire April 7, 2005

The Conveyor Reinstalled August 2005

The Conveyor Working Again

Biomass Supply - the Hurdle

Contracting with producers Biomass Operations Provide a Service to:
Ranch operators Forest land managers
Private Federal/State USFS Conventional timber sales/Service Contracts/Stewardship Contracts

Fixed location woody waste producers

Small capacity sawmill focused on small diameter stems Fitting into the reality of todays forest management

How do we benefit ranch operations?

In our area the ranchers focus on Western Juniper reduction because where we have Juniper we dont have as much water in springs or as much grass for range animals
Juniper reduces the water available to grow grass and dramatically reduces spring fed water source volume Juniper appears to reduce the survival and growth of certain range grasses through alteration of water, thermal, nutrient and light regimes

Juniper Ready for Chipping

Benefit to Forest Managers

Biomass to energy plants offer a means of producing an economic good from the stems in overstocked stands that otherwise would be wasted or worse Biomass to energy plants associated with small stem utilization facilities may provide more in the way of economic benefit
Value added products seem to be possible from small diameter trees Value added products are possible from western juniper

White Fir/Lodgepole Stand

Same Stand 5 Years After Thinning To Remove About 20 BDT/ac

Valuable Products From Small Trees

Wood from small trees in overstocked stands has higher density similar to slow growing older, larger trees
The pieces are smaller therefore expensive to handle The pieces are likely to be more crooked and difficult to make something from Combining the biomass to energy plant utilization and selected use of stems for high value products seems to make economic sense

Sawmilling in Low Numbers

It is possible to operate successfully at low production rates. California sawmills are high production operations averaging about 85 MMBF/year in 2004. Most areas of the US have low average annual production per sawmill 1.3 MMBF/year. (Average for Kentucky 2004)

Sawmilling and production of other products from small diameter trees

Round Products - Posts, Stakes, Landscape Timbers Lumber products for special uses
Cabinetry Flooring Shelving Furniture Fencing

Sawmill Configuration
Small log handling at low cost
Log sorter a necessity Scragg mill type Some means on handling a few larger logs Lumber handling in conjunction with low cost fuel conversion of waste material

Sawmilling Juniper
High value products Low incidence of useable trees
Specialized Lumber, Alturas California is producing Juniper lumber and employs about 6 people on a full time equivalent bases A biomass to energy plant association is a critical need because of the high incidence of waste We think not more than one in twenty stems will produce lumber products Flooring is the current highest value product short lumber high labor cost to install but beautiful result. Other products include posts and landscape timbers