NextEnergy helps bring wood-to-fuel plant to MI

Massachusetts-based Mascoma Corporation will build a cellulosic ethanol plant in Michigan that will convert wood to fuel. Earlier in the year, Detroit-based NextEnergy and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation convened a cellulosic biofuels working group that targeted Mascoma as the best candidate to generate renewable fuel from forestry resources here. Mascoma is currently selecting a site, which will determine the amount of state incentives MEDC allocates the company.

Dan Radomski, NextEnergy's director of market development, says the cellulosic biofuels working group was an important one to form because "alternative energy is pretty broad. Cellulosic biofuels energy is one we recommended the state focus on in support of Governor Granholm's initiative to make the state a leader in alternative energy -- but we can't be a leader in every sector."

Celluslosic biofuels makes sense for Michigan, Radomski explains, because of the sheer amount of forests in Michigan, as well as the number of non-working mills that can be converted to biofuels creation, the skilled workforce and the expertise of Michigan Technological University and Michigan State University on the subject.

Radamski stresses the sustainability of the wood-to-fuel process. "When you take down trees to make lumber products, residue is left over. That material is left in the woods where it biodegrades, but there is more than enough than is needed to replenish the land and much of it really, in effect, becomes waste." The celluslosic biofuels ethanol plant would bundle that excess waste wood and ship it to the plant where it would be processed.

Radomski says that Mascoma is "very conscious in making sure that their process for using wood is certified sustainable," and, that after planting trees to replenish the forests, the end result will be "net positive. They will be growing more than they are taking."

One significant aspect of the establishment of this industry in Michigan is that it is the creation of biofuels from a non-food crop, unlike corn, which has affected the price of corn meal products of late.

Currently, MEDC is undergoing an assets inventory to determine where to best locate the facility. Radomski says they are looking at where old decommissioned lumber mills are located to capitalize on "stranded woody biomass." Because shipping costs plays a big role in the industry, he envisions the plant being located in the upper-Lower Peninsula or the Upper Peninsula.

Source: Dan Radomski, NextEnergy
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh