Park Falls looks to biofuels for alternative energy sources

With gasoline soaring over $4 per gallon, drilling in the Gulf of Mexico restricted, unrest in the Middle East curtailing foreign supply and emerging nations increasing their demand for oil and coal, new forms of energy are going to be needed to fill the gap.

Wind, solar and nuclear are the most discussed as alternatives to coal or oil power generation. But the biofuels industry has been quietly growing in popularity as a way to produce renewable energy to meet our needs.

Biofuels are derived from living matter. All of us are familiar with ethanol, which is produced from harvesting the sugars within plants. Biofuels are also derived from soybeans, sugar beets and cellulose fibers from trees and grasses.

Wisconsin is currently committed to these forms of renewable energy, with large corn ethanol plants dotting the rural areas of the state. School districts, the State of Wisconsin and private businesses have incorporated a variety of biofuels into their operations, but not to the extent that the Flambeau River Papers in Park Falls has.

The paper mill in Park Falls was established over a hundred years ago, and has been the central fixture of the local economy ever since.  But in the 1990’s, the paper mill, like so many others in the nation, was undergoing rough times and passed through several different owners. It shut down at the beginning of 2006, and the town went into shock.

Then a buyer was found: Butch Johnson, an area forest products entrepreneur, agreed to take on the mill and it was reopened. Former Rep. Dave Obey, former Gov. Jim Doyle and other government officials arranged for guaranteed loans to make it happen.

With its new owner, Flambeau River Papers announced it intended to make the mill energy self-sufficient by using the scrap from pulp trees – branches, leaves, bark and sawdust –  instead of natural gas to run the boilers.  Then they said that they could produce and sell more energy using new biomass technology.

Soon Flambeau River BioFuels was launched to accomplish this purpose.

Bob Byrne, the president of Flambeau River BioFuels, discussed the future of global energy production and Park Falls’ new role in that development at a recent event. In 2010, the company released “a letter of intent to engineer, procure and construct the largest second generation ‘green diesel’ plant in the United States.”  At a cost of $250 million, the project will be partially funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, and is expected to be completed by 2013.

The plant will use a patented process/technology to convert 1,000 dry tons per day of woody biomass from bark, sawdust, wood, and other forest residue into green electrical power, steam and heat for the adjacent Flambeau River Papers mill. The same process will also be used to create  “green diesel” fuel and a high-grade wax for sale to the domestic market, such as SC Johnson of Racine.

It is expected that Flambeau River BioFuels will serve as a model for many similar plants around the nation, and indeed, the world. Visitors are already coming to tour the facilities.

Simply put, we must overcome our dependence on fossil fuels – the earth can’t create them as fast as we use them.  New energy sources and technologies are desperately needed, and this one is very promising.

It is also important because it creates another use for the byproducts of our forests.  Trees that are better for making veneer will continue to be used for veneer, lumber for lumber, those that are good for paper pulp will go for that purpose. But what was formerly waste will now be used to create energy, and this has huge implications for an increasingly energy-hungry world.  It also means that forest management will be more efficient, with a much brighter future.

And then there are jobs. The lack of well-paying jobs is the root cause of our regional and national economic nightmare.

According to Butch Johnson, The Flambeau River bio-refinery “will create permanent, high-skilled operating jobs in the region, long-term logging jobs and short-term engineering and construction jobs, contributing to the economic stimulus of Park Falls.”

And that, indeed, is good news.

*Cover image by Hosking Industries via Flickr