The pilot project is expected to create 175 jobs initially.
By Terry Karkos
Staff Writer

RUMFORD – The River Valley Growth Council learned Friday its biorefinery project, believed to be the first of its kind in the world, garnered $300,000 in federal funds.

But that wasn’t all.

Members of the council’s Biorefinery Committee also learned from Maine’s senators that the project has a very good chance of getting a $4.4 million federal grant to construct the pilot biorefinery plant.

“We are so pleased,” said Executive Director Scott Christiansen.

The proposed biorefinery would use wood products through a process known as pyrolysis to produce oils and chemicals that could be used in a variety of products.

The pyrolysis oil can be used as feedstock in chemical, plastic, and pharmaceutical sectors. It also has the potential to produce hydrogen at a lower cost than any other method yet identified.

The pilot plant, which is expected to be located in Peru, will create 175 jobs, Christiansen said after the noon meeting.

It will process approximately three tons of biomass a day and will run for more than a year to prove the robustness and reliability of the process, and prove output and operating cost projections, he added.

“If the pilot plant runs as anticipated, the Growth Council will aggressively pursue the development and construction of a 1,000-ton-per-day biorefinery,” Christiansen said.

Late 2005 is the earliest that construction planning on the full-scale biorefinery plant could begin. Such a project would cost $90 million, which is why the council must prove that the pilot plant will work and make money.

“It’s the first of its kind anywhere in the world that I know of, so we really are breaking new ground and that’s why we can go and ask for money,” Christiansen said.

That’s also why the Biorefinery Committee believes they got $100,000 more than the $200,000 they requested.

He said the funds were critical to the continued development of the Growth Council’s biorefinery project, which was previously known as the Pyrolysis Refinery and Hydrogen Production Project.

Council President Joseph Derouche said the $300,000 would be used to conduct a refinery product marketing study and other preliminary activities.

“We are in close competition right now for a $4.4 million federal grant to build the pilot biorefinery,” Derouche said.

“Because the competition is so intense, anything else we can do, such as a marketing study, will strengthen our proposal and bring us closer to getting the grant and building the pilot plant. That is why this assistance from our Senators is such a big deal,” he added.

“We think we’ll get the $4.4 million because we have a strong backing in the U.S. House and Senate for it and this $300,000 shows that. We’ll get it because what we’re doing is relevant and timely and our senators sold it” Christiansen said.

Initially, the Growth Council requested $2.8 million, then $3.3 million for the pilot plant.

“But the Department of Energy said for it to work, we had to boot it up to $4.4 million,” he added.

In a joint press release Friday, both U.S. Sens. Susan A. Collins and Olympia J. Snowe announced that their funding request of $1 million in federal funding was allocated for the Maine Forest Bioproducts Research Initiative.

The request was included in the conference report for the Senate 2004 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill, which has unanimously passed through conference. A favorable vote is widely expected on the bill as early as next week, Christiansen said.

The Forest Bioproducts Initiative is a joint venture of more than 10 public and private agencies in Maine to develop procedures for post-processing of pulp and paper mill waste to recover valuable platform chemicals.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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