The River Valley Growth Council plans to make the area a center for biomass research.
MEXICO – If we build it they will come, and they will help Maine’s economy when they get here.
That is the basic premise behind River Valley Growth Council’s plans to make the River Valley a center of biomass technology research and development. On Saturday afternoon, RVGC held an informational meeting at the Mexico town office to acquaint local citizens and government officials with the benefits of biorefining and what it could mean for the area’s economy.
Congressman Mike Michaud, state senators Stephen Stanley, D-Medway, and Bruce Bryant, D-Dixfield, state Rep John Patrick, D-Rumford, and selectmen from Mexico, Rumford and Peru all came to hear about Maine’s chances for becoming a leader in this cutting-edge science.
Norm MacIntyre, director of the River Valley Technology Center, led the meeting with RVGC Chairman Joe Derouche. They explained what biomass refining is and what researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado have been able to derive from it so far.
“They take material from trees and ‘melt’ them down through a process called fast pyrolysis,” said MacIntyre. He compared the process to burning, but said that pyrolosis “takes the tree apart in a different way.”
Once the material is broken down, a number of different compounds can be extracted from it including cellulose, food additives, pharmaceuticals and hydrogen that can be used in fuel cells, just to name a few.
MacIntyre said that an advantage of biomass technology is that it can use low-value materials that are left over after tree harvesting. He said that the technology is a perfect fit for Maine because it can work along side the paper industry while allowing the state to diversify its economy.
Derouche and RVGC economic Director Scott Christiansen learned more about biorefining two years ago in Colorado at NREL. Since then they have developed a list of supporters and partners who want to help bring biomass technology to western Maine.
Many of the people at Saturday’s meeting were excited about the potential for bringing new industry in to bolster western Maine’s sagging economy. Michaud, who has worked for many years at a paper mill in Millinocket, believes that there is a huge potential for the biomass industry in towns like his that have suffered severely under economic forces that drive mill jobs out of Maine.
At the meeting Saturday Michaud praised the RVGC, the state legislators, and all their partners for having the foresight to try to change mill town economies away from being dependent on a single industry, and he pledged to continue his support.
“I commit myself and my office to diversifying the economies of towns like Rumford and Millinocket that rely heavily on a single industry,” he said.
“This is a great opportunity. You have to look years into the future and work very hard to get projects like these. This will definitely have a ripple effect for Maine and beyond.”
Michaud received credit for helping to get federal money for the River Valley Technology Center now being put together in what was building 2 at the Rumford paper mill.
The RVGC is pursuing plans to establish a biomass lab in the building to study the commercial benefits of biomass technology and evaluate the potential environmental impact.
The project’s team of supporters is also working to acquire $4.7 million in state and federal grants so it can begin work on a pilot plant.
MacIntyre said that this plant, which would be smaller than a full industrial-scale biorefining facility, would be the next major step in making biomass technology a process that can be used commercially.
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