RUMFORD – Chemicals derived from wood and other biomass could help Maine meet its goal of 50 percent fuel self-sufficiency within 20 years.
That conclusion came out of a study unveiled late last week by Scott Christiansen, director of the Fractionation Development Center in downtown Rumford.
And if Christiansen has his way, the center will play a major role in meeting that 50 percent goal.
“This could profoundly affect the state,” he said.
The 500-page document, 18 months in the making, shows how chemicals, fuels and pharmaceuticals could be derived from wood, then turned into marketable products.
Conducted by MicroChem Technologies Inc. and the National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado, the study is expected to create a fairly clear pathway to a biorefinery sector in Maine, Christiansen said Monday.
Dick Davies, senior policy adviser in Gov. John Baldacci’s office, said Tuesday that the possibility of using fractionation technology to produce fuels and other products from biomass was exciting.
“This has the potential to create a new industry in the state, to take the place of jobs lost over the past 20 years,” he said.
He said the state has supported the research into the new fractionation technology with thousands of dollars in grants over the years. He said the state will continue to support it through research money, if approved by the state Legislature, and through working with the Rumford center to find partners interested in developing products from wood and other biomass.
“We need to find folks with capital to invest,” said Davies adding that the Department of Economic and Community Development and other state agencies will distribute the study to appropriate in-state and out-of-state businesses.
The completion of the study was the first major step in the fractionation project. Christiansen has been working on the new technology for several years. A Fractionation Development Center board, comprising people from around the state, was formally organized only a few months ago.
“This study is our road map,” said Christiansen. “We’re attracting attention statewide and the governor is keenly interested in it.”
Davies said the fractionation project was a significant part of the governor’s energy plan when it was unveiled last week.
He said, too, that the Rumford fractionation project is one of only three entities in the United States that is in line for a possible $1 million federal earmark grant.
Christiansen said the potential impact of biorefinery plants on the local area will be announced in March.
“Within a year we hope to announce plans to build an $80 million to $100 million biorefinery plant hopefully in the River Valley,” he said.
That plant would be a demonstration plant that would make five- to 10-million gallons of bio-fuels annually.
In the meantime, he and the staff at the center plan to meet with potential investors from the energy sector to discuss possible investments within the next couple of weeks, and separate plans to progress with a bio-diesel project will continue.
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