Dynamotive Secures Biomass for Arkansas Plant, Produces Cellulosic Fuel and Biochar

The contract was entered with Springhill Land and Timber, a leading producer of timber in the southeast that has a cooperative working relationship with over 25 hardwood sawmills in a four-state area.

Dynamotive USA officials are working with El Dorado Chamber of Commerce in regard to development. Several sites have been shortlisted by Dynamotive and the company will work El Dorado to make a final selection which is expected by the end of the year. It is expected that construction would commence in 2010. TECNA S.A. would act as owner engineer and Hunt, Guillot & Associates have been shortlisted as the local engineering partner.

The plant would incorporate the company’s new technology on upgrading of BioOil, which is scheduled to be deployed in 2011. Capital cost is expected to be approximately US $40 million, including $7 million for a BioOil upgrading module. The company and its partners’ plan to submit applications for loan guarantees and other grant funding through Federal Programs.

The company also recently announced that it has successfully produced significant amounts of renewable gasoline and diesel from biomass at its research facility in Waterloo, Ontario through a novel two-stage upgrading process of BioOil.

The process developed by Dr. Desmond Radlein and his research team, involves pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass to produce a primary liquid fuel, BioOil, which is then hydro-reformed to a Stage 1 gas-oil equivalent liquid fuel that can either be directly utilized in blends with hydrocarbon fuels for industrial stationary power and heating applications or be further upgraded to transportation grade liquid hydrocarbon fuels (gasoline/diesel) in a Stage 2 hydrotreating process.

The major by-product from lignocellulosic biomass pyrolysis is Biochar, which has emerging value for soil productivity enhancement and carbon sequestration. Dynamotive markets its Biochar under the trade name CQuest.

Based on initial test and analysis, the company currently estimates that it can deliver advanced (second generation) fuels from biomass at a cost of less than $2 per gallon of ethanol-equivalent fuel in facilities processing about 70,000 tonnes of biomass per annum (current scale of its 200 metric tonne per day plant).