Restoration Fuels, LLC, has earned Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody Certification by SCS Global Services for the first commercial-scale torrefaction facility in North America, located in John Day, Ore.

Restoration Fuels is a subsidiary of the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. It is the largest investment in the history of the Endowment.

Torrefaction is the roasting of wood in a low-oxygen environment – like roasting coffee beans. The technology produces a renewable biomass fuel that is a direct replacement for coal at existing power plants.

“The work that our team has put into developing a sustainable procurement system is at the core of our mission and what we are trying to accomplish. This FSC certification will demonstrate that commitment to our customers and stakeholders,” said Matt Krumenauer, CEO, Restoration Fuels, and Vice President, Special Projects at the Endowment. “This community, the Blue Mountain Forest Partners, and the USDA Forest Service have been successful at working together to implement well-designed ecological restoration treatments, and we are excited to be another tool they can rely on.”

Mitigating wildfire, climate change

Restoration Fuels uses tree thinnings and otherwise low-value wood materials primarily from national forests and private lands and existing wood manufacturing processes to produce environmentally friendly fuel for energy. By creating demand for these woody materials, Restoration Fuels helps to mitigate the risk of catastrophic wildfire, disease, pest infestation, and the effects of climate change. Developing this new market will help increase the pace and scale of these mitigation measures while strengthening the sustainability of the local harvesting and contracting infrastructure.

A first-of-its-kind facility

This first-of-its-kind facility is co-located with Malheur Lumber Company in John Day, Oregon. The Malheur National Forest surrounds Restoration Fuels’ facility, which has successfully implemented collaborative restoration projects for close to a decade.

Construction of the facility was completed in late 2020, with production coming online after commissioning is completed in January 2021. The plant is being designed for a production capacity of 100,000 tons of torrefied fuel annually. The first few years will be a ramp-up period. Full production capacity is anticipated in 2022.

Jump-starting the torrefied biomass industry

The Endowment and the USDA Forest Service have made significant investments in jump-starting the torrefied biomass industry. They formed the Consortium for Advanced Wood-to-Energy Solutions (CAWES) to address knowledge gaps and advance commercialization. This work is vital to the industry’s success.

CAWES has engaged with most of the industry participants in an early stage, non-competitive manner to share learnings and avoid duplicating mistakes. Specific areas of investigation included optimizing densification, de-ashing techniques to extend raw material sources to lower-cost biomass, utility-scale testing, safety evaluation, life cycle, and techno-economic analysis.

To learn more about FSC Chain of Custody certification, click here

Source: SCS Global Services, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.