National Forest Restoration Working Partnership Grant Multi-collaborative effort to explore the use of woody biomass for cellulosic ethanol development in western Oregon

Tonight’s Agenda  Introductions  Grant partners and activities  Biomass examples  Biomass around the state  Future technology  Discussion

Grant Partners  Lane County - Mike McKenzie-Bahr  Lane MicroBusiness - Martin Desmond  Resource Innovations, Institute for a Sustainable Environment - Marcus Kauffman  Northwest Cooperative Development Center - Eric Bowman  Oregon Environmental Council - Chris Hagerbaumer  Small Business Development Center  William H. Klausmeier, Ph.D - Lane Community College  Trillium FiberFuels, Inc. - Chris Beatty  Mater Engineering, Ltd. – Catherine M. Mater  Novus Group - Larry Brice

Grant Activities  Woody biomass resource assessment to determine feedstock availability, price, and location, and transportation challenges;  Education and outreach to increase public understanding;  Assessing forest biomass processing capacity; and  Strengthening forest biomass business capacity through training and skill development.

 Biomass – any solid, non-hazardous, cellulosic material derived from: –Forest-related resources –Solid wood wastes (construction waste) –Agricultural residues –Dedicated feedstock crops e.g. switchgrass and hybrid poplar Source: US Dept. of Energy Definition

Oregon is the “Middle East” of forest biomass  Oregon has more softwood volume than any other state in the nation.  27.5 million acres of forestlands

Why Biomass Utilization?  Implement fuel reduction on a landscape scale (One quarter of the state of Oregon is at moderate to high risk of wildfire danger because of excess amounts of forest and range biomass).  Promote energy independence ($300m to $500,000,000 leaves state each year)  Foster low-carbon economy  Promote rural economic development  Reduces material to waste stream  Reduces burning of slash piles

Problem Summary All Ownerships 10.4 million acres of Condition Class million acres of Condition Class 2 Public Lands 15.5 million acres on public lands 84 % outside Wilderness and Roadless Area

Treatment Gap At a minimum we need to be treating 3-5 times current efforts To be efficient and effective we need strategic assessment and planning at the statewide and local to mid-scale The gap represents both added opportunity and added responsibility

Woody Biomass Utilization  A wide variety of products (some still in R&D) –Firewood, post, and poles –Pellets and fuel logs –Lumber products, composite panels, pulp –Soil amendments –Landscape/landfill cover –Bio-based plastics, solvents, etc. –Biomass power and heat –Biofuels (ethanol, renewable diesel)

Potential ethanol production Study Million BDT Potential ethanol (60 gallons / BDT) Walsh (1999) 6.8 Mill residues 408 mmg CH2MHILL (2005) 2.5 Forest thinnings 150 mmg Graf and Koehler (2000) 140,000 ac mmg Graf and Koehler (2000) 350,000 ac mmg Graf and Koehler (2000) 700,000 ac mmg USDA Forest Service (2005) 1.6 – – 762 mmg

Issues to Consider  Scale and type of utilization strategy –Community Support –Biomass Supply –Project Economics –Appropriate Technology –Siting/Infrastructure