Fiberight: Biofuels Digest’s 2014 5-Minute Guide

Fiberight is a privately held company founded in 2007 with current operations in Virginia, Maryland and Iowa. As a leading edge clean technology company, our team focuses on transforming post-recycled municipal solid wastes and other organic feedstocks into next generation renewable biofuels, with cellulosic ethanol as the core product. Pilot plant facilities have been on-going during 2008-2009.

In November 2009, Fiberight purchased a shuttered dry-mill corn ethanol plant in Blairstown, IA with the intent to cost efficiently retrofit this plant for commercial level operations. Initial stage investment for the company’s $30 million Iowa plant will enable the company to commence the production of cellulosic ethanol and biogas using industrial and municipal solid wastes with proprietary sorting, pulping, enzymatic hydrolysis and recycling technology.

The Iowa plant will be scaled to commercial production capacity of 6 MMgy in 2014. Fiberight is targeting rapid expansion of its proto-type commercial plants in markets with 100,000 or more population within a five mile radius, with special focus on municipalities with landfill limitations and high landfill tipping fees.

The Situation

After seven years of research and development, including 3,500 hours of continuous operation at a fully-integrated plant in Virginia, the waste product of  the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) industry has proven to be a very viable feedstock for renewable fuels production, according to Fiberight.

In August 2012 Fiberight’s Renewable Fuel production process, using MSW as a feedstock, was approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency.  In August 2013 Fiberight executed a Resource Recovery Agreement with the City of Marion, IA.  With EPA approval and a source of MSW secured Fiberight is scaling up its processing capacity in Iowa to 650 tons per day of MSW that will produce 6 MMgy of renewable fuels.  The next steps in the business expansion plan are underway:

The Fiberight Process

• “Waste” picked up by a garbage hauler, is delivered to the Marion MRRF at a cost competitive to landfill tip fees (and in some cases less).
• The first sort removes really small materials (such as kitty litter, small rocks, dirt, etc.) and really large materials (cardboard, clean wood waste, electronics, large plastic toys, etc.)
• The remaining materials are conveyed to a state-of-the-art automated sorting system where they are sorted and separated for further processing and / or recycling:
• Food waste, compostables, non-recyclable papers and other organics that create a bio-mash are shipped to Blairstown.  This is where natural, bio-chemical processes and the work of enzymes, produce natural gas and cellulosic ethanol or Trashanol.
• Paper, plastics, metals and other recyclable materials are baled and shipped to manufacturers who make new products out of our old products.

Top Past Milestones

In March 2014, Fiberight said it is investing $15 million to convert a former ethanol plant in Blairstown to produce fuel using its waste-to-ethanol technology. Already this summer it will start building a garbage sorting, shredding and recycling facility in nearby Marion that will eventually mean 80% of the waste that goes to the area’s landfill will instead be diverted and used as feedstock. The landfill won’t provide enough waste for the Blairstown facility so Fiberight is in discussion with other cities, like Iowa City, to source their waste.

In December 2013, Iowa City said it was looking for permission to start negotiations with Fiberight to set up MSW-to-ethanol production, much in the way Marion has already done. The City held an RFP earlier this year and Fiberight was the only company to respond. The company says it can reduce the amount of waste going into the landfill by 80%.

In August 2013, Marion, IA approved a $20M solid waste to compressed biogas facility operated by Fiberight. The company, which was backed by a $25M loan guarantee from the USDA, a $2.9M grant from the Iowa Power Fund, and $20M in private investment, is scaling up from its currently operating demonstration facility in Virginia. The plant will sort up to 400 tons of garbage each day, and leftover waste will be sent to a shuttered ethanol plant in Blairstown, which Fiberight has recently purchased and is in the process of upgrading. The Iowa plant must be open and running by January 1, 2015, or else Marion may void the agreement.

In May 2010, Fiberight announced that it had commenced production at the first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant to enzymatic conversion technology and industrial / municipal solid waste (MSW) as feedstock.  Fiberight recently completed its initial stage development by converting a former first generation corn ethanol plant in Blairstown, Iowa to cellulosic biofuel production which incorporates specialized waste treatment and biochemical technologies to efficiently turn MSW into biofuel.

Major Milestone Goals for 2014‐16

Completion of commercial production capacity of approximately 6 million gallons of biofuel per year.

Business Model


Owner/operator

Competitive Edge

High Waste Feedstock Availability at Low Cost – Fiberight takes advantage of low cost and abundant high-energy sources of municipal solid waste (MSW) feedstock from existing supply infrastructure, by locating proximate to waste hauler and collection sites.

Energy / Environmental Impact Gains – Fiberight also sequesters plastic/hydrocarbon fractions for production of cogeneration plant energy using a low emissions process, resulting in its biorefinery plants having the added benefit of being a net energy producer.

Efficient Organic Conversion – Fiberight’s targeted organic processes, pretreatment methods and novel enzyme recycling systems have been perfected, using proprietary technology and IP in a low temperature and a closed-loop water system, to manage costs.

Low CAPEX – Fiberight utilizes an efficient “mini-mill” plant facility, with 50,000 square foot operations, that can be constructed at much lower initial capital investment due to the smaller scale, closed-loop system and streamlined permitting process.

Research, or Manufacturing Partnerships or Alliances
Marion, IA

Stage
Demonstration

Company Website