Flambeau River Biofuels receives $30 million from US Department of Energy for forest residue to biodiesel plant

In Wisconsin, Flambeau River Biofuels received a $30 million grant from the US Department of Energy for a 6 Mgy biodiesel plant that uses gasification to turn forest and agricultural residues into biodiesel. The funds will be used to retrofit an existing pulp and paper mill, so that the biodiesel plant can share existing infrastructure. The plant is expected to commence production in 2010.

The proposed biorefinery will be installed in an existing pulp and paper mill in Park Falls, Wis., and will produce liquid fuels from abundant and renewable cellulosic (wood) biomass. The biorefinery will not be dependent on any food-based feedstock materials, but rather on by-product or residuals from forest and agricultural sources. When completed, the facility will produce at least 1 trillion BTUs of renewable energy for the host mill and 6 million gallons of transportation (sulfur-free diesel) fuels per year.

FRB participants/investors include: ANL Consultants, Auburn University, Brigham Young University, Citigroup Global Markets, CleanTech Partners, Emerging Fuels Technology, Flambeau River Papers, Johnson Timber, National Renewable Energy Lab, Michigan Technological University, NC State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ThermoChem Recovery International, University of Wisconsin, and the USDA Forest Products Laboratory.

A matrix of the complete DOE small-scale biorefinery grant round (nine projects) is here.

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