Last week representatives George Stanko and Doug Shepard, from Canadian company CORE BioFuels Inc. (CBFI), joined representatives Marvin Strimbold, Bob Murray and Bill Miller from Lakes Timber Health and Salvage (LTHS).
LTHS is a strategic partner with CBFI.
The group gave a presentation at the Burns Lake and District Chamber of Commerce with regards to their proposed biofuel plant initiative that will be constructed near Burns Lake in the not too distant future.
CBFI plans to construct a biofuel plant that will produce environmentally clean gasoline from the wood waste that is currently being under utilized in the area.
“Our gasoline is a renewable based technology, our feedstock is renewable and sustainable and is not a source of food like other biofuel projects currently use. Our gasoline will be cleaner burning than crude oil because it contains fewer contaminates. The gasoline would be able to come straight out of our plant and be put directly into your cars and trucks, it will be high octane, clean, non contaminated fuel,” Stanko, president of CBFI said.
“Our gasoline will meet the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards, and is perfectly safe for your cars, it is greener to burn in your cars because its components come from a tree,” he said.
According to CBFI all current renewable fuel sources all have drawbacks.
Ethanol is still being made from food sources despite intense development and bio-diesel is also made from edible oils.
CBFI also notes that there are presently few efforts being made to produce gasoline from renewable sources.
This is surprising as CBFI points out that global predictions for gasoline show an estimated increase in the global demand for gasoline.
In the year 2033 it is estimated that there will be another 1.6 billion people on the Earth, using an extra 26 million barrels per day.
In total the global estimate for the year 2030 is 113 million barrels per day and all currently depending on a resource that is not renewable.
“Crude oil is a declining resource, countries like India and China will add to the demand by the year 2033 and these countries are already beginning to develop inexpensive cars, the available fuel sources are declining,” said Stanko.
When asked what types of wood they need for the plant Stanko replied, “Any waste wood source such as stripped bark, low grade waste and residues, brush and trimmings, pine beetle damaged wood, pallet wood, old planking, burnt wood from forest fires, waste wood from mills, wood can be in a log form or ground up, if you can get it on a trailer and get it to us we can use it. Any species of wood that is not treated or that does not have nails in it is fine, if it is clean and it is wood it can go in. If we can gasify it we can use it,” said Stanko.
“We will be the place of last resort for wood sources, we don’t want to compete for wood sources, we want all the wood that nobody else wants, we want your worst quality stuff, and there will not be a piece of fibre that does not have a home,” he continued.
“We will use 250,000 metric tonnes of beetle damaged wood annually,” noted Strimbold from LTHS, jokingly calling the gasoline ‘beetlejuice’ because of its utilization of pine beetle damaged wood.
When asked by a member of the community what waste product will be left over from the production of the gasoline Stanko replied, “Ash, which will be land fillable, but we will be looking for other opportunities and uses for the ash.”
The biofuel plant will be built on one of three sites previously chosen by CBFI in Decker Lake.
“The plant will have a 10 acre footprint, it will be carbon neutral, with no emissions, it will be producing a green clean low emission gasoline,” stated Strimbold.
“We will be producing 70 million litres of gasoline per year from the first plant, we are presently in discussion with two distribution centres out of Prince George, the Husky and the Farmers Co-op,” noted Stanko.
“This is an exciting and positive project,” commented Stanko.
“It is a $100 million dollar investment which will be an investment in the future of Burns Lake, not just in terms of the tax base but also for employment opportunities,” he continued.
According to CBFI the biofuel plant will create between 35 to 40 jobs for local residents.
“We are looking at partnering with the local College of New Caledonia to initiate courses specifically for our plant, as we assume the majority of people in the area will not have experience in this type of industry,” Stanko noted.
“We will be looking at employing approximately four or five technical people with a background in chemistry and engineering, also fire fighting skills, the others jobs will be comprised of human resources, accounting and general plant worker positions,” he continued.
There is also estimated to be approximately 200 spin off jobs created in the Burns Lake area due to the construction and ongoing running of the plant.
“There will also be value added jobs in other companies in the area,” noted Stanko.
“We also envision 200 plus construction phase jobs, which will be a great economic stimulus and a magnet for future growth,” added Bill Miller from LTHS.
“We expect to be fully operational and into the start up phase in approximately two years,” said Stanko. The group is presently consulting with environmental assessors from Worley Parsons to determine the feasibility and environmental suitability of the three chosen Decker Lake properties.
“We are planning to start with one plant, but are going to expand to more plants, possibly building another one on one of the other chosen properties at Decker Lake depending on the amount of fibre we can secure,” said Stanko.
The CBFI group recently met with the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako and also the village council of Burns Lake.
“We want the support of the council, there are many benefits for the town, a great potential for not just ourselves but for the community and for First Nations groups as well,” stated Strimbold.
“We are also actively seeking investors to become part owners in the company, we are presently looking to form additional partnerships with members of the community who would like to invest,” added Stanko.
“We are actively seeking local ownership through share purchases, not only for the first plant but for the company as a whole,” noted Stanko.
“We already have local investors in the initial part of the funding,” added Strimbold.
“We are going to direct the timber towards its best uses as a solution towards the beetle epidemic,” said Shepard, president of corporate development for CBFI.
“The amount of beetle wood greenhouse gas emissions each year is significant, it is the equivalent of nine million cars on the road, we are looking to reduce that amount,” added Stanko.
The group, clearly excited about the environmentally friendly project say they are actively seeking fibre within an 80 mile radius of the plant, and are looking to develop a partnership with the Hampton Group, the owners of Babine Forest Products and Decker Lake Forest Products, and would also like to develop partnerships with other mills in the area to utilize the waste wood currently being burnt in the beehive burners.
“Each contract with suppliers of wood waste and fibre will be individual and can take many forms, each operation that has fibre may want to set up individual agreements,” noted Bob Murray, manager of LTHS.
“We are looking to set up fibre agreements and we will take as many as are offered,” he continued.
When asked about offshoot products that could be developed by CBFI Stanko noted they would be generating their own electricity.
“The plant will generate its own electrical power due to the fuel making process, this will allow the plant to be free of the grid,” said Shepard.
“Another by product is distilled water, and also we could potentially capture C02 and sell it down the line, our main focus though is on the production of gasoline,” said Stanko.
With the project set to offer a new clean, green fuel source to the local community from local waste that is presently either being burned or land filled, and offer jobs to the community and possibly even the opportunity for more plants opening in the area the project will benefit Burns Lake in many different forms.
“We want to put Burns Lake on the map, we have an aggressive business plan and have plans to take this project globally, eventually having plants across the world, anywhere where there is fibre,” noted Stanko.