Renewafuel receives EPA funding to study pelletized wood fuel
Rosemount, Minn.-based Renewafuel LLC has produced what it hopes will prove to be a similar fuel to coal, but with far fewer environmental impacts, according to company President James Mennell. Testing on a new pelletized wood fuel was conducted at the University of Iowa power plant in March and was funded by the U.S. EPA. The government agency provided $200,000 for the study, which seeks to verify the benefits of blending wood-based fuel with coal for use in coal-fired facilities.
A final report detailing all the results and a full environmental lifecycle analysis from third-party contractor The Greenhouse Gas Technology Center should be completed this summer. Renewafuel's initial research on the fuel found that it reduces creditable greenhouse gas emissions by 100 percent, sulfur dioxide emissions by more than 90 percent and mercury emissions by more than 50 percent. Mennell said the testing went "very well" from an operational standpoint. "I believe that we are going to produce on a large-scale a fuel that can replace fossil fuels that would be equivalent in its energy value to coal with a fraction of the emissions," Mennell said. "I also like the idea of it being locally produced."
Renewafuel currently owns and operates a production-scale research and development facility in Battle Creek, Mich. Mennell said the wood fuel, supplied by local feedstocks, can be immediately substituted in existing coal-fired equipment without any alterations. Renewafuel's technology process allows for various feedstocks and not just wood, making it attractive to anyone who is a large-scale institutional user of solid fuels, he said.
A final report detailing all the results and a full environmental lifecycle analysis from third-party contractor The Greenhouse Gas Technology Center should be completed this summer. Renewafuel's initial research on the fuel found that it reduces creditable greenhouse gas emissions by 100 percent, sulfur dioxide emissions by more than 90 percent and mercury emissions by more than 50 percent. Mennell said the testing went "very well" from an operational standpoint. "I believe that we are going to produce on a large-scale a fuel that can replace fossil fuels that would be equivalent in its energy value to coal with a fraction of the emissions," Mennell said. "I also like the idea of it being locally produced."
Renewafuel currently owns and operates a production-scale research and development facility in Battle Creek, Mich. Mennell said the wood fuel, supplied by local feedstocks, can be immediately substituted in existing coal-fired equipment without any alterations. Renewafuel's technology process allows for various feedstocks and not just wood, making it attractive to anyone who is a large-scale institutional user of solid fuels, he said.
Renewafuel, founded in 2005 by Mennell and CEO Leon Endres, has already received a lot of feedback and is in various agreements with several U.S.-based companies for large-scale projects, Mennell said. Because location and transportation influence cost, Renewafuel's future plan is to locate facilities near the feedstock source and the customer, he said.
