Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Dedicated
to Change
University of Iowas Coring Plans
Create Market Opportunities
For Local Energy Crop Growers
Page 10
Plus:
Codigesting
Energy Perennials
Page 24
And:
Page 30
www.biomassmagazine.com
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INSIDE
FEBRUARY 2015 | VOLUME 9 | ISSUE 2
POWER
04 EDITORS NOTE
Taking Root
08 NEWS
By Tim Portz
09 COLUMN
Biomass, Oil and Gas
05 INDUSTRY EVENTS
06 BUSINESS BRIEFS
By Bob Cleaves
10 FEATURE
Pioneering Perennials in Iowa Soil
34 MARKETPLACE
As the University of Iowa looks to core dedicated energy crops at its on-campus
power station, farmer recruitment and education efforts ramp up.
By Katie Fletcher
PELLETS
16 NEWS
17 COLUMN
Handwriting on the Wall
By Bill Bell
18 CONTRIBUTION
Invasive Plants as Pellet Feedstock
10
THERMAL
20 NEWS
21 COLUMN
Legal Issues for Biomass Thermal Offtake Contracts
By Todd Taylor
BIOGAS
22 NEWS
30
23 COLUMN
Data and Tools to Better Evaluate Biogas Potential
By Amanda Bilek
24 DEPARTMENT
Grass to Gas
As deployment of anaerobic digesters accelerates, researchers explore ways
dedicated energy crops can maximize biogas production.
By Katie Fletcher
HAWKEYE HOPES:
30 FEATURE
Dangerously Smart Farm Boys
Implement OEMs discuss how they are working to ensure that when demand for
dedicated energy crops reaches growers, they stand ready with the necessary
equipment.
By Tim Portz
EDITORS NOTE
Taking Root
EDITORIAL
PRESIDENT & EDITOR IN CHIEF Tom Bryan tbryan@bbiinternational.com
VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT & EXECUTIVE EDITOR Tim Portz tportz@bbiinternational.com
MANAGING EDITOR Anna Simet asimet@bbiinternational.com
ART
ART DIRECTOR Jaci Satterlund jsatterlund@bbiinternational.com
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Burslie bburslie@bbiinternational.com
ADVERTISER INDEX
34
2015 Heating the Midwest
36
2015 International Biomass Conference & Expo
22
Agra Industries
20
AMANDUS KAHL GmbH & Co. KG
13
Andritz Feed & Biofuel A/S
2
Astec, Inc.
35
BBI Project Development
5
Biogas Producer Map
16
Continental Biomass Industries
8
DI PI
32
KEITH Manufacturing Company
15
Pellet Producer Map
33
Vecoplan LLC
28
Verdante BioEnergy Services
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INDUSTRY EVENTS
Le Salon Bois Energie 2015
MARCH 19-22, 2015
International Biomass
Conference & Expo
APRIL 20-22, 2015
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Business Briefs
PEOPLE, PRODUCTS & PARTNERSHIPS
Siemens awarded
reaccreditation from IACET
The International Association for Continuing Education and Training has awarded
reaccreditation status to Siemens. IACET
authorized providers are the only organizations approved to offer IACET continuing
education units. The accreditation period
extends for five years, and includes all programs offered or created during that time.
Amyris appoints
chief financial officer
Amyris Inc. has appointed Raffi
Asadorian as the companys chief financial
officer. Prior to joining Amyris, Asadorian
served as chief financial officer at Unilabs,
a private equity-owned medical diagnostics
company based in Switzerland. He previously held a senior executive finance role at
Barr Pharmaceuticals and was a partner at
PricewaterhouseCoopers in its transactions
services group. Paulo
Diniz, who previously
served as interim
chief financial officer
of Amyris, will transition to a new role as
chairman of Amyris
Brasil.
Diniz
Rentech names
new leadership
Rentech Inc. has announced that D.
Hunt Ramsbottom has resigned as CEO and
president of Rentech and CEO of the general partner of Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP
to pursue other opportunities. Ramsbottom
has also resigned as a member of the board
of directors for both companies. Keith Forman, a member of Rentech Nitrogens board
BUSINESS BRIEFS
PowerNews
www.sunomi-llc.com info@sunomi-llc.com
www.di-piu.com info@di-piu.com
$77,551
$567,000
PAYROLL / EMPLOYEE
105
15.7
NUMBER OF ESTABLISHMENTS
REVENUE / EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYEES / ESTABLISHMENT
1,647
TOTAL EMPLOYMENT
$935 M
$8.9 M
$128 M $3
REVENUE
REVENUE / ESTABLISHMENT
ANNUAL PAYROLL
REVENUE / CAPITA
7.3
$2.99 M
REVENUE / $1 OF PAYROLL
POPULATION / ESTABLISHMENT
Lowest cost
firelogs
and pucks
POWER
POWER
PIONEERING
PERENNIALS
IN IOWA SOIL
The University of Iowa is searching for the right
biomass feedstock to cofire with coal at its power
plant, and miscanthus is one option a few early
adopters are testing.
BY KATIE FLETCHER
Early Adopters
Growing miscanthus is not a pioneering operation everywhere. Europe has been
planting the crop since the 1980s, primarily for combustion in power plants. In the
continental U.S. South, farmers grow the
perennial for a poultry-bedding end market.
A few other states have grown miscanthus,
but, overall, miscanthus is in its early stages
in the U.S., and only a few early adopters
have begun looking into incorporating it,
and other perennials and grasslands, into
farming operations.
Im always looking to diversify our
portfolio of crops, says Steve Schomberg,
the first grower participating in the biomass
fuel project in 2013. I think it has a great
future, as a landowner and farmer you dont
want to put all of your eggs in one basket.
This is perhaps why over coffee with
a friend Schombergs ears perked up when
he heard about UIs project. Another Iowa
grower followed in 2014. The concept of
growing fuel is pretty interesting, says Dan
Black, owner of the 2014 pilot plot.
These two growers knocked on the universitys door, and are now helping spread
the word to others interested in leasing sections of land for the projects purpose. We
want to have 2,500 acres in production to
support our 2020 goal, says Ferman Milster, principal engineer of renewables at UI.
Were going to be ramping up 200 acres this
coming year, and then much more than that
in the years to come.
As a predominantly liberal arts and sci-
POWER
POWER
GENERATING INTEREST: Public eld days have been held on Dan Blacks farm. Repreve
Renewables and the University of Iowa hosted a planting day event, and Iowa Learning Farmers
hosted a eld day after the miscanthus was planted. Heaton shares her knowledge with attendees at a
September event.
PHOTO: JERI NEAL, LEOPOLD CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
Lessons Learned
test plot was planted during adverse circumstances, but is scheduled to be harvested
during that time frame based on snow
cover and climate. It was really a combination of the late planting, which stressed
the rhizomes, and then the drought, which
stressed them, and then the extremely long
winter we had, which provided further
stress, Milster says. Out of the planted
acres, three acres did survive and look very
good.
Heaton expects the acreage to yield 8
to 10 tons per acre on average once the miscanthus is fully matured, which takes about
three years.
Heaton compares miscanthus to children; they are expensive to have, and the
first few years of upbringing are critical.
We generally talk about miscanthus as being a very low-input crop, and thats true
especially when you look at it over a 20- to
30- year lifespan of the crop, but you dont
want to mess around in those first few years,
Heaton says. Its an expensive crop to plant,
just like kids are expensive to have, so we do
recommend diligent management in the first
two years. Like children, if you do a poor job
in its juvenile phase, it will never recover.
Although miscanthus can flourish on
marginal land, the soil needs proper preparation. Both primary and secondary tillage
is needed to loosen the dirt enough to dig
POWER
Your global
equipment
supplier
for the biomass
industry
END MARKET: The University of Iowas main power plant currently cores oat hulls with coal in
two boilers generating 170,000 pounds an hour at 750 degrees Fahrenheit, 500-pound force per
square inch gauge. Miscanthus and other ready-to-burn biomass are being explored as coring
options.
PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
trenches for the rhizomes. One of the secrets to a successful establishment, to effective planting, is field prep, Milster says. In
both cases, we really had to put extra effort
in to prepare the soil.
Rhizome planting is based on potato
planting. Black says the planter used by
Repreve, in essence, has the bones of a potato planter, but is highly modified to plant
the rhizomes.
to see those perennials be a diverse portfolio, Heaton says. It wouldnt take much
miscanthus to make a meaningful difference
to our energy needs in the state.
Heaton says landscape management is
analogous to healthcare, in a sense. Imagine if you could identify all the smokers
in a population. Heaton asks, Would you
want to insure them at the same rate, with
the same premiums that you are insuring a
healthier portion of the population?
Heaton, as many others posed that
question, says probably not. What were
considering here is that we finally have data
that allows us to ask the same question for
parts of land, Heaton says. We dont want
to invest the same resources, either insurance resources from a taxpayer or actual
farm input from a farmer, on areas of land
that are not going to respond, not going to
be profitable, not going to produce grain,
etc.
Miscanthus giganteus, the sterile type
of miscanthus UI and ISU are using, is an
attractive option for a few reasons. It is unable to produce seed, so this helps to avoid
unintended movement of the crop from
planted areas. Further, the perennial can
help manage poorly drained fields and underperforming areas. Miscanthus also helps
mitigate soil and other nutrients from water. Planting dedicated energy crops is the
www.andritz.com
FEBRUARY 2015 | BIOMASS MAGAZINE 13
POWER
STAY TOP
OF MIND
PLACE YOUR NAME ON THE WALL!
Advertise now on Pellet Mill Magazines 2015 U.S. & Canada Pellet
Producer Map. It is the easiest and most cost-effective way to get
your name, product and/or service in front of Pellet Producers, as
well as other industry professionals for 12 months at a time.
This map is extremely popular because it identifies more than 180
existing pellet plants as well as those under construction.
Production facilities are conveniently color coded by status for
quick reference.
FREE LISTING
2015
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PelletNews
Canadian pellet statistics
2010
2011 2012
2013
2014
1.32
1.45
1.50
1.80
2.18
0.00
0.00
0.05
0.02
0.02
1.23
1.3
1.37
1.64
2.00
0.10
0.12
0.15
0.18
0.20
33
39
42
41
41
Number of plants
Nameplate capacity (million tons)
Capacity use (percent)
2.08
2.9
3.18
3.18
3.18
63.40
50.00
47.20
56.70
68.70
PELLET
PELLET
CONTRIBUTION
PELLETIZING A PROBLEM: Gregory Zimmerman (far right), Professor of Biology at Lake Superior State
University feeds a small pellet press as students look on.
PHOTO: LAKE SUPERIOR STATE UNIVERSITY
Invasive Plants
as Pellet Feedstock
or the past several years, my students and I have been experimenting with making fuel pellets from
invasive species. The projects have
been funded by Michigans Biomass Energy
Office, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
and most recently the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. We have also collaborated
with Michigan State University and Bay Mills
Community College. Most recently we have
been working with Loyola University Chicago, DePaul University and the University
of Michigan. Loyola is the lead on the cur-
Feasibility
Our first study was to examine the Btu
yield of unmanaged reed canary grass and
whether it would be energy efficient to harvest and process it into pellets, and burn it
in a multiuse stove. The math worked out. A
3-acre patch of reed canary grass could pro-
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CONTRIBUTION: The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily reect the views of
Biomass Magazine or its advertisers. All questions pertaining to this article should be directed to the author(s).
vide in pellets the Btu equivalent of 800 gallons of propane with 32 times more energy
return than the energy required to harvest
and pelletize it. Most rural properties in our
area have some stands of reed canary grass.
We then purchased a hammer mill, a
small pellet press and a multifuel pellet stove
to put the idea into practice. Like many others, we were able to make reed canary grass
pellets and we found that they burned well
in the multifuel stove. Our trials then extended to invasive phragmites. Because of
its high proportion of stem, it ground up
PELLET
Harvesting
In addition to timing of the harvest, the
actual harvest procedure for invasive species represents some challenges compared
to purpose-grown biomass. In our work in
the former hayfield, we simply used a tractormounted, sickle-bar mower. In our phragmites sites, we used hand harvesting since
the sites were small. We tied the phragmites
in bundles with twine, then cut the base with
a battery-operated hedge trimmer (more or
less a hand-held, sickle-bar mower). The
bundles were then convenient to carry to a
trailer.
Our current project involves biomass
removal from wetlands. Thus, one additional
step was securing a permit from the Michi-
Pelletizing
We have had good results in pelletizing
both reed canary grass and phragmites. We
have only done one run of cattails and were
able to make good pellets with green material
(no water added) and without binder. But we
have not fired these pellets to check for their
burn characteristics.
We have been working on scaling up the
pellet production process from demo-scale
(several pounds) to production level (several
tons). We are still developing the processes
for material handling, grinding and pelletizing, and trying to establish a consistent mix-
ture of ground grass, water and binder. Ambient temperature and humidity all seem to
add variation to the production process and
thus to the quality and economic value of the
finished product.
Our brief experience with cattails reveals
some additional challenges, one of which is
that the cattail fibers can clog the screen of
the grinder. We know that water content and
soil picked up in the harvest process will be
issues. Im sure we will find other difficulties
as we go along.
Use of Pellets
Other uses beyond pellet stove fuel may
bring economic benefits to invasive removal
projects. Pellets from purpose, grown grasses
may be marketable as feed, animal bedding
or even compost. Pellets from invasives
might not be marketable as feed, but bedding
and compost could be alternative markets.
Our work so far confirms that invasive
plant removal can have an added benefit of
pellet production. Our current project is to
restore biodiversity of the wetlands with a
side benefit of economic value from the biomass. We want to be clear that we are not
suggesting that reed canary grass, the invasive
genotype of phragmites, or the invasive cattails should be planted for biomass production. The currently available stands of these
plants provide a ready supply that we hope
will decrease over the coming years with successful control efforts. In the meantime, we
have an opportunity to improve the economics of control efforts and to provide a more
carbon neutral fuel source or other valuable
products, if we use some slightly different
than we would with purpose-grown biomass.
Author: Gregory Zimmerman
Professor of Biology, Lake Superior State University
gzimmerman@lssu.edu
906-635-2470
ThermalNews
Hurst equipment powers
New Hampshire district heating project
A Hurst biomass
boiler district heating
system with a backpressure
steam turbine/generator is
powering a district heating
project in Sullivan County,
New Hampshire. The
project serves the countys
166-bed nursing home and
168-bed prison complex as
well as two smaller onsite
buildings in Unity, New
Hampshire.
AN ECONOMICAL SOLUTION: The Hurst boiler district
The biomass comheating system has already saved Sullivan County
bined-heat-and-power
approximately $100,000.
district energy system is
almost entirely fueled by locally sourced, renewable wood chips, which are provided
by Cousineau Forest Products. Producing inexpensive heat and electricity for the
215,000-plus square feet of conditioned space, the system has replaced 95 percent of
fuel oil purchases and 10 percent electric purchases in the nursing home.
Sullivan County officials project that the annual fuel savings will pay for the construction bond within 15 years.
Quality worldwide.
AMANDUS KAHL USA Corporation 380 Winkler Drive, Suite 400, Alpharetta GA 30004-0736
Phone: 770-521-1021 sales@amanduskahlusa.com
AMANDUS KAHL GmbH & Co. KG SARJ Equipment Corp., Mr. Rick B. MacArthur 29 Golfview Blvd., Bradford, Ontario L3Z 2A6
20 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2015
Phone: 001-905-778-0073 rbmacarthur@sympatico.ca www.akahl.us
THERMAL
AGRA
Industries
BiogasNews
Potential biogas-based fuel production in California
(million gasoline gallon equivalents)
SOURCE: BIOENERGY ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA
272
Agricultural
residue
170
Manure
2,187
FROM DESIGN
TO
FABRICATION
710
Forestry and
forest products
residue
56
Fats, oils,
greases
66
Waste water
treatment gas
457
Landfill gas
106
MSW (67% of
food, leaves,
grass fraction)
350
MSW (67% of
lignocellulosic
fraction)
COMPLETION!
BIOGAS
modify inputs and assumptions to conduct a preliminary economic evaluation for a potential biogas project.
Both the IBAM map and spreadsheet will require more
robust analysis and engineering designs for any project
moving forward, but these publically available tools can
help users from the private and government sectors to
conduct an initial project screen or quantify the potential for biogas projects in Iowa.
The Iowa tools build on work previously done by
the state of Wisconsin to develop a user-friendly biogas resource map and economic analysis for potential
biogas projects. Having these tools available provides
critical information to biogas proponents and project
developers to assess resource potential, describe the
location and nature of potential projects, and identify
specific locations for future projects. In addition to
Wisconsin, there are examples from other states and
U.S. regions that have developed similar tools and economic assessments.
To further enable increased development of biogas projects, it is essential that we continue to use data
and visual tools to better evaluate the biogas resource.
These tools can provide critical information in the early
formation of a potential project. They also help biogas
proponents to categorize the resource potential in the
context of other renewable energy options or waste
management decisions. The diversity of biogas project configurations and feedstock sources is a real asset
because every city, town, or rural area has some sort
of potential for a biogas project, but without tools and
data like those developed by Iowa, Wisconsin or other
states, it would be more difficult to move projects from
potential to operational.
Author: Amanda Bilek
Government Affairs Manager, Great Plains Institute
612-278-7118
abilek@gpisd.net
BIOGAS
DEPARTMENT
CODIGESTION POTENTIAL: The University of Guelph Ridgetown campus in Ontario has a 250-kW
digester housed at the CARES, or Center for Agricultural Renewable Energy and Sustainability, research
facility. The manure currently fed to the digester will eventually be mixed with various energy crops to test
biogas at a farm-scale.
PHOTO: KIM VANOVERLOOP
Grass to Gas A
Grassland and perennial biomass streams are
being tapped for conversion as supplemental
feedstock in anaerobic digesters.
BY KATIE FLETCHER
BIOGAS
STARTING SMALL: Brandon Gilroyed, assistant professor at the University of Guelph-Ridgetown, says
all perennial crop work so far at the university, has been done using a lab-scale digester.
PHOTO: KURTIS BAUTE
BIOGAS
ONE POSSIBILITY: Arundo donax is one energy crop New Energy Farms is providing suitable cultivars
for with its CEEDS articial seed system. NEF is testing this crop and others for biogas potential with 20
acres of trials dedicated to the work in Canada and a series of trials with a European developer of biogas
projects.
PHOTO: NEW ENERGY FARMS
BIOGAS
INNOVATIVE APPROACH: Roeslein Alternative Energys biogas project will involve a total of 88 covered
hog lagoons, such as this one being installed at Murphy Browns South Meadows Farm in Missouri. Barn
scraper technology will deliver raw nutrients of livestock manure to the covered lagoons.
PHOTO: SHELDON RIPSON, ROESLEIN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
AdvancedBiofuelNews
We Make
Biomass
Renewable Energy
6,094
Reliable.
Number of Jobs
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849 45
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Pile Management
Colorado, North Carolina, Michigan, Connecticut, Louisiana and Texas. Illinois and
Maryland tied for 10th.
The single largest biofuel announcement came from Fulcrum Sierra Biofuels,
which is building a 10 MMgy biorefinery in
McCarran, Nevada. The project is expected
to create 450 construction jobs and 50 fulltime jobs by next year. Development of the
plant is supported by U.S. Department of
Defense grants intended to scale-up production of alternative sources of jet fuel.
verdantebioenergy.com
828 394-1246
28 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2015
the feed and fuel marketsa final phase of commercialization that does not rely on revenues from higher-value product
streams like Omega-3s.
In the algae space, advanced biofuel pioneer Sapphire
Energy is also diversifying its product portfolio, and Algenol
Biofuels has added an algae crude stream to its advanced
ethanol platform.
Other algae companies are following a similar strategy,
and even the U.S. Department of Energy has recognized the
advantages. The DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office funding opportunity, titled Targeted Algal Biofuels and Products,
announced by David Danielson, DOE assistant secretary, at
the 2014 Algae Biomass Summit, specifically incents the development of coproducts, crop protection and carbon utilization
technologies with algae. The end goal is not to create a new
source of fishmeal or animal feeds, however. Rather, it is to enhance the state of the art and ultimately drive down the cost of
algal fuels by enabling companies to produce multiple revenue
streams from the same biomass feedstocks.
Much like corn, soybeans and other traditional biomass
crops, which serve multiple end markets, the advantages of
algae's market flexibility will drive advances even during today's
crude oil glut.
Companies that are currently focused on a single product
also stand to benefit from feedstock flexibility. A company that
can successfully scale algal oil production will have technical
knowledge (and likely a whole lot of biomass) that will be
valuable in other applications, making for a possible wave of
strategic partnerships as more algae-derived products hit the
market.
In either case, the effect will be a commercialization pathway that marches through a number of markets with economics driven by many more factors than the price of oil alone.
The path is simple: Advance the technology and infrastructure through to initial commercialization, find revenues in
new and bigger markets, repeat.
Low oil prices might alter the pace or the direction of this
cycle but they will not derail progress. In fact, a growing economy, booming populations the world over, and more pressing
security challenges mean governments and investors that keep
the pace of R&D up will be rewarded in the near term by high
revenues from feed, food and nutritional products, and will be
doubly rewarded over the longer term when fossil energy again
becomes expensivewhich it most certainly will.
Author: Matt Carr
Executive Director, Algae Biomass Organization
www.algaebiomass.org
877-531-5512
DANGEROUSLY
AGCO
Maynard Herron is one of AGCOs
17,000 global employees and, as manager of
product proving in the companys Hesston,
Kansas, location, well-versed in the iterative
nature of AGCOs product development approach.
I grew up as a farmer. I was always interested in the mechanical side of farming,
Herron says. I have a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering and I got a masters degree
in agricultural engineering, which tied it all together well for me. Im very interested in what
people are doing to make a living with equipment on their farm.
Herron and his team spend their time
developing solutions for markets not yet fully
commercialized, markets that the company expects may generate real demand perhaps five
to eight years down the road including energy
crops. I dont claim that we have a group of
people who can look into the future and know
where our products need to be at a certain
30 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2015
TRY, TRY AGAIN: During a demonstration harvest of miscanthus in Illinois, AGCO engineers put this Razor Bar harvesting head through its
paces. This model included the biomass option, which is the auger above the head. At the time this photograph was taken, the prototype was
still well within its preproduction test phase.
PHOTO: AGCO
New Holland
Another instantly recognizable ag-machinery brand actively developing equipment solutions for the prospective energy crop market
is New Holland Agriculture, part of the multinational ag and construction equipment giant CNH Industrial. The organizations R&D
efforts are housed in the companys New Holland, Pennsylvania, location led in part by John Posselius, innovation and technology manager.
Posselius and his team are responsible for developing the next
generation of both New Hollands agricultural and construction
equipment offerings. Like AGCO, New Holland works to keep Posselius and his team focused on markets they feel may come to fruition
on a four- to eight-year horizon.
The advanced technology group has some leeway, but theres a
good bit of involvement from senior management, Posselius says.
Everything we work on gets approved by senior management. Weve
got what I call dangerously smart farm boys. Lots of our guys and
gals have PhDs
Posselius credits his teams understanding of agricultural and agricultural technology for the trust that company management has in
their efforts, even if the immediate need isnt readily apparent. To keep
their pipeline of development work full, the company leverages its
global presence to keep in tune with emergent trends in agriculture,
whether they are bubble up in Europe, Asia or South America.
Another constituency that New Holland maintains close relationships with are the agronomy departments at universities around the
world. They stay up to speed with the research trends they see and let
those trends inform where they spend time and resources.
In 2004 or so, we caught wind of some of the work that Dr.
Tim Volk of the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, was doing with willows, Posselius says.
It intrigued us. Posselius and his team learned that early efforts to
harvest willow were utilizing existing sugar cane and forage harvesters.
With both of those products already in their portfolio, willow seemed
to provide a new market opportunity that fit nicely into what the company was already doing.
After getting in touch with Tim, we started bootlegging some
things and tried several approaches with engineering equipment that
32 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2015
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