Biomass projects show great promise for the future

The lights clicked off at SBS Wood Shavings in Glencoe Tuesday, but quickly flickered back on — this time powered by a small bio-mass generator fueled by forest waste.

Dianne Stallings, ruidoso news staff writer

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(Thanks to Craig Rawlings– (The Montana Community Development Corporation has hired Craig Rawlings as its new Small Wood Enterprise Community Agent. http://matr.net/article-4862.html ) –for this article- Russ)

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The demonstration attended by representatives of U.S. Sens. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., State Forester Toby Martinez and officials from the co-sponsors of the pilot program, was eye-opening for Lincoln County officials and others who watched, said Sherry Barrow, who runs the operation with her husband, Glen Barrow.

"People said to me they finally realized the broader context and implications of systems throughout this nation and internationally," Sherry Barrow said Wednesday. "So much done in research stays on a document and we’re showing the technology is here now in a real application. (County Commission Chairman) Rex Wilson said it could be used on a ranch and at schools. A village councilor asked about powering cars with it.

"This got people excited and hopeful about the prospects for the future. It makes sense to take waste and instead of paying for disposal, to produce something harmonious with the environment."

SBS is one of seven demonstration sites chosen to install and evaluate a modular biopower system called BioMax 15, a transportable, fully automated and environmentally friendly biopower system that uses forest residue to produce electricity and heat suitable for small enterprises, rural homes and schools.

"Small scale biopower technology holds tremendous opportunities for offsetting some local energy needs, using low-value forest thinnings, and being an in-woods process operation capable of grid connection," Barrow said.

The couple’s business turns out high- quality wood shaving bedding, using otherwise wasted small-diameter trees. The trees are the byproduct of forest thinning to reduce fire hazards and improve forest health around the county.

The demonstration sites are fast-tracking the technology to commercialization, Barrow said. The project is a cooperative effort of the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Community Power Corporation to demonstrate the use of small-scale bio-power units to produce heat and power using wood chips.

Earlier in the month, the Barrows appeared at the County Commission meeting to report on the status of their business at the rural events center they lease from the county. The couple are in their sixth week of selling the bedding product.

"It’s going well, but there is a time constraint of covering all the other areas and getting out to let people know we’re here," she said. Once a source sees the product, they’re sold on it. Because it contains no dust — the sawdust is removed and used to fire a drying machine for the shaved material — it is suitable for piglets and other animals who might suffer respiratory problems with other products on the market, she said.

The couple started construction work on the business on Dec. 27, 2001, and in less than a year turned out the first bags of the bedding.

"We’re receiving much more attention than we ever dreamed," Sherry Barrow said. "We’ve been visited by (university representatives) from all over the nation, from Scandinavia and the Philippines. This month, we’re featured briefly in New Mexico Business Journal and we will be in the November issue of New Mexico Magazine. American Forest magazine is doing a story in November."

Television and video crews also arrived in late October to film for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other entities, he said. They were impressed and promised that the footage would bring even more national and international attention to the effort.

"We’ve got our heart and soul in this," Glen Barrow said. "It’s been quite a challenge. … We think we’re winning the game.

"It’s a challenge to get raw materials to the facility and to process them in a way that is economical. We’ve worked hard to develop a premium product. We have three full-time employees. We hope for four as soon as we can afford it. We’re doing as much as we can ourselves. That’s the economics of starting a business."

In reference to the BioMax 15 demonstration project, Barrow said, "The actual monetary gain for us probably will be zero, but we will help provide data on a national and international basis to develop these kinds of systems."

Although pine is used exclusively now, he hopes to use juniper in the future and even salt cedar, a plant species being removed along waterways across the state.

"They want the data and they want the attention," he said. "We want to be a partner in that. It’s aimed at small energy (renewable) production (to supplement non-renewable energy)."

Besides usefully disposing of the material thinned from lots, the Barrows said their business helps rural economic development by providing a market for those who cut the wood and by producing a shavings product, which also generates gross receipts tax for the county and brings in out-of-state dollars.

"I love the idea of sending what’s considered forest waste to other states as a product that people want to buy instead of having to pay someone to dispose of it," Sherry Barrow said. Several local business also benefit from selling the product.

"Every time an acre of land is treated, more water is put into our aquifer and streams," Glen Barrow said. "That’s the big picture win for all of us and we’re just small part of it, if we succeed."

The Barrows said in the future, they hope to branch out into other products using material now lost to landfills, such as pine needles. Forest slash could be used to create pine bales for erosion control, he said.

"I tell people we want the junk. They can make lumber out of big wood," he aid. "We want the fire hazard material that is piling up."

Sherry Barrow directed people to the Web site http://www.SBSwoodshavings.com to learn more about the treatment sites and thinning process, transportation, the production process and utilization, and marketing.

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