Builders erect cellulosic ethanol plant at Port of Morrow

A crane lifts materials to workers Thursday on the top level of the ZeaChem Inc. demonstration plant at the Port of Morrow.

BOARDMAN — Zea-Chem’s cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant is more than one-third finished.

Builders erected three 40,000-gallon fermentation tanks this week and continued bolting together the steel structure for the two-story operations building.

Excavation began last fall, and contractors poured a concrete pad for the building and other components in November.

“We really got going in late fall,” said Craig Spidle, director of the construction/design-build group for Burns & McDonnell of Chesterfield, Mo.

He said the structure is 35 percent complete and should be finished by October. ZeaChem’s 8-acre site is along Rail Loop Road on Port of Morrow land between Pacific Ethanol and Cargill.

Carrie Atiyeh, spokeswoman for ZeaChem, visited the Boardman site Thursday. She said the company will have its core process online this year, converting sugar into acetic acid and ethyl acetate.

The company is financing the core technology portion of the project. ZeaChem has raised $40 million in venture capital and pitched in $20 million of its own. It’s also been awarded a $25 million federal Department of Energy grant and has qualified for $10 million in Oregon Business Energy Tax Credits.

The federal grant requires a 20 percent match, or $5 million. That $30 million will pay for the “bookends,” as Atiyeh calls them, the front end and the back end of the demonstration plant. The front end will convert cellulose to sugar, using various feedstocks, such as poplar wood from the nearby GreenWood Resources tree farm, and wheat straw.

The back end will convert ethyl acetate to ethanol. When completed, the demonstration plant is expected to produce 250,000 gallons of ethanol annually, beginning next year.

Eco-business.com reported this week that ZeaChem’s pairing of biochemical fermentation and thermochemical processing yields 40 percent more than other cellulosic processes.

Atiyeh confirmed that, saying ZeaChem’s process doesn’t use yeast, which produces carbon dioxide.

“We’re using acetogen bacteria,” she said. “It’s a natural bacteria. It’s Mother Nature’s way of breaking down biomass.”

The acetogen bacteria is like termites and cows use to break down cellulose, she added.

ZeaChem expects to process 10 tons of biomass daily once it begins operation.

Atiyeh said Burns & McDonnell will employ about 75 during construction this year. The 6,500-square-foot building has two floors, with operations on the ground floor and a laboratory on the second floor. The enclosed fermentation tanks rise above the laboratory level.

Once the demonstration plant is successful, the company plans to build a commercial-scale plant that could produce up to 25 million gallons of ethanol annually. It should be online by the end of 2013 or early 2014, Atiyeh said.

ZeaChem has an option with the Port of Morrow for about 30 acres south across Rail Loop Drive from the demonstration plant. The company has not determined where it would build the commercial plant, however.

source: eastoregonian