Beacon of the Biomass World

by Katie Schroeder (Biomass Magazine) Industry leaders at the 17th Annual International Biomass Conference and Expo shared highlights from the past year for their respective sectors, discussed policy victories and priorities and cautioned of the potential hurdles ahead. The event was held in Richmond, Virginia, March 4-6. Nearly 950 attendees and 172 exhibitors were registered, hailing from 45 nations, 44 U.S. states and nine Canadian provinces. Attendees included 250 producers alongside policymakers, academics, technology providers, utility providers, equipment manufacturers and project developers. John Nelson, vice president of BBI International, opened the conference’s general session by sharing these statistics with the audience and called the conference “a beacon of progress, innovation and collaboration,” citing the diverse programming of the conference and the addition of Pitch Day, an opportunity for startups to share their visions with investors.

Anna Simet, editor of Biomass Magazine, presented the two awards in recognition of achievements in the biomass industry. Jason Kessler, president and owner of KESCO Inc., received the Excellence in Bioenergy award. “To be recognized by my peers for helping this industry grow is extremely humbling,” he said during his acceptance speech.

North America’s largest sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producer, Montana Renewables, was recognized with the Groundbreaker of the Year award. Greg Staiti accepted the award on behalf of the biorefinery, speaking about the company’s journey of transforming the plant from a traditional petroleum refinery to a producer of SAF and biodiesel. A subsidiary of Calumet Specialty Products LP, Montana Renewables is an expression of Calumet’s efforts to transition part of the company’s Great Falls refinery away from petroleum and toward production of renewable fuels. “We [have] a hundred-year-old facility [and this cycle] of investments has positioned it to thrive for the next hundred years,” Staiti said.

Following the awards, representatives from the diverse sectors that make up the biomass industry delivered individual presentations prior to a group Q&A with the audience. The speakers covered topics including the importance of educating voters on biomass use, tax credit advantages and hurdles, and industry growth.

The biogas sector has seen significant progress in the past few years, explained Patrick Serfass, executive director of the American Biogas Council. The renewable natural gas (RNG) sector has grown substantially, with a hundred new plants coming online, making 2023 the third year of record growth for the industry. Serfass explained that the 2,251 systems that make up the U.S. biogas fleet are dominated by electricity-generating systems at a total of 1,901, but the fastest-growing sector is the RNG sector, currently at a total of 350. “The RNG projects have been growing much, much faster than the electricity projects to the point now where the number of projects coming online as RNG projects are an order of magnitude greater than those coming online as electricity projects,” he said.

Policy developments have played a significant role in the industry’s growth, as well as new low carbon fuel standards across the nation and the Inflation Reduction Act, which has encouraged biofuel producers to decarbonize their processes. “We are finding lots of new fuels for the biogas industry,” Serfass said, “[Fuels] like ethanol, hydrogen, even gasoline and SAF, and others are using biogas now to decarbonize their fuels.”

RNG was not alone in its significant build-out and growth across the United States. The biomass-based diesel industry is having “a moment,” explained Paul Winters, director of public affairs and federal communications with Clean Fuels Alliance America. The volume of renewable diesel, biodiesel and SAF produced in the U.S. grew by a billion gallons in 2023. This growth was called impossible by the U.S. EPA, along with other naysayers from the world of economics. “There was a number of economists with international banking groups, the University of Illinois in particular, who are continuing to tell us that we’re going to go bankrupt because we’re feeding more biomass-based diesel into the market than it can handle, according to their economic models,” Winters said. “Nonetheless, we’re still having our moment, and we anticipate that production will increase by another billion gallons in 2024.” The industry was able to grow significantly because consumption of diesel increased by 1.3 billion gallons in 2023. Although economists have expressed skepticism about the sustainability of this growth, Winters explained that feedstock diversity, usage of oilseed crops such as camelina and increased supply chain efficiency allow growth to continue.

The primary feedstocks for renewable diesel and biodiesel are include agricultural oilseed crops such as soybeans, camelina, canola and others. Farmers are responding to the demand, with the soybean industry investing $6 billion into soybean processing. The industry’s secondary feedstock source is used cooking oil and other waste greases. Recycled greases are a growing feedstock, which was unexpected, Winters explained. The market’s use of greases does not directly respond to demand; however, the collection of these greases for recycling and the global supply chains for them do respond. “On the policy front, we’ve kind of faced mixed results—the EPA didn’t just tell us that growth was impossible; they actually wrote that into the Renewable Fuels Standard. I think the actual regulatory language was just ‘pfft,’” he said. “The low volumes they set really pushed RIN prices off a cliff, and that’s impacting a number of small producers.”

Additional topics discussed during the general session included a focus on education and thoughtful communication with the general public, the importance of firmly combating misinformation with facts, the exciting expansion of the RNG and biomass-based diesel industries, and the impact of advocating for the biomass industry’s many sectors with policymakers.

The conference continued with innovation stage presentations and live podcasts on the trade show floor as well as two days of breakout panels with categories including biomass power and thermal, pellets and densified biomass, biogas and RNG, and advanced biofuels and chemicals.

The 18th annual International Biomass Conference & Expo will be held in Atlanta, March 18-20. READ MORE