Attendees Discuss New Products, Job Creation, and How University Research Helps

Media Contact: Gregg Kleiner, 541-740-9654
Sources: Wade Mosby, 503-471-2247; Joe Laurance, 541-440-4201; Mark Kendall, 503-378-6043

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Representatives from businesses, universities, and government agencies from five southern Oregon counties gathered at the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) recently to brainstorm new ways for Oregon to innovate and improve bio-based products and fuels as a means of sparking economic stimulus and creating jobs.

The all-day workshop, hosted by the Oregon Built Environment & Sustainable Technologies Center (Oregon BEST), brought together dozens of people from forest products companies, agricultural interests, manufacturing firms, biofuels groups and university research labs to discuss how better business-university-government collaboration will fast-track the bio-based products industry in Oregon.

“I’ve attended 12 conferences of this kind, both here in Oregon and in other parts of the country, and this one hosted by Oregon BEST was by far the best I’ve ever been to,” said Joseph Laurance, Douglas County Commissioner. “The speakers were absolutely top notch, and I came away with a concrete funding opportunity that could enable Douglas County to purchase a $350,000 piece of mobile equipment that converts biomass at logging sites into the right type of chips for biofuels and biochar.”

Biochar is a charcoal-like byproduct of biodiesel production that can be mixed with compost and used as a soil amendment, Laurance said. Using biochar is a way of storing carbon in the soil instead of releasing it into the atmosphere as CO2 from the burning and decomposition of logging and farming biomass waste.

The equipment Laurance plans to procure using federal economic stimulus funds would enable stand-alone biofuel manufacturing systems onsite at logging landings and other locations, reducing the cost of transporting the raw biomass to biofuel production centers. Transportation costs are a major economic hurdle in the conversion of woody biomass into bioproducts. With the new systems, only the final products, the biofuel and biochar, would be transported, perhaps directly to markets.

“We will be providing energy for the nation while providing jobs locally and advancing our goals of sustainability as a county,” Laurance said. “And we can do all this by collaborating with our universities and local businesses here in Oregon.”

Attendees agreed that creating grant proposals that feature collaboration between both the private sector and academia are often more competitive and have a better chance of being funded.

Mark Kendall, a senior policy analyst at the Oregon Dept. of Energy, said, “Oregon BEST is helping ensure our state remains a national leader in the green energy economy by facilitating university-business collaborations that develop new bio-based products and fuels from agricultural and forestry waste. This ultimately creates jobs and clean technologies for Oregonians.”

Oregon BEST member faculty Christine Kelly, a professor of chemical engineering at Oregon State University, discussed how her Oregon BEST-funded research seeks ways to remove lignin from woody biomass using nontoxic enzymes and low temperatures. Wangping Sun, a professor of manufacturing and mechanical engineering technology at the OIT, came to the event to explore ways Oregon can expand green manufacturing opportunities.

Attendees at the workshop expressed the following needs for Oregon’s bio-based products sector:

• a better understanding of the feasibility of on-farm production of biofuels
• a statewide clearing house for data and reliable information that documents the viability of emerging technologies and potential feedstocks
• a closer connection to researchers who can help test technologies, processes, and materials for viability as fuels and products
• more incentives for product and business development, including paying competitive rates for generating excess power to the grid
• the use of geothermal heat to grow algae for biodiesel production
• better methods to convert invasive species, such as Juniper and Scotch Broom, into bioproducts
• ways to better tap existing waste streams to recover and convert into energy and bioproducts
• new uses for off-grade products such as hay or grain that is rain-damaged
• development of technologies that work on a distributive, community-based scale
• use of existing transportation maps of forests to efficiently transport biomass and products
• incentives that encourage farmers to grow different biomass crops with less risk

“This was an excellent and needed opportunity for local voices to be heard in determining what research the state’s universities undertake,” said Tom Chester, director the Oregon Renewable Energy Center (OREC) at OIT. “Oregon’s research faculty and laboratories are a valuable resource for Oregon businesses to help them develop new bio-based products and biofuels and to bring more research funding to the state.”

Oregon BEST board member, Wade Mosby, senior vice president of Collins Companies, praised the workshop’s success. “This event exceeded our expectations. We plan to host more workshops around Oregon exploring how Oregonians can make renewable energy and green building pillars of this state’s growing green economy.”

Oregon BEST contracted with the Institute for Natural Resources at Oregon State University to organize the workshop. A full report of findings will be published in the coming weeks. For information, please contact Oregon BEST at 503-725-9849, or online at http://oregonbest.org.

About Oregon BEST: The Oregon Built Environment & Sustainable Technologies Center (Oregon BEST) brings together Oregon’s significant R&D strengths in the key emerging areas of renewable energy and green building products and services, with the goal of increasing research and accelerating public/private partnerships to transform that research into on-the-ground business opportunities and Oregon jobs. Oregon BEST partners include the Oregon Institute of Technology, Oregon State University, Portland State University, the University of Oregon, as well as numerous private businesses, government agencies and non-governmental organizations. http://oregonbest.org