Biogenic Reagents has its facility at K.I. Sawyer up and running and that should be big news for anyone who really cares about sustainable energy and the Upper Peninsula's role in it.
The company--which has offices in Minneapolis--opened up the facility to produce high-value carbon products from renewable biomass and is currently in commercial production. The $30 million facility is expected to create renewable carbon products that cost less and perform better than existing coal-based products.
This first-ever facility for Biogenic Reagents has the capacity to process 300,000 tons per year of biomass and turn it into carbon products. The facility is creating more than 40 direct jobs--with military veterans filling more than one-third of those jobs--and is projected to create and support more than 100 jobs in the local forestry, wood products, transportation and construction industries.
The first products being delivered by Biogenic Reagents include activated carbon, which is used in air and water purification processes as well as the control of emissions--such as mercury--from power plants. Unlike most activated carbon products for mercury control that are made from coal, Biogenic Reagents' products are derived from renewable biomass. Biomass not only is renewable and costs less than coal, it contains significantly less ash and other contaminants than coal-based products.
"Based on our knowledge and experience with mercury emissions and how to best control them, we believed there was an opportunity to introduce a lower cost and higher performing product into the marketplace," says Biogenic Reagents CEO Jim Mennell. "The results of third-party studies and commercial-scale trials now validate that belief."
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Biogenic Reagents
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