Biogenic Reagents provides jobs, clean energy to the region

A cutting edge alternative energy producer is calling K.I. Sawyer home, after operating as a pilot project in another state. Biogenic Reagents, a Minneapolis-based company, moved to the Upper Peninsula in November of 2012. The company produces a carbon-based alternative to coal for companies in the U.P. and Great Lakes basin. It’s the only such facility in North America, according to Biogenic Reagents.

The facility replaces renewaFUEL , a company owned by Cliffs Natural Resources. RenewaFUEL , which had hoped to produce 150,000 tons of biomass cubes annually, ceased operations after falling short of projections.  Biogenic Reagents followed up with a $30 million state-of-the art production facility and plans to employ up to 40 workers. As of this writing, Biogenic was producing revenue, according to founder and CEO, Jim Mennell.

The company produces carbon-based products from feedstock, i.e., wood, acquired from within a 50-mile radius of the facility. The result is three specialty products for markets within the Great Lakes Region; activated carbon for mercury and emissions control, metallurgical carbon for iron and metals production, and thermal carbon for energy generation.

Mennell says their products are less expensive to produce than coal mainly because there is less processing equipment involved and less cleaning that needs to be done to the raw materials they use. Coal has more impurities to remove, mainly sulfur, before it can be used as an energy source. The company’s carbon-based products also release fewer emissions, particularly mercury, than does coal, which should interest companies who must meet stringent EPA standards for emissions.

Multiple studies, including blind side-by-side trials conducted by researchers at Stanford University and a Michigan utility, concluded Biogenic Reagents’ products outperform coal-based products and have demonstrated the ability to reduce mercury emissions from a coal-fired power plant by more than 90 percent.

Large utilities, like We Energies’ Presque Isle Power Plant in Marquette, a company that is concerned about new EPA guidelines, could benefit from this coal alternative and have been in talks with Biogenic Reagents. Biogenic Reagents has done pilot work at that facility.

Mennell, who has been involved with the start-up of several businesses across the United States, says he’s “very happy” with their decision to locate in the Marquette area. He says they were heavily recruited by the state of Michigan, especially the Michigan Strategic Fund and Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

“We were recruited very well by the State of Michigan,” says Mennell. “There was very strong local and state support.”

Due to nondisclosure agreements with customers Mennell was not able to reveal who they currently supply their product to, but says their customer base is in the Great Lakes region.

“We’re strategically located to Great Lakes customers,” says Mennell.

The company employs engineers, electricians and computer programmers to run the plant. The CEO says it takes a team effort to get things up and running and added he is “very pleased” with the caliber of workers they’ve recruited to staff the facility so far. These workers came from a variety of sources, including referrals from the Michigan Works agency.

Mennell says the company relied on individual investors who invested more than just capital, to get the company up and running; they used no venture capital.

Neil Moran is a copywriter living in Sault Ste. Marie. Visit his website at www.neilmoran.com.