Willamette Biomass

Source: Energy Digital

Date :18/02/2008 02:13:09

Willamette Biomass is Oregon’s only large scale commercial oil seed processor. With plans open the Willamette Valley’s first oilseed crushing plant well under way, Exec takes a closer look at the company

Written by Sam Wright and produced by Michael Alexander Jones

Businesses don’t get much younger than Willamette. However, to think of the company, formed in the summer of 2007, in those terms would be to do founders Tim and Craig Parker an enormous disservice. But that’s not to say they didn’t have some help in shaping their plans for a biodiesel production firm.

“About two years ago as we started researching the politics of Oregon,” says President Tim Parker, “and we could see some changes were happening here. Governor Kulongoski had tried a couple of times to bring forward a renewable fuels or energy policy, but it had failed. But this time, the rumblings were that it was going to pass.”

RFS

And so it did. The Renewable Fuels Standard, which stated that from August 15 2007 all diesel sold in the city of Portland must contain at least five percent biofuel, rising to ten percent in 2010, has proved to be the opening of the door that Willamette needed. But that wasn’t the only advantage to the site that was chosen in Rickreall, a former Dallas Co-op grain elevator.

“Numerous analysts at state level and the university here suggested that a lot of work had already been done by SeQuential Pacific and the lines of distribution were already out there,” explains Mr. Parker.

“Their suggestion to us was that we get into the seed oil crushing business, which wasn’t here on a large scale basis here. With close proximity to the largest biodiesel manufacturer in Oregon, it made good sense.”

After this shift of emphasis, the relationship between the two companies has grown into something much more than a way of cutting transportation costs. Speaking at Willamette’s groundbreaking, Tomas Endicott, SeQuential’s co-founder, talked of the effect that the partnership could have for Oregon as a whole, predicting an ‘enormous impact.’

Shifting the scale

It’s not hard to see why; with the state’s biofuel movement previously limited to localized farmers and farm groups, the opportunity to operate on a large scale has been met with widespread enthusiasm. Oregon itself has been keen to recognise this - in December; Willamette Biomass was approved for a $1 million, low-interest loan from an Oregon Department of Energy program, a move that Mr. Parker says “speaks volumes of the leadership of our company.”

The Rickreall plant isn’t operational yet, but by spring, the company intends to have the capacity to process 100, 000, 000 pounds of seed, producing 4.2 million gallons of vegetable oil. By not limiting themselves to one particular type of seed, Willamette has been able to build a large amount of flexibility into its business model.

This has advantages that aren’t at first obvious. Oregon agriculture officials have restricted growing canola, a traditional biomass crop, to certain areas because it can cross-pollinate with some vegetable seed crops, ruining their value. For that reason, canola is being grown only on a tightly controlled, experimental basis in the Willamette Valley. Camelina, another oil seed crop, has attracted a resurgence of interest because it can’t cross-pollinate with vegetable seed crops.

“That’s the advantage,” says Mr. Parker, “we’re a biomass company, not just a Camelina company or a sunflower seed company.”

Creative sourcing

Willamette’s emphasis on local trade and an adaptable approach to sourcing products has led them to work with the local wine industry on an interesting new project to inter-crop Camelina within the rows of grapes.

“Vineyards are after all 90 percent wasted real estate,” explains Mr. Parker, “so if we can find a way for them to participate with our movement, it makes good marketing sense for all of us. The wine industry is a very green industry after all, and their tractors can burn biodiesel.”

And as he points out, there are other areas that Willamette is in a prime position to capitalize on. “Wheat has taken a record run here of late. Prices are at record bushel levels. But one asset that we have on our land is a grain elevator that can hold 432,000 bushels, and we’ve got 750 feet of rail with it.”

Talking to Mr. Parker, it soon becomes obvious that this holistic approach – the waste meal after the seeds are crushed are also used in the animal feed industry, for example – is about much more than maximizing resources. He is clearly passionate about renewable energy and the benefits that it can bring, not just to Oregon, but the nation as whole. But, he readily admits, there’s a great deal of work to be done first.

A national issue

“I read somewhere that there are five diesel passenger cars available in Europe that aren’t available here,” he says. “Why is that? I mean, it’s ridiculous, but I think we need to understand this question as a nation if we’re to move forward.”

“I think we have eight, nine or maybe even as high as ten to one the number of registered regular fuel vehicles compared to diesel. It shouldn’t be that way - there’s no one that would argue that the efficiency of the diesel motor is superior to a regular fuel engine, and yet there’s ten to one of them on the roads.”

One in ten for the moment maybe, but it’s not hard to imagine this number climbing throughout the northwest if other states follow Oregon’s example. And no one would bet, diesel car owner or otherwise, on Willamette Biomass being anywhere other than leading the way.

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