By James Ronald Skains
Journal Correspondent

Renewable Fuels International, LLC, a Louisiana-based company, has announced the release of their Biomass to Energy Portable Experimental Units, marketed as RELIEF BTE units.

The BTE units that produce both electricity and liquid fuel from biomass such as wood chips, are now available on a limited basis while additional feedstock is being proven viable.

Currently, the primary feedstock is wood chips but the RELIEF BTE Units can also use other types of biomass. (See a special four-page centerfold pullout section in this edition of The Piney Woods Journal).

"Our goal is to market a Biomass to Energy Unit (BTE) that will allow an independent home owner or small business to get off the electrical grid or push away from the pump and to produce their own energy," Dr. John W. Sutherlin, spokesman for Renewable International Fuels, LLC told the Piney Woods Journal.

"We call our units RELIEF BTE because that is what they are designed to do: provide relief from high electrical rates and give you the peace of mind that no matter how high oil prices go in the future, you can produce your own fuel at a much lower cost," Dr. Sutherlin added.

"Our two smaller trailer-mounted BTE XP units are designed to be owner operated with the only labor being required is that of filling up the chip bin a couple of times a day. Our commercial size units, which we call our RELIEF BTE XP 500 and 7500 are commercial size units that can produce carbon neutral products, electricity, propane, diesel, and methanol," Dr. Sutherlin, a long time environmental consultant, noted.

Dr. Heath Barnett, the Director of Research and Development (R&D) for the company pointed out, "The basic technology is nothing really new. However, our company has greatly advanced the technology to produce carbon neutral energy."

"Our approach has been to use standard equipment in novel and unique ways," Dr. Barnett explained. "However, our company is the first to package the technology together whereby small business owner, farmers, ranchers, heavy equipment contractors, trucking companies and marine operators can take advantage of the opportunity to cost-effectively produce their own electricity and clean burning fuel."

When asked about the carbon process, Dr. Barnett, a graduate of LSU with a PhD in Chemistry explained, "Our whole process is about carbon; however, unlike fossil fuel and coal, our energy products are carbon neutral because they are made from renewable biomass. We don't add any harmful carbon emission to the atmosphere. Our system is part of the closed carbon system."

Dr. Barnett is credited with developing the carbon neutral propane process that is unique to the RELIEF BTE system.

"We take the biomass and extract the carbon from it through a gasification process turning the carbon into an intermediate," Dr. Barnett further remarked, "In the last 25 years, the Federal government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on R&D research in the field of gasification."

"Once the carbon is converted to an intermediate, we then use the propane to run an internal combustion engine on a generator that in turns produces electricity." Dr. Barnett added. "Our four carbon neutral products on our commercial size units are electricity, propane, methanol and diesel."

"Our reactor catalyst is very advanced technically and is based on a nanotechnology-catalyst technology that our company has licensed from Louisiana Tech University," Dr. Barnett pointed out.

For background purposes, Dr. Barnett added, "Actually, the rudiments of the reactor catalyst process dates back to the 1920's in a process developed in Germany. The Germans used this technology to produce liquid fuel to power their war machine in the latter stages of World War II."

"The basics of carbon conversion technology were previously available for the United States but because of the then cheap price of oil in the 50's and 60's it was shelved." Dr. Barnett noted. "But an energy crisis as severe as we are suffering through puts a whole new perspective on energy production."

The catalyst technology used by the company to convert the intermediate produced from biomass was licensed by the company from Louisiana Tech University in May of 2007. Advance gasification technology was developed and other aspects of the process were assembled over several months by the company.

"We decided to bring our RELIEF BTE XP units to market at this time because of the uncertainty and turmoil in the global energy markets," Todd Turner, Operations Manager for the company explained. "I don't think that anyone believes that oil prices will stay at their current level of around $40 a barrel."

"Also, on the electricity side, its obvious that electrical rates will continue to climb no matter whether we build wind farms by the thousands or dozens of nuclear power plants at billions of dollars each," Turner continued. "Fuel surcharges alone are massive financial burdens on most small to mid-size business owners as well as homeowners. "Another thing that I like about our BTE process is that it is truly environmentally friendly," Turner noted. "If you want to go totally 'green,' you have that opportunity with our carbon neutral BTE units."

"Our feedstock is primarily wood chips but they do not have to be paper mill quality chips," Turner pointed out. "We can use logging slash as well as tree trimmings that now go to land-fills."

Most of the principals in the company are North Louisiana businessmen with decades of experience managing their own companies who have the goal of not only making a major shift in the energy paradigm, but to also stimulate the economy in the region with manufacturing facilities for the BTE Units.

"T. Boone Pickens has made public statements that the run-up of oil prices to $140 a barrel created the most massive shift in wealth from the United States in all of our history," Dr. Sutherlin noted. "I don't think that our country can afford to have its energy future in the hands of foreign entities and speculators anymore." In addition to bringing the portable BTE Units to market, the company is exploring sites to locate its industrial units adjacent to a chip mill in Winnfield, Louisiana, according to Dr. Sutherlin The company expects to be generating electricity, producing propane, methanol and diesel, all carbon neutral renewable products.

"We have a second location under consideration in West Monroe near the Ouachita Port for our industrial size units," Dr. Sutherlin added. "We believe there are numerous locations throughout the timber belt that would be ideal for our large scale BTE Units."

"Early on in this project, we realized that to truly make an impact on the energy crisis in this country, we had to reach the end-users," Joe Ware, a company Board of Directors member pointed out. "As long as we were selling our renewable fuel to the petroleum industry distribution system, the price at the pump would be the same."

"Our portable BTE units give the end-users of electricity and liquid fuel the opportunity to produce their own energy at much lower cost," Ware added. "Instead of renewable fuels such as ethanol and bio-diesel being sold to blenders in the petroleum industry who in turn market the blended fuel at the same price as fossil fuel, we side-step this scenario."

"In essence, what we are doing with our BTE units is marketing 'peace of mind," Ware stated. "The purchaser of our BTE units doesn't have to worry about what is happening in the Middle East or in Venezuela that will cause oil prices to rise again."

"Outside of being able to produce Carbon Neutral (Friendly) Fuels, our projects will be creating numerous good paying quality jobs with benefits," Ware pointed out. "With the slowing economy not only in Louisiana but around the country, our projects could have a positive economic impact all the way from the tree farmer to the logger and lumber mill operators, not to mention the end users of energy."

"Our concept of giving people the opportunity to produce their own energy is really all about community based economics," Ware added. "We have seen how disastrous the global economy can be for small town America."

"Although much of the initial development will occur in Louisiana, the future of Renewable Fuels International, LLC is not just tied to Louisiana," John Miller, Vice President of Marketing noted. "We have already received interest from an international group about our portable BTE units."

"We believe that our Carbon Neutral Fuels produced by our portable and fixed in-place BTE Units using biomass as the feedstock will find ready markets in developing countries around the world," Miller added. "Our company is committed to doing its part to make a major positive shift in the current energy paradigm."

For more information about Renewable Fuels International, LLC, visit their web site at www.stumptopump.com or email them at info.bteunits@stumptopump.com or call toll free at 888.628.3835.

(Editor's Note: The author of this article, James Ronald Skains, who has been a regular correspondent for The Piney Woods Journal for more than ten years, is also one of the founding stockholders in the firm Renewable Fuels International LLC).

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