By Tom Kelly
Editor and Publisher

Manufacture of ethanol fuel from a variety of plant "biomass" products - sugar cane waste, corn, wood chips, other plant products and agricultural wastes - edged a step further toward commercial reality in Louisiana this month, with announcement of firm plans for construction of a plant adjacent to a new sugarcane processing plant in Jefferson Davis Parish, between Lafayette and Lake Charles.

In a news release on January 30, Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Bob Odom called the announcement "a great day for Louisiana agriculture."

Two weeks before issuing the formal announcement of the signing of a lease for the proposed ethanol plant to be located at Lacassine, Louisiana, Odom was a presenter at the Louisiana AgOutlook Conference at LSU in Baton Rouge. There, he spoke of the prospects of ethanol production as one of several possible avenues for bolstering both primary and value added income for the state's forestry and agribusiness industry.

A second presenter at that conference, John M. Urbanchuk of Wayne, Pennsylvania, an energy consultant specializing in synthetic fuels development, rated Louisiana's prospects as an ethanol producing state as better than average, because of its access to Mississippi River water transportation from the grain-growing American Midwest, and petroleum fuel refining already one of the primary industries of the state.

Responding to a question from The Piney Woods Journal, Urbanchuk said he is not aware of any commercially operating ethanol process using wood chips, a prospect of particular interest to a group of North Louisiana Piney Woods loggers and investors. Urbanchuk did not exclude the possibility that a viable wood chip process exists, saying rather that his expertise is from the grain producing areas of the north and midwest.

While ethanol from corn is a well-established process, an official of Vanguard BioSynFuels, Inc., at Pollock, north of Alexandria, Louisiana, confirmed that the company is still searching for the right process to distill synthetic fuel from wood chips.

Distilling ethanol, or grain alcohol, from corn is an industry that goes back to the beginnings of the American experience, when the pioneer settlers made their own bourbon whiskey based essentially on the same chemical facts: that grain alcohol can be fermented from corn - and many other grains - in the presence of sugar, water, and heat. In the ethanol process, the primary product would be recognized by any alert moonshiner as regulation "white lightning." By adulterating the liquid with a chemical additive to make it undrinkable, (presumably to cut down on "shrinkage" between distillery and fuel pump) the product becomes motor fuel. Clean burning, and acceptable as a mixer with petroleum fuel to cut down on emissions and stretch the supply of crude oil.

No knowledgeable person alleges that ethanol, or other synthetic or "green" energy sources - solar, wind, tidal, nuclear, or hydro dam power - will replace petroleum or coal as the primary source of world energy in the foreseeable future. However, many with a variety of expertise do claim that in the aggregate, such alternative fuels will, if developed commercially, significantly extend the life of current petroleum reserves, and significantly reduce over time the emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the air.

Theoretically, and on a limited experimental basis apparently, a synthetic fuel end product similar to ethanol is achievable from the cellulose in wood chips. (No drinkable outcomes are known from wood distillate.)

In a telephone interview with The Piney Woods Journal following a January 25 meeting of the company's board of directors, Vanguard BioSynFuels, Inc. CEO Darrell Dubroc said that while no production of fuel has been made, the company is proceeding with the business plan it adopted a year-and-one-half ago: To research available technology leading to the ultimate manufacture of synthetic fuel.

Dubroc said, "We have always been open to other biomass products, but wood chips is what our investors are interested in," as an additional value-added product from the regional wood resource.

Vanguard's directors, all involved in the forest industry, include Dean Tyler, Travis Taylor, Steve Templin, Jimmy Carter, Bill Wieger, and Glenn Davis.

The investor group acquired the shut-down former fertilizer plant operated by the bankrupt Farmland Ammonia Nitrogen company, which manufactured agricultural fertilizer from natural gas. The plant became economically unfeasible when natural gas prices escalated, and imported fertilizer chemicals became available at reduced prices.

Dubroc said the company has not attempted to produce fertilizer products, "for the same reasons that the original company went bankrupt - price, and supply."

Dubroc said the company currently has four people on staff, including himself, and continues to research available technology. He declined to specify whether the company is doing original on-site research, or is reviewing research from outside sources.

In announcing its acquisition in the fall of 2003, Vanguard officers said they expected to produce up to 350,000 gallons of fuel daily, with 75% ethanol, and 25% sulfur-free diesel fuel, using 100 loads of wood fiber per day.

The following is the text of the news announcement from Commissioner Odom's office on the ethanol plant in South Louisiana:
Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Bob Odom announced on January 30 that a lease agreement on 63 acres of land has been signed with Supercritical Recovery Systems/Lacassine LLC, to build an ethanol plant near the town of Lacassine, along Interstate 10 outside of Lake Charles.
Supercritical Recovery System plans to construct a plant to convert cellulose from wood pulp, bagasse, wood chips, and sucrose sugar into ethanol next to a plant under construction to process sugarcane into syrup. (Bagasse is the waste peel and pulp left after crushing sugarcane to extract the juice from which syrup and sugar are made.) The Lacassine plant is a private venture not connected to the state.

"This is a great day for Louisiana agriculture," Odom said. "We are expanding the markets available for Louisiana agricultural commodities, which means increased opportunities for our farmers. This is a chance for them to build new relationships with people outside the traditional agricultural sectors. This is an economic development that will help farmers, it will generate business for local retailers, and will create new jobs."

In Lacassine, in Jefferson Davis Parish, a sugarcane train-loading spur is currently in use at the site, and a syrup mill is under construction. Odom said Jeff Davis Parish economic development officials are working with businesses and state officials to continue the creation of an industrial park at the site.

"We would like to emphasize the important role the Department of Agriculture and Forestry plays as an element in the economic development performance of the state, and the can-do attitude typified by Commissioner Odom and his administrative staff. They are truly big league players at a time when we need heavy hitters to create economic opportunity and investment," said Ernest Broussard, executive director for the Jeff Davis Parish Office of Economic Development.

Odom said Rep. Dan Morrish of Jennings and Senators Willie Mount of Lake Charles and Gerald Theunissen of Jennings, along with U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu helped secure the agreement with Supercritical Recovery Systems LLC for the ethanol facility.

"This is a boon to farmers and the Jeff Davis economy. Ernie Broussard and his staff at the Jeff Davis Economic Development Office have been working with us to bring life to this industrial park, and our efforts are paying off," Odom said. "There is a team of people behind this project and without the help of all of them, we wouldn't be making this announcement.

Construction of the ethanol plant will begin this summer. The syrup plant at the Lacassine site will be completed and running by next fall's sugarcane harvest season.

Ethanol is a clean-burning fuel additive created by converting agricultural crops into grain alcohol. The Environmental Protection Agency is mandating that certain cities begin using ethanol in their gasoline to prevent pollution. States with severe pollution problems and traffic congestion, like California, have banned another fuel additive, MTBE, and are turning to ethanol.

"Ethanol is widely used throughout the world. It is important to the oil and gas industry. The need is there for an ethanol plant in Louisiana," Odom said. "It's critical because one-sixth of all gasoline consumed in the United States is produced along the I-10 corridor between Houston and New Orleans - right where this ethanol plant will be located. It's good for the environment, and new jobs and economic growth will be generated through the operation."

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