Restoration Fuels, LLC Receives FSC® Chain of Custody Certification
Restoration Fuels, LLC, has earned Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) Chain of Custody Certification by SCS Global Services for the first commercial-scale torrefaction facility in North America, located in John Day, Oregon. Restoration Fuel’s FSC trademark license code is FSC-C162426. Restoration Fuels is a subsidiary of the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (Endowment). It is the largest investment in the history of the Endowment.
Torrefaction is the roasting of wood in a low-oxygen environment – like roasting coffee beans. The technology produces a renewable biomass fuel that is a direct replacement for coal at existing power plants.
“The work that our team has put into developing a sustainable procurement system is at the core of our mission and what we are trying to accomplish. This FSC certification will demonstrate that commitment to our customers and stakeholders,” said Matt Krumenauer, CEO, Restoration Fuels, and Vice President, Special Projects at the Endowment. “This community, the Blue Mountain Forest Partners, and the USDA Forest Service have been successful at working together to implement well-designed ecological restoration treatments, and we are excited to be another tool they can rely on.”
Using low-value wood helps mitigate wildfire and climate change
Restoration Fuels uses tree thinnings and otherwise low-value wood materials primarily from national forests and private lands and existing wood manufacturing processes to produce environmentally friendly fuel for energy. By creating demand for these woody materials, Restoration Fuels helps to mitigate the risk of catastrophic wildfire, disease, pest infestation, and the effects of climate change. Developing this new market will help increase the pace and scale of these mitigation measures while strengthening the sustainability of the local harvesting and contracting infrastructure.
A first-of-its-kind facility
This first-of-its-kind facility is co-located with Malheur Lumber Company in John Day, Oregon. The Malheur National Forest surrounds Restoration Fuels’ facility, which has successfully implemented collaborative restoration projects for close to a decade.
Construction of the facility was completed in late 2020, with production coming online after commissioning is completed in January 2021. The plant is being designed for a production capacity of 100,000 tons of torrefied fuel annually. The first few years will be a ramp-up period. Full production capacity is anticipated in 2022.
Jump-starting the torrefied biomass industry
The Endowment and the USDA Forest Service have made significant investments in jump-starting the torrefied biomass industry. They formed the Consortium for Advanced Wood-to-Energy Solutions (CAWES) to address knowledge gaps and advance commercialization. This work is vital to the industry’s success. CAWES has engaged with most of the industry participants in an early stage, non-competitive manner to share learnings and avoid duplicating mistakes. Specific areas of investigation included optimizing densification, de-ashing techniques to extend raw material sources to lower-cost biomass, utility-scale testing, safety evaluation, life cycle, and techno-economic analysis.
About Restoration Fuels, LLC
Restoration Fuels is an Oregon benefit corporation formed in January 2018 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities Inc., a 501(c)3 public charity formed to help keep forests as forests and benefit forest-rich rural communities. Restoration Fuels’ mission is to advance forest health and rural forest-rich community vitality by creating a viable market for low-value biomass from forest health restoration treatments and, in doing so, create jobs and economic value in the surrounding communities that depend on these forest resources. Learn more at restorationfuels.com.
About the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC)
FSC is the most rigorous international standard for responsible forestry. FSC-certified forests conserve biological diversity, water resources, and crucial ecosystems. The FSC standard also upholds worker rights and supports economic prosperity in surrounding communities. The FSC Chain of Custody certification ensures that certified wood products are tracked from forest to final product (and, if applicable, that qualified recycled materials are used), adding legitimacy to the FSC claim throughout the supply chain. Learn more at https://us.fsc.org/en-us.
About SCS Global Services
SCS Global Services is a leader in environmental and sustainability certification. A founding member and one of the first certification bodies accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council in 1996, SCS is one of the world’s leading FSC certifiers with more than 35 million acres of responsibly managed forests and 4000 companies in the FSC supply chain worldwide. SCS programs span a cross-section of industries, recognizing achievements in green building, manufacturing, food and agriculture, forestry, and more. SCS is a Certified B Corporation™, reflecting its commitment to socially and environmentally responsible business practices. Learn more at scsglobalservices.com.
About the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities is a not-for-profit public charity working collaboratively with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic, transformative, and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the nation’s working forests and forest-reliant communities. To learn more about the Endowment, please visit our website at usendowment.org.
For more information, contact
Matt Krumenauer, CEO Restoration Fuels, LLC
(503) 757-9322
[email protected]