Finland-headed forest and energy industry technology major Valmet Oyj has revealed that it will supply a pressure plug screw feeder system to IR1 Group LLC for the Red Rock Biofuel LLC (RRB) biorefinery currently under construction in Lakeview, Oregon, United States.
The IR1 Group LLC has built and operated over 325 million gallons (1.255 billion litres) of biofuels production capacity and is currently constructing the Red Rock Biofuels LLC biorefinery in Lakeview, Oregon.
IR1 Group is planning to build a global portfolio of biorefineries to convert waste woody biomass into renewable jet and diesel fuels. IR1 brings a core set of project development disciplines to move projects through feasibility, development, finance, design and engineering, procurement, construction, and operations.
The Red Rock Biofuels commercial-scale biorefinery will convert waste woody biomass into renewable biojet, diesel, and gasoline blendstock fuels. The start-up of the biorefinery is planned in 2020. RRB has already off-take agreements in place with Southwest Airlines and FedEx Express for the entire 15 million (US) gallons (≈ 56.7 million litres) per annum biojet fuel capacity.
According to the project’s developers, the facility is an economic and environmental game-changer.
This biorefinery marks a turning point, it will help this mill town continue to be a place where things are made, and it will combat global climate change. This is the first of its kind in the world. May this be the precedent for a great highway fueled by courage and innovation, said Jeff Manternach, Red Rock’s Co-founder and Chief Financial Officer.
Valmet will supply a pressure boundary plug screw feeder system sealing the pyrolysis reactor pressure against the atmosphere. The system is designed to feed against high pressure (300 psig or 20 bar) and to feed a wide range of feedstocks, and bulk density.
Through a proprietary integration of existing technologies, RRB makes the long-commercialized Fischer-Tropsch process economic at the biomass scale. By using forest and sawmill residues, RRB will also reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires by removing waste biomass from overstocked forests. The Valmet pressure plug screw feeder is a critical component to the operation, said Garth Russell, Business Manager, Mechanical Pulping at Valmet.
