USA: NBPA partners with ROI to produce non-grain biofuel

The National Biomass Producers Association (NBPA) is partnering with Renewable Oil International, LLC (ROI) to convert non-grain biomass into fuel for transportation and power production. NBPA is a Missouri, USA-based nonprofit organization of farmers and investors interested in producing fuel from cellulosic feedstocks such as switch grass. Together, ROI and NBPA will build portable processors to be hauled on a truck or trailer that can be taken to a farmer's field where it will convert locally produced biomass into biofuel. ROI technology involves fast pyrolysis distillation that accommodates nearly any organic material, including grass, hay, straw, wood, municipal solid waste and manure. The fuel produced can be used in space heaters, furnaces, and boilers. It can operate some combustion turbines and internal combustion engines. Slow- or medium-speed diesel engines can use it with minor modifications. Unlike ethanol production, NBPA says fast pyrolysis does not require water, does not require a boiler, can be cost effective on a relatively small scale and can use a wide variety of feedstocks.