Springdale Lumber & BioEnergy LLC, which is launching one of four bioenergy demonstration projects selected by the state in January, has begun sawing custom timbers at a mill it has refurbished at Springdale, Wash., providing 32 jobs and setting the stage for cogeneration of electricity and other operations that are expected to employ another 30 workers.

Meanwhile, Borgford Design & Manufacturing, an affiliated Colville, Wash., company that is working on cogeneration equipment for Springdale Lumber, plans to move its operations to a plant that it will build at the old Kulzer Mill site seven miles from Springdale, near Valley, Wash., Kulzer BioEnergy LLC, another affiliated company, plans to put in a bioenergy project there, and the entire Kulzer Mill site operation is expected to employ yet another 40 people. The bioenergy project and the cogeneration operation at Springdale will produce a combined 7.3 to 7.8 megawatts of electricity, or enough to serve 5,200 to 5,600 homes.

"It's a lot of power, but when you have the fuel, burning it sure beats burning it out in the woods," where wildfires consume the kind of fuels the energy projects will burn, says Dale Borgford, the driving force behind Springdale Lumber, Borgford Design, and Kulzer BioEnergy.

Generating electricity with biomass, however, is only part of this story. Rachael Jamison, an energy and climate policy specialist with the Washington state Department of Natural Resources, says that in addition to kilowatts, Borgford's bioenergy technology, called the Octaflame gasifier, will produce what's called bio-char in supplies adequate for field testing.

Bio-char, which is charcoal formed by slow heating of biomass, is believed to have the potential to lock up carbon for hundreds of years and serve as an agricultural soil additive that improves water quality and boosts ag productivity. Jamison says it's being studied by scientists at Washington State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, but until now, "We haven't had a supply large enough to do field studies."

In addition to bio-char, which will be Kulzer BioEnergy's main product, the company will produce bio-oil, which can be used to make biofuels; syngas, which can fire generating equipment; and bio-char, Jamison says. Because the Octaflame is part of a closed system, the carbon that usually goes up in smoke when wood is burned is locked into the bio-char rather than being released.

Further, Springdale Lumber's employment of 32 people and likely employment of 30 more workers in a town of about 200 in economically distressed Stevens County is great news, Jamison says.

"It's one of the most hopeful stories in the state, of rural entrepreneurialism and rural economic development on the ground," she says. "I hope people hear about the Borgford story. He cares about his community. He's one guy who practically singlehandedly brought a town back to life. They're just a really good-hearted American family."

"We need jobs in the county," says Merrill Ott, a Stevens County commissioner. "In the local community area, the feedback is all positive." Springdale Lumber is in the city limits of Springdale, and the jobs there have helped save Springdale and Stevens County "from going through some disincorporation thoughts," Ott says.

Borgford Design & Manufacturing makes, under the BoDozer label, specialty agricultural and industrial equipment, including loader-mounted hydraulic blades and grapple systems for materials, dirt, and snow handling. It will move its manufacturing operation to the Kulzer Mill site when the plant planned there is finished, Dale Borgford says.

The ambitious plans at Springdale and Kulzer aren't enough for Borgford, who's plate is full of projects at a time in life when most people are content to take it easy. "I've been in business since I was 15," he says. "I'm, oh my gosh, 69 now."

In addition to the Springdale and Kulzer projects, Borgford has identified eight other sites, mostly in the Pacific Northwest, but also one in Brazil, where he hopes to deploy his bioenergy technology.

Borgford would like to get going on the installation of the cogeneration equipment at Springdale Lumber, but says that even though State Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark has done everything he can to move the project along, other agencies aren't moving as quickly.

Jamison says permitting has gone slowly partly because "there is a push for clean technologies. There's a bit of catchup that all of the agencies are having to do with permitting." Also, she says, delays have come "partly because it's a brand new technology."

Ott says he believes Borgford's technology, while new, "is going to be a real winner. Nobody wants to be No. 1 in buying new technology. Everybody wants to be No. 2."

While DNR doesn't have money to put into the demonstration projects, part of its role is to help find grants, and Borgford has received a $4 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service and a $771,000 combination grant and loan from the Washington state Department of Commerce, Peter Moulton, the department's bioenergy coordinator, says. Says Jamison, "We're looking for another several million dollars."

Borgford declines to say how large of an investment he's made in Springdale Lumber and plans to make in the other facilities, but quips, "We've emptied our sock as a family."

He has, however, already brought to life one plant in the long-idled Springdale Lumber mill.

"My wife and I bought Springdale Lumber and put it back into operation," Borgford says. "It had been shut down for 4 years."

Four weeks ago, Springdale Lumber produced its first custom timbers, and Borgford says there's strong demand for the products, which are used in post-and-beam construction, new houses, shopping centers, pole buildings, and barns.

Says Ott, "It fills a niche market. It's a specialty product. It doesn't add surplus lumber to the market. I think it's a real additive to the economy."

The mill and planned cogeneration operation "fit so well together, it's best to do it all together. They enhance one another," Borgford says. Still, he says, he needs to make a buck in the mill operation rather than merely run it to provide fuel for cogeneration.

The resumption of production at Springdale Lumber will generate work for Stevens County loggers and truckers, Borgford says. Further, he says Springdale Lumber can saw large logs, a capability many mills no longer have because they've modified their equipment to in saw smaller logs, which are in greater supply in the marketplace today.

"No one can handle large logs," Borgford says. "There's a need for that in Eastern Washington." He says Springdale Lumber also will produce specialty flooring and paneling boards, and the mill, which has a retail lumber operation, will build a larger retail building, Borgford says. Asked whether he'll seek bids from contractors to erect the structure, the pithy Borgford says, "I am a contractor. I'll sit down and have a discussion with myself and give myself a bid."

Springdale Lumber also is preparing to install a whole-log chipping system to turn logs into fuel for cogeneration at the mill, Borgford says. He says the system will make chips out of logs that are "too small, too crooked, or too scarred" to be sawn in the mill to make wood products.

"It's using the forest properly," he says. "It's the trash that's out in the forest."

Meanwhile, long-term biomass supply long has been an issue for investors interested in developing facilities that burn wood. "That's one of the biggest questions out there," says Jamison. Several studies have been done on the subject, and DNR is about to launch another one (See story, page A19).

Borgford, asked if he believes the biomass supply is adequate to support bioenergy operations, says, "Oh, of course. We've got timber. It just hasn't been utilized properly."