Red Shield’s manager discuss the Old Town pulp mill’s collaboration with FBRI. Download the full version for later viewing. (Windows Media Video, 54 MB) |
Old Town: Red Shield Makes Biorefinery Plans
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‘We’ve done the preliminary engineering, process design, equipment layouts and staffing needs to implement a biorefinery here at Old Town,’" Jennifer Johnston, Red Shield project engineer, said Monday. The partnership between Red Shield and the University of Maine would produce ethanol, a gasoline additive, and other chemicals as part of the pulp production process.
"We will be diversifying from being just a pulp facility to a biorefinery and special-chemicals producer,’ Johnston said….'The biorefinery at Red Shield Environmental LLC, formerly the Georgia-Pacific Corp. mill, could be up and running in 2009 if everything goes as planned.'” Bangor Daily News, 8/21/07
Governor Baldacci Announces More Jobs at Old Town Mill Site“… this is still just the beginning,” Governor Baldacci said. “Today’s announcement marks the start of a long-term relationship with the University of Maine. We are not only restarting the pulp mill, but today we are announcing a partnership where this facility will be using new patented technology from the University of Maine’s Chemical Engineering Department.”
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| Graduate student Sara Walton displays post extracted hemicellulose. |
"I make fuel ethanol from wood! We are looking at ways to improve the process for getting sugar from wood and turning it into ethanol. Wood is basically made from sugars which are linked together, and these bonds can be broken to release some of the sugar. Yeast or bacteria can be improved to eat all of the sugars found in wood to make ethanol for fueling our cars. We are looking at ways to improve the process for getting sugar from wood and turning it into ethanol.” Sarah Walton and Dr. Adriaan van Heiningen work with with chips of hardwood that will be pressure-cooked to yield an extract of complex sugars (hemicellulose) for fermentation into ethanol. The "van Heiningen Process" will soon be replicated at Red Shield's Old Town Mill.
