Alternative fuels find home in La.

SECTION: MAIN; Pg. 1A

Within the last year, two companies in the West Monroe area have announced plans to build manufacturing facilities that turn agricultural and wood waste into alternative energy products.

Bayou Wood Products of West Monroe recently announced plans to begin producing wood pellets from waste wood for use in fireplaces and wood stoves.

Associated Physics of America, based in Greenwood, Miss., plans to construct a plant in West Monroe to build rotary hydrogen burners and test-bed gasifiers that convert agricultural products into heat for industrial applications.

Local experts believe the availability of raw materials makes northeastern Louisiana a potential hub of regional biomass production for alternative energy.

"The region is really unique in that we've got row crops, especially with corn (for ethanol)," said Gary Sellers, associate professor and head of Louisiana Tech Department of Agricultural Sciences. "And as you move out of the Delta area, you've got timber byproducts and poultry litter.

"I think our area could be a significant player in the whole alternative energy picture. But a lot of that is going to depend on funding for research and a continued strong market."

{}BWP awarded loan

Last week, Bayou Wood Products was awarded a $4.9 million rural development loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to build a facility that would turn wood waste products into an alternative fuel source. The commercial millwork company plans to expand its operation by taking wood scraps and turning them into wood pellets to be used as a heat source.

"It's become a cheaper alternative fuel," said owner Steve Tippen. "Demand right now can't keep up with the market."

The project has been in the works for about 1 1/2 years.

"We have a lot of sawmills and several big manufacturers in the area that do have a lot of wood waste," Tippen said.

The company has 30 employees and plans to hire 15 more for the new venture. Tippen said early projections are that the plant will produce 60,000 tons of wood pellets a year. But if oil and natural gas prices continues to escalate, he expects to double capacity in a few years, and the company's primary business could become wood pellets.

"The way fossil fuel prices are going, we have to do something," Tippen said. "We are already being approached by Europeans who are wanting to buy from us. I expect this will be a long-term venture and that the market will continue to grow."

Other fuel sources

Associated Physics of America is an energy technology company that has a patent pending on a rotary hydrogen burner and a test-bed gasifier that can convert a variety of agricultural products into an efficient, environment-friendly and cost-effective energy source. Products that can be used in the process include corn, cottonseed, soybeans, brown mustard seed oil, pine needles, pine cones, cotton stalks and poultry litter.

The new technology has a wide range of benefits for industries that use large amounts of fuel for industrial heating. Because the cost of natural gas has skyrocketed, APA is developing alternative heating means for industries.

The company has found its process can reduce a paper or pulp mill's fuel costs 60 to 70 percent.

APA has a cooperative endeavor agreement with the City of West Monroe that will guarantee construction of a 20,000-square-foot assembly building on 3 1/2 acres in the city's industrial park along Interstate 20. The second phase of the project will be the construction of a $2 million research and development facility.

"Right now, we're running about a year behind schedule," said APA Vice President Tom Kennen of West Monroe. "We have our first big contract, and we're right in the middle of fulfilling the contract. We hope to be under construction in 2008."

Kennen believes the growth potential of the industry will increase as the country tries to reduce its dependence on oil and natural gas.

"The future of the business is very big," Kennen said. "We have to make the change of moving over from fossil fuels to more renewable sources of energy.

"There's more research going on, and now that the country is actually getting more focus and understanding the needs, there's going to be a lot more effort put into development."

{}Innovation corridor

An evaluation of economic development in northeastern Louisiana unveiled last month cited the need for the area to market itself as an "innovation corridor," primarily because three universities are in close proximity.

West Monroe Mayor Dave Norris said the fact that APA and Bayou Wood Products are located in Ouachita Parish could be a good start toward branding the area as an innovation corridor to promote more development by alternative energy companies.

"If there are innovative things going on, certainly that helps you attract people's attention," Norris said. "It doesn't guarantee you anything, but it does get your foot in the door."

Norris said the area's Renewal Community program is a substantial incentive that local government can offer attract companies. Businesses within the boundaries of the Renewal Communities are eligible for lucrative tax incentives.

For example, businesses get $1,500 credits for each worker who lives within the Renewal Community, in addition to tax incentives for equipment upgrades and for building or rehabilitating commercial properties.

"Another way for local government to help would be on the front end of the process through providing sites for them to develop," Norris said. "It's tough for business to get started, and giving them the place to go and any help we can to get the started are certainly great incentives."

{}Alternative energy's future

In its 2006 World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Association predicts that global demand for primary energy such as crude oil and natural gas will increase 54 percent by 2030 under current policies, and that carbon dioxide emissions will increase 55 percent.

But the success of Ouachita Parish's two newest alternative energy companies and of the region as an innovation corridor for alternative energy likely will depend on factors local businesses and governments cannot control.

Sellers points to history: The energy crisis and oil shortage of the late 1970s spurred efforts to develop other energy sources. But oil prices dropped back to acceptable levels, and interest in alternative energy wained.

The scenario could take repeat itself, Sellers said.

"When oil and natural gas prices go down, the market's going to pick those fuels up, and there's going to be no incentive to use alternative fuels," Sellers said. "The one thing that's different this time around is that we've got more concern about greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions than we did in the late 1970s.

"We may see a little different scenario in that there's a push for more environmentally friendly fuels, but it's still going to be hard to predict."