Indiana Grain Company, LLC

Posted: 07/08/10

By: tomgrisafi

A Gretna company intends to test its corn-pellet fuel at Omaha Public Power District's north Omaha plant.

Next Step Biofuels, Inc., says 2,200 tons of its PowerPellets will replace up to 5% of the coal burned in 1 of the plant's boilers for a month.

The fuel is made from corn stover, that is, stalks, cobs and leaves gleaned from cornfields after harvest.

The test is scheduled to begin Aug. 15.

Company literature says PowerPellets can help generate cost-effective electricity using renewable crop waste.

Biomass such as corn stover and wood residue is abundant, environmentally sound, and free from political controversy, the company says.

The USDA estimates that the U.S. can produce at least 1.3 billion dry tons of cellulosic biomass a year without affecting our food supply or soil quality. That's enough biomass to meet more than half of America's transportation fuel needs, or generate about half of our electricity.

Next Step's unique, proprietary PowerPellets are dense, dry, and free of binders. They can be directly substituted for coal in generating electricity, or they can be specifically formulated as feedstock for cellulosic biofuels or bio-chemicals (green, petro-chemical substitutes).

According to the company, PowerPellets don't require any new transportation or storage infrastructure because they ship and store exactly like grain.