History

1. Sandoval County’s Biomass Utilization Feasibility Study: Strategy for Developing a Next-Century, Low-Carbon Economy around Bio-Based Products

2. History The Sandoval County Biomass Utilization Feasibility Study, funded by a U.S. Forest Service grant in 2017, addresses one of the major economic impediments to northern New Mexico’s forest restoration projects: how to convert low value/no value woody biomass from a waste that carries disposal costs, to a feedstock used to produce a marketable product(s).

3. Project Goals • Economic Development – create 900 new jobs in Sandoval County’s urban and rural areas • Community Resilience – protect the watershed used by half of all New Mexicans for their water supply • Forest Health– accelerate the reduction on hazardous fuels on 437,500 acres of forested lands within a 50-mi radius of the County.

4. Project Objectives and Status • Outreach to industry and the public. (8 mtgs, 83 participants, 15 one-on-one mtgs with mfrs) • Quantify low/no-value biomass feedstocks available to the local wood products industry over the next 20 years. (complete for total stocks)

5. Project Objectives and Status • Identify market value and market demand for products made with low/no value woody biomass. (Analyzed 14 traditional mfg categories and eliminated 100%.) • Explore potential revenue from selling carbon credits. (Composting carbon credit project developed, currently undergoing verification. Est $13K in credits to be sold in private transaction.)

6. Project Objectives • Recommend manufacturing operation(s) for Sandoval County based on feedstock supply, market demand, co‐benefits and economics. (Analyzed 14 categories of traditional manufacturing operations; eliminated 100%) • Develop a shovel‐ready construction project in Sandoval County for a wood product manufacturing operation that creates a market for low/no value woody biomass.

7. Lacking a traditional silver bullet…how can we leverage our biomass resources to create a high value-added, low-carbon economic cluster, and promote forest and watershed health?

8. Just two words: Bio-Based Products Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.
 Benjamin: Yes, sir.
 Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
 Benjamin: Yes, I am.
 Mr. McGuire: Plastics.
 Benjamin: Exactly how do you mean?
 Mr. McGuire: There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it? — The Graduate (1967)

9. What are Bio-Based Products? • Biocomposites (e.g, carbon fiber-reinforced polymer) • Bio-Based Chemicals (26 hold promise - DOE) • Bio-Based Materials (e.g., lignin, carbon fiber)

10. Next Steps: • Immediately begin dialogue with targeted bio-based products manufacturing companies to understand their site selection criteria, and benchmark them against the County’s capacity.

11. Next Steps: • Assess NM’s capacity to meet the site selection criteria of its targeted “keystone” bio-based product manufacturer.

12. Next Steps: • Begin dialogue with NREL, ORNL’s Center for Bioenergy Innovation, DOE’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Analysis Center (CEMAC) to understand the universe of bio-based products in the R&D pipeline. • Explore the possibility with DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office of Sandoval County as a site of a bio-based product “pioneer plant”

13. Next Steps: • Explore incentives available to the bio-based products industry in states with well-developed initiatives (e.g., IA, TN, CA)

14. Next Steps: • Convene a consortium consisting of NM universities, SNL, LANL, state and local government, and business leaders to create the conditions necessary to attract a keystone bio-based product manufacturer to Sandoval County, and develop a comprehensive prospectus.

15. Next Steps: • Work to establish a public-private partnership with a targeted bio-based products manufacturing company.