Ward, Shaler, Rubin quoted in BDN report on wood-based fuel possibilities
The University of Maine’s Jake Ward, vice president for innovation and economic development; Stephen Shaler, director of the School of Forest Resources; and Jonathan Rubin, a professor of resource economics and policy, were quoted in the Bangor Daily News article, “Is there fuel in those trees? Maine’s forests, distant hopes of alternative fuel revolution.” Seven years ago, Old Town mill owners Patriarch Partners planned — with the help of UMaine researchers — to produce cellulosic, or wood-based, ethanol, according to the article. When the mill reopened under Wisconsin-based papermaker Expera Specialty Solutions, cellulosic ethanol wasn’t part of the business plan, the article states. However, UMaine has continued work at its pilot plant on the mill’s campus. “UMaine’s biorefinery research program is ongoing,” Ward said. “Our R&D activity was not interrupted” by the exit of Old Town Fuel and Fiber. He said the university is open to working with a new mill owner to restart a biorefinery, but whether the university’s work continues at the mill depends on that owner’s intentions for the site. Shaler said university faculty members have made “a tremendous amount of progress” with research into producing ethanol from wood. If cellulosic ethanol is to become integrated into Maine’s forest economy, it needs to coexist, not compete, with existing pulp or paper production, he said. Rubin, who has studied alternative fuels, noted cellulosic ethanol production is still a capital-intensive and costly process, meaning large-scale production isn’t cost-effective at this point, the article states. “With petroleum prices falling, it’s a tough market [for ethanol],” Rubin said. “It would help if petroleum prices went up.”