US pilot torrefaction plant receives USDA grant

The Allendale, South Carolina joint venture project between Vega Biofuels and Agri-Tech Producers – ATP-SC – has been awarded a $200,000 (€157,000) Value-Added Producer Grant from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Vega entered into the JV to build and operate a 'biocoal' production plant in the US state of South Carolina. Feedstock for the plant will be timber waste and energy crops.

The plant will use torrefaction technology to produce the biocoal, which will then be sold to power companies around the world. Biocoal has a high energy density of up to 13,000 Btu/lb.

'The $200,000 grant will help the joint venture entity process the biomass of various trees and bio-crops that we will plant on sites convenient to our Allendale facility, including on some of the nearly 170 contaminated sites identified by EPA,' says ATP's president and Vega advisory board member Joseph James.