Bio-fuel production: Company submits bid to buy UPM
A Fredericton-based company has submitted a bid to purchase UPM's New Brunswick operations for a $1 billion project to produce bio-fuel.
In an exclusive interview with the Miramichi Leader a highly placed source with Arcadia EcoEnergies said the project could potentially employ 1,500 people producing bio-diesel and Jet B fuel as well as byproducts created by the refining process.
"We're taking over the Miramichi-Nelson plant and we would transform it in a recycling process because we, in our new process, use recycling. All the recycling…will be treated at the Nelson plant and then brought to the [Newcastle] mill and this is put into a chip form and this goes into reactors," the source said.
He went on to say the company will take wood and other materials and transform it into fuel. While the primary focus is using wood, it isn't the only material that can be used.
"For instance if you have an old mattress and there is cotton in there, that's good stuff for us. Everything is good for us and every tree is good for us," he said. "Any piece of junk you have in the woods is good for us."
While the company can make use of any species of tree, the source said they will also plant and cultivate a type of tree that grows in eight years. The company will also operate a research facility in Miramichi.
The source said an offer to buy all of UPM-Kymmene's New Brunswick assets was submitted at the end of April. The source also said the company has spoken with provincial government officials and has the backing of the province. He also said Mayor Gerry Cormier has been briefed on the project.
The mayor declined to comment on any potential buyer.
"There's negations going on… but we're not at liberty to say anything right now," he said following Thursday's council meeting.
When asked specifically about a bio-fuel company coming into the city, Cormier smiled and chuckled but said he couldn't say anything right now.
"The mayor has to keep some things under wraps right now until council is briefed. Really sometimes things happen, we know things but I want to brief council and everything first," he said.
The source said Arcadia EcoEnergies has been working on the deal since January. The company had originally been looking to operate further north using mills in Bathurst, Dalhousie and New Richmond, but would prefer to operate out of Miramichi.
"We've dropped that issue and we've gone all to Miramichi and this is going to be a New Brunswick owned company … and the profits of that company are going to stay in New Brunswick. That is very important," the source said.
He said placing the project in Miramichi will allow the company to be self-sufficient and not be affected by the world market for chips. He said the new endeavor would also help reach the provincial government's goal of energy self-sufficiency.
While the preference is to operate out in Miramichi, he did say if a deal fell through the company could return to its original plan to operate in the northern part of the province.
According to the source the potential revenues from this operation are very high and published reports have indicated Shell Fuels has said it is interested in purchasing as much bio-fuel as it possibly can.
The source went on to say they are hoping the community will get behind the project and support it as it moves forward.
Arcadia EcoEnergies plans to submit their business plan by the end of the month according to the source.
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It is exactly the same technology. The facility in Miramichi will be the largest in the world, with 850000 tons diesel per year or 3180000 litres diesel per day from wood and MSW. It is a totally clean process. This quality of diesel burns without smoke and no GHG, thus contributing to the safety of the planet. These are biofuels of second generation. No use any chemical fertilizer, but a thorough management of the forest that used to feedthe paper mills in Miramichi and Bathurst.
This wil bring stable good jobs, liquid fuels independency for the Province, and a production of about 500MW electricity as by-product. Arcadia will devellop other products such as medicinal drugs, polymers, plastics, resins, solvents and paints, all from biomasses and municipal wastes. Too nice to be true? Noop! This is already a technology that is on the mouve. The R&D guy.
A word of advice to "The R&D Guy", I would say your walking on thin ice. You just revealed your corporate strategy online and thats grounds for dismissal.