Willmar, Minn. — West Central Renewable Ammonia Development LLC, which is studying the feasibility of a biomass-to-ammonia plant near here, got one of the bigger shares of the $2.4 million in grants awarded by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to encourage development of biofuels for renewable energy. The Willmar project got $450,000, which will help the undertaking supported by the Willmar Economic Development Council to move into the second stage of the feasibility study. “This comes on the heels of a previous effort that indicates there is in the region a substantial biomass supply and probable technical success converting the biomass to ammonia,” explained Cecil Massie, managing member of the LLC. “The study already has found that there is an ample market for the product that we would produce in the immediate vicinity, and based on that finding a number of private and public parties pooled their efforts to move this forward.” Massie described the grant as a critical portion of the funding, allowing engineering and financial work to bring the project into a form that would be potentially financeable. “Key milestones in this area relate to securing a biomass supply, refining the engineering, capital, and operations costs for the project, and then finally preparing the financial statement projecting income and profitability that would cause private parties to invest in building this plant. If we are successful, we’ll have a business plan and financial package that would be the basis for someone to build this plant.” The plant would reportedly take 95,000 st/y of biomass and convert it to 45,000 st/y of anhydrous ammonia.
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