Prior Lake, Minnesota - Construction on the Koda Energy project is on schedule for the facility to be operational by the end of 2008. Koda Energy, a partnership of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and Rahr Malting, is a combined heat and power plant, which will generate electricity and heat utilizing agricultural byproducts and grown energy crops. The project gets its name from the word “Koda” which means "friend" in the Dakota Language.

Today Koda Energy released more details on the process it will use to convert biomass to heat and energy.

Biomass fuel delivered to the facility must meet certain specifications for size and moisture content and contain no foreign materials or hazardous wastes. Koda will sample all fuel deliveries to insure acceptable fuel content. A whole truck lift empties the fuel from delivery trucks into a receiving pit. From the pit, the fuel is sorted into individual storage silos by fuel type. Rahr Malting will blow its waste material to the fuel storage site using a pneumatic system.

A drag conveyor moves fuel from the individual silos to hammer mills that reduce the particle size to a fine dust. The specific fuel mix will be a blend of materials from the individual silos to maintain a consistent heat output and limit emissions. After passing thru a sizing screen the fuel is blown into the boiler. Oversize material from the sizing screen return to the milling operation. The boiler is designed to provide rapid ignition of the fuel, adequate retention time to get full combustion and sufficient air volume to optimize heat production while limiting emissions. Heat from the boiler generates steam that powers several steam turbines. The process is designed to capture heat that otherwise would be wasted. A glycol loop will carry the captured heat to Rahr Malting to meet their process needs. Electrical power generated by the facility will be used by Rahr Malting and the Community and sold onto the grid.

The process will produce about one ton of wood ash per hour. Wood ash is useful as a soil amendment for cropland, for composting, or for remediation of contaminated soil. Air emissions will be low and will be closely monitored at all times. Construction on Koda Energy began shortly after the September 13, 2007, groundbreaking.

“Right now we’re finishing up the structural steel for the buildings. All six fuel silos are done, and we’re starting to construct the building for the truck dump area,” said Koda Energy General Manager Joe Johansen. “The hammer mills are done, the boiler itself is 70%f done; the turbine and generator have been set, and the control centers are under construction right now.”

“The big pieces of construction that we have left to do are to finish the boiler off with refractory and high pressure piping, all electrical/mechanical control rooms, and the installation of the system computers that run the facility. Once all the big equipment is in, then we’ll finish enclosing the plant.”

In late October 2008, Koda will be turned on using natural gas to “cure” the refractory. Then trial runs will begin using different combinations of biomass to get the right heat load and the correct emissions. “We can’t burn all of one type of biomass at the same time because of the heat load and emissions standards,” explained Johansen.

Agreements are already in place between General Mills and Koda Energy. General Mills will provide oat hulls from the processing of cereals like Cheerios from their Coon Rapids facility. Other contracts for energy transmission and additional raw materials like wood chips, biosolids, and switchgrass are also in negotiations.

Koda Energy will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A staff of about 12 more employees will be hired before the facility opens including an engineer, boiler operators, and commodity handlers. The Chief A boiler operator has been hired but we’re still looking for an engineer, Johansen explained.

Koda Energy is environmentally friendly and considerably cleaner than a coal plant. This biomass energy generation project will some day be able to provide energy for much of the SMSC needs. The project will provide 100% of the energy and heat needed by Rahr in its work as one of the world's largest producer of malt and brewing supplies. The facility is located on the Rahr Malting campus on Highway 101, approximately seven miles from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and Rahr Malting formed Koda Energy, a Limited Liability Company, in 2006 to build and operate the facility. Koda Energy is one of several SMSC energy initiatives underway. For more information about SMSC environmental initiatives, go to www.shakopeedakota.org.

^ top ^