Emerging forest products in the Northeast - presented to the New England Society of American Foresters Spring 2023 Meeting.

1. Emerging Markets for Forests Products
New England Society of American Foresters
March 2023
Eric Kingsley
Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC
kingsley@inrsllc.com
Phone 207-233-9910

2. Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC
• Founded in 1994
• Offices in New Hampshire and Maine
• Focus at the intersection of forest industry, energy and
economic development
• Services include:
- consulting in renewable energy
- forest industry consulting
- advocacy
- forest certification and sustainability
• Clients from the private, non-profit and government sectors
• Conducted work in all regions of North America
• www.inrsllc.com
2

3. We are at an Inflection Point in Forest Products
Manufacturing in the Northeast
• Pulp and Paper, Lumber will remain core products, but the range of
products we make from wood in New England is about to expand
• A new focus on bio-based products, driven by:
• Addressing climate change (often replacing oil)
• Keeping manufacturing in the U.S.
• A desire for prosperous rural economies
• We will see many products, lots of innovation, some failures, some
successes
• Generally smaller scale users than big users we’re used to

4. Emerging Products
• Cross Laminated Timber (and mass timber generally)
• Some applications in New England
• No manufacturing here yet
• Most likely to use spruce / fir as feedstock (though work being done on
hemlock)
• Biochar
• Insulation
• Biofuels
• Bio-printed products

5. Bowdoin Center for Arctic Studies –
Brunswick, Maine

6. Cross Laminated Timber Building
Portsmouth, NH

7. Cross Laminated Timber Building
Portsmouth, NH

8. Whole Trees LLC
Ashland, Maine
• A support product (literally) for
Mass Timber (such as CLT) and
other applications
• Columns and beams that replace
steel

9. Standard Biocarbon
Enfield, Maine
• A product that is used in
agricultural applications,
environmental remediation, and
carbon sequestration
• Currently under construction at
Pleasant River Lumber sawmill in
Enfield, Maine
• Operations in 3Q 2023
• Several other biochar projects
(Maine, Vermont, maybe NY)

10. Standard Biocarbon
Enfield, Maine

11. Timber HP – Wood-Based Insulation
Madison, Maine

12. Timber HP – Wood-Based Insulation
Madison, Maine

13. Ensyn – Biofuel Facility
East Millinocket, Maine

14. Ensyn – Biofuel Facility
East Millinocket, Maine
• Pyrolysis process to produce a bio-oil
• Product can be used in heating applications, as well as further refined
• Over 20 years of production at a facility in Renfrew, Ontario
• Used for heating at Memorial Hospital, North Conway, NH
• Used for heating at Bates College, Lewiston, Maine
• Use slash (tops and branches) as feedstock
• Feedstock closely restricted by federal Renewable Fuel Standard

15. Biofine – Levulenic Acid
Lincoln, Maine

16. Biofine – Levulenic Acid
Lincoln, Maine
• Thermochemical process to create levulenic acid
• Can be used to produce biofuels, renewable chemicals, and biochar
• Have had pilot facilities in the Northeast since late 90s, most recently
at the University of Maine’s Forest Bioproduct Research Institute (at
Old Town pulp mill)
• Commercial plant to be constructed at site of former Lincoln Pulp &
Tissue
• Plant will produce 3 million gallons of fuel annually, to be used as
home heating oil (partnership with Sprague Energy)
• Feedstock restricted by Renewable Fuel Standard (slash)

17. Renewable Fuel Standard
• Administered by EPA
• Restricts feedstock to:
• Slash (tops and branches)
• Pre-commercial thinnings
• Planted trees from a timber
plantation established before
December 2007
• Only from non-federal lands
• New Sustainable Aviation Fuel
(SAF) requirements are more
flexible
Percent of Private Timberland that Was
Established via Planting

18. Home Heating Fuels
(Or, why biofuel firms in the Northeast are focused on a heating oil replacement)
Source: Washington Post

21. Maine Provided $14 Million to Forest
Industries, Including these New Uses
• GO Lab, Inc., Project Title: Capital Support for
First U.S. Wood Fiber Insulation Plant
• ReEnergy Biomass Maine LLC, Project Title:
Biochar Production
• T&D Wood Energy LLC, Project Title: Acquiring
two shuttered facilities and expanding
existing facility to meet rapidly increasing
demand for wood pellets
• Godfrey Forest Arizona LLC, Project Title:
Godfrey Forest Maine OSB Mill
• Whole Trees, LLC, Project Title: Partnering to
Repurpose and Reopen: Bringing innovative
inventory systems, sales strategy, and
production processes to existing Maine
facility to meet proven East Coast demand for
‘the Original Mass Timber”
• Biofine Developments Northeast, Inc.,
Project Title: BDNE - Industrial Biorefinery
Development
• Maine Plywood USA LLC, Project Title: Maine
Plywood Manufacturing Plant in Bingham
• Tanbark Molded Fiber Products, Inc., Project
Title: Tanbark Medical Materials Market
• Clean Maine Carbon, LLC, Project Title: Clean
Maine Carbon Biochar Plant
• Standard Biocarbon Corporation, Project Title:
Optimizing the Integration of a State-Of-The-
Art Biochar Facility at a Lumber Mill to Create
New Markets for Maine Residuals
• Announcement: December 2022

22. Forest Products Markets Development work by the
North East State Foresters Association, 2017-2021
Core Opportunities in
New Hampshire / Vermont / New York
1. Pyrolysis Oil
2. Cellulosic Insulation
3. Green Diesel
4. Mass Timber
5. Biochar
6. Bioplastics

23. The Wood

24. The Markets

25. I would like to add you to my email lists
Send an email to kingsley@inrsllc.com to be placed on our monthly email list, which provides information
on markets and developments of interest to the region’s forestry community. I will also add you to my FRA
email list, and you will receive invitations to monthly dinner forums and other regional information.