A story in the local paper more than three years ago that weighed the potential of an ethanol production facility in Crawford County featured a few quotes from a relatively new employee at Ernst Conservation Seeds. Dan Arnett, biomass coordinator for the third-generation, family-owned Meadville company, talked about switchgrass as feedstock for alternative fuel.
While the buzz over ethanol has subsided thanks to lower gas and oil prices and questions about its return on investment, switchgrass is still a viable option, and Ernst is now on the doorstep of becoming a major player in its development.
“We have been talking about doing this for three years and now those ideas are finally becoming real,” says Arnett, who still holds the same position for Ernst Biomass, the parent company’s offshoot formed in 2008 to manufacture solid biomass fuel.
Last month, reality struck when construction began on a densification mill that will convert switchrass to solid fuel pellets and briquettes in volumes not previously available, providing an efficient, affordable and local fuel option to heat homes and businesses. The Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority chipped in nearly $900,000 to build the 12,000 square foot facility, which will process 30,000 tons of biomass a year at full capacity. The biomass will be generated from 3,500 acres, most in Crawford County. Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern PA (BFTP-CNP) contributed $125,000 early this year to help the company with planning, development, and operation of the facility. Ernst is also one of 15 members of BFTP-CNP’s Virtual Energy Incubator, designed to assist companies exploit new energy-related technologies.
THE JOB THAT FOUND HIM: Arnett, 32, is a local boy through and through, having grown up in Conneaut Lake, just west of I-79 outside of Meadville, and went to college down the road at Westminster in New Wilmington. In 2006, he was in the middle of a job search in the pharmaceutical industry after his former employer divested its branded division and let its entire sales force go.
Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. Then when it rained, it poured. A contact from the pharma industry called Arnett the same day as someone from Ernst did. Arnett didn’t sleep much for two nights, but finally decided it was time to try something new.
“There was a reason this opportunity found me and I haven’t looked back since,” he says. “From the family members right down to the field hands, I have never been a part of an organization like this one. These are great, hard-working people that are passionate about their work.”
NOT YOUR ORDINARY FAMILY BIZ: When Arnett was interviewing for the job with Calvin Ernst, the company founder asked him if he knew how to herd cats. A slightly confused and eager-to-impress Arnett replied, “No, but I’ll give it a hell of a try.”
“Every day, I understand more and more what he meant by that question,” says Arnett. “One day I might be waist-deep in a pile of ground switchgrass, as dusty as you could be, and the next night I might be presenting to a room of 100 people about the benefits of native grasses.”
The summer after Arnett started, the company was short on equipment operators, so he was asked to pitch in. Arnett stepped up, but quickly realized they were also short on tractors whose cabs had windows or working air conditioners. “The guys had a good time sticking the new guy in that tractor for weeks,” says Arnett, who lives in Atlantic with his fiancee Darlene and their three children (ages 2, 5 and 7).
THE SWITCHGRASS AMBASSADOR: While there is no “typical day” in Ernst’s workweek, part of Arnett’s job has him out speaking at colleges and community groups focused on agriculture, alternative energy research and sustainability. He’ll be among the speakers at Penn State University’s Biomass Energy Short Course Series on Nov. 17-18.
Being a cheerleader for PA’s biofuels market also means helping open young people’s minds to career paths like the one that found him.
“I try to include a message of thinking outside the box about what they want to do with their lives,” he says. “There are going to be career paths available to them that were not available even five years ago. If they choose wisely and work hard, they will be better prepared to meet the future.”
THE SWITCHGRASS DIFFERENCE: Not surprisingly, Arnett is most talkative when the concept of using native warm season grasses as feedstock for alternative energy arises. He cites benefits for rural economies, water quality, soil health, wildlife habitat, carbon sequestration and carbon neutrality. What’s more, he says, the grasses grow well on marginal ground not conducive to other crops (like fields of former dairy operations in Western PA or along waterways in Eastern PA to minimize nutrient run-off into the Delaware or Chesapeake watersheds).
In most parts of the state, Arnett says, less than two acres of land can produce enough native grass biomass annually to heat the average home for a year. It all makes a lot of sense conceptually, but Ernst is the first to put it into practice on this scale. There are a couple other much smaller operations that are “tinkering.”
“In constructing our first plant, we want to see if and how different markets will develop to adopt the solid fuel we are going to produce,” Arnett says. “We also want to provide leadership to others interested in getting their own facility going.
“All too often, biomass and thermal applications are all but forgotten by policy makers and local leaders. Much attention and support is given to alternative fuels that can be used for transportation or electricity. Biomass and thermal applications need at least to be part of the mix. When you look at the numbers that Pennsylvanians spend on fuel oil just for residential heating each year, it represents more than $1 billion that leaves the state annually.”
Joe Petrucci is managing editor of Keystone Edge. Send feedback here.
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