Building on its Biomass Base

Biomass Magazine January 2010
By Lisa Gibson

The biomass industry is flourishing in and around Sacramento, Calif., where new biomass-based technologies are nurtured and innovative proven processes are embraced.

It might be hard to fathom four separate companies developing and testing their biomass systems in the same laboratory without a certain level of competition, but that’s part of daily operations at Technikon LLC’s 60,000-square-foot Renewable Energy Testing Center in Sacramento, Calif.

The center, operated in conjunction with Renewable Energy Institute International, provides a site for evaluating the performance of renewable energy and fuels technologies with respect to robustness, safety, energy efficiency, environmental effectiveness and other key performance specifications. “If you don’t have the answers to those questions, you’re not going to get anybody to give you money,” says Jodie Crandell, senior project manager for Technikon. The four companies—Davis, Calif.-based Sierra Energy; PEAT International, which operates in locations such as Florida, India and Taiwan; Ternion Bio Industries, headquartered in San Jose, Calif.; and a fourth company that declined to disclose any information for this article—are working together on complementary and sometimes competitive technologies, even sharing expertise.

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