 By Gary DeVon Northern Okanogan Valley Editor Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Carbon Cycle Crush, the canola crushing oil plant that will soon be operating in Oroville (see front page story) is the training that will be taking place. Once the oil extracting plant is underway the company plans to use the Oroville operation as a template for at least six others to be opened around the state. The big football field size warehouse that once was part of the Oro Fruit operation, will become a place where similar plants will be set up and training will take place for new operators. After the set-up and training is complete the whole outfit can be picked up and shipped to its new location, making way for the next plant to be put together and the next crew to be trained. While this Canola Technical School might sound like it will be a short-lived program, there are more communities out there that are looking to start their own operations. According to CCC President Tim King, the company has had inquiries from other states and especially from the Canadian province of Alberta where much of the canola that will be crushed in Oroville will be grown. Since canola is Canada's biggest crop and they only crush about half of what they grow much of the excess seed used to be exported to China and other Asian Markets. However, like apples before it, China and other Asian countries are growing their own seeds. What to do with the excess -- one small part of the solution is to crush the seed in Oroville, but even when the Oroville plant is operating at full capacity, crushing about 200 tons of seeds a day, that will be just a drop in the bucket according to King, who says it makes sense for small facilities to operating close to where the seed is being grown. That's another good reason for local farmers to consider planting canola as a cash crop in Okanogan County. King says he'd like to see 50 percent of the seeds come from the local grower. So not only will Oroville have a plant employing people at good living wage jobs to crush the seeds into oil, it will also have a training facility for people looking to set up sustainable jobs in their community -- which in turn employs more local people at home. If area farmers start growing the seeds themselves then there's another potential boost to the local economy. After that there are value-added processes that people can do that benefit from a local canola-oil plant, like making Green Diesel (can't call it Bio-Diesel because the soybean industry has patented that name). There has even been talk of making a co-generating plant to make electricity. It all sounds very exciting, last Saturday we saw that the presses at Oroville can mill the seed into oil for a variety of uses and meal for animal feed. Now with only a few more pieces to the puzzle left to fall into place, like the arrival of the boiler for one, the next thing we should see are trucks from the Canadian prairies bringing seeds to crush at the plant every day, putting people to work. Add Comment  By Gary DeVon Northern Okanogan Valley Editor Photographs By: Gary Devon  A hopper that will feed canola seeds to the crushers OROVILLE - Representatives from Carbon Cycle Crush, a business that plans to create canola oil from seeds trucked in from Canadian growers, met with city, county officials and others to give an update on their plans as well as a tour of their facility. "I am glad to be here on such a beautiful day, we've made a lot of progress since January when I was last here," said Byran McCann, CEO for Carbon Cycle Investments, the parent company of Carbon Cycle Crush (CCC). "We are not quite where we wanted to be yet, but we're getting there." Tim King, CCC's President said the company has repaired the roof of the old Oro Warehouse where the seed mills, hoppers and other machinery is being housed. Its owners, Gold Digger Apples, Inc, is leasing the building to the company. "We're still shooting for 100 tons a day of seeds from Canada which is what can be carried in two Super B's with 50 tons each," said King. "We plan on crushing that much seed every day with meal and oil going out by train or truck." King said that although there is the opportunity for someone to buy the canola oil and use it to make biodiesel in Oroville, he doesn't see CCC making biodiesel in Oroville, but rather selling it to existing plants. "There are lots of plants doing biodiesel, you have to remove the glycerin first and at that point the oil could be used for food, feed or fuel. There is no need to do secondary processing for fuel as there are several companies out there that do that and we can ship the oil to them," he said. King said that crushing the seed yields 65 percent meal and 35 percent oil - 65 tons of meal and 35 tons of oil from crushing 100 tons of seed. Oroville is a natural for a facility like the company has in mind because of the heavy haul corridor, which allows large capacity trucks from Canada to move their goods to the railhead in town. Although Canola is the largest crop in Canada, there is only the capacity to press about half the seeds produced. In the past farmers from Alberta and elsewhere have had the seeds trucked to Vancouver to be sold into the Asian market. "They're trying to export seven million tons of grain by truck through downtown Vancouver," King said. The idea of bringing at least part of what is produced to Oroville, rather then to the BC coast appeals to some of the Canadian farmers.  Canola Seeds are the start of something big in Oroville However, with fuel prices at a premium the farmers have been looking for freight to bring back north, rather than hauling empty hopper trucks back to make the trip more economical. King and CCC have been looking into connecting the farmer with local producers of lime and calcium that could be used to naturally enrich the farmers' land without artificial fertilizers. The same Super Bs that bring the seed to Oroville could be used to haul back these natural fertilizers to Canadian farms. "Their demands for fertilizer is so great that they've been going to places like Pocatello, Idaho for it. They're even looking on the other side of the Rockies... while they are overlooking a good supply right here," King said. The CCC representatives were asked about local farmers growing canola, something the company hopes will be attractive to area growers. King said he believes that there are about 30,000 acres that could be used to grow canola seed and each acre produces about 1 ton of seed. He said that the Colville Confederated Tribe would be experimenting with camelina seed, something else the facility could crush into oil. Okanogan County Commissioner Jim Detro asked King to tell the people about the benefits of growing canola for wheat farmers. King said wheat farmers in North Dakota who put canola into their rotation saw wheat production increase by as much as 50 percent, plus they also had the canola to market. He said the company's plan is to guarantee a base rate to buy a farmer's canola crop and let them share in part of the profit margin. Sale of the meal left over after the oil is extracted from the seed also an important part of CCC's plan. The meal, when mixed one to four with other feeds created an highly enriched feed that producers have discovered naturally ads Omega 3 to milk and eggs from dairy cows and chickens that are fed the meal. Eventually King said he hopes to see the Oroville facility go from crushing 100 tons a day to 200 with a maximum of 300 tons a day at some point in the future. "I believe what we will do here will be from 200 to 300 tons of seeds a day and it will set a very nice patter that we can repeat in other areas like Spokane and Douglas counties," King said. It all comes down to logistics, according to McCann. "That's why getting it right here in Oroville is the right first stem...then we can network other plants with people coming to Oroville to get their training," he said. Among those present at the meeting in addition to Commissioner Detro, where Oroville Mayor Chuck Spieth and City Clerk Kathy Jones, Howard Zosel who has been putting his engineering skills to work on making design changes to the old Oro building, Kathryn Martin and Scott Boyer with the Cascade and Columbia Railroad and Greg Moser, general manager of Gold Digger Apples, Inc. In addition to King and McCann from CCC, those present were also introduced to Pam Leslie, the company's office manager; Tim Zier, who consults on the financial side of the business; Dean Ruud, local project manager and Ed Gooldy, lead millwright and plant manager. Most of those who heard the presentation went over to the facility that is being updated to house the mills. They were shown several older mill presses that are being refurbished, as well as two new 50-ton-a-day capacity mills, in addition they got to see one of two new hoppers that is being assembled that will be used to feed the 50 tons of seed into each of the mills. When the plant begins production it will have a seven-member crew working one shift, at full capacity the plant will have three shifts working 24 hours, seven days a week, according to King.  The company is a unique home-cleaning service that uses only natural products. It was formed in 2006, with a $300 investment, by two moms with young children, who were looking for ways to make money and provide a safer environment for their families. According to co-founder, Nathan Brown, Maid Naturally became interested in Sustainable Oroville, through his long time friendship with CMO, Ryan Skinner. “When Ryan asked me if our company was as supportive of Green Product Advancement as his venture, it was like we had been talking about it for years,” said Mr. Brown by telephone. “Our business is the only EnviroStars™ Certified cleaning service in Washington State.” No small accomplishment. The EnviroStars program was created in 1995, as a service of the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County, Washington. According to EnviroStars’ website: The mission is to provide assistance and incentives for smaller businesses to reduce hazardous materials and waste, in order to protect public health, municipal systems, and the environment. The products used by Maid Naturally, were originally formulated by the two moms--Ruthanne Eberly and Heather Brown--who started the company, due to a raised awareness of chemicals being used around their children. The product line is currently used by other cleaning services, businesses, and it is sold in 27 stores around the state. The company now has surpassed 10 employees. “With the use of Toxic chemicals in home, businesses, schools and public buildings contributing to environmental and health hazards with our society, we wanted to help make a difference in any area we could,” said Nathan Brown. The Sustainable Oroville project also grew from the ideas of long time friends, Ryan Skinner, Steve Morberg, and Tim King. Sustainable Oroville is a project, where the city is creating sustainable solutions on their own, despite the economic challenges facing the State of Washington. The city is utilizing existing infrastructure to attract green industry and development that will increase jobs, tourism, affordable renewable energy and revenue for area farmers for a sustainable future. Tim King, is just weeks away from opening a canola oil-seed crushing plant in Oroville. The benefits would include bio-fuel plant feedstock, with some resulting bio-fuel going to local farmers; an increase in wheat and other crop yield; meal feed for dairy cows and other farm animals; and possible local electricity generated from incinerating canola-derived bio-fuel. Steve Morberg plans to build a green hotel, which will be imperative to the growth of Oroville, and many local officials, including the Chamber of Commerce, are excited about the prospect. Sustainable Oroville is being designed as a green industry template to be duplicated in communities across America. Maid Naturally and other clean energy companies have recognized the benefit of sustainability and environmental stewardship, by partnering with Sustainable Oroville and its investment firm Carbon Cycle Investments (CCI). “By partnering with CCI we know that people and the environment will benefit greatly from the corporations success,” Said Brown. “Maid Naturally is committed to decreasing waste and energy consumption and increasing Green Technologies that benefit the planet--along with providing a healthier choice of cleaners for homes and businesses.” The motto of Maid Naturally is Clean like Nature intended. Learn more about Maid Naturally visit: www.MaidNaturally.com Continue reading on Examiner.com: Maid Naturally was made for a Sustainable Oroville partnership  Plans to install and operate a canola oil-seed crushing plant in Oroville, Washington have been in the works for almost a year and it has finally advanced to the hiring stage. Initially, there are 10 openings to be filled, for 24/7 rotating shifts. Ads were placed in the Omak Chronicle, the Oroville Gazette, Craig’s list, and Work Source. According to Pam Leslie, Regional Coordinator, they were overwhelmed with more than 300 applications for the jobs in a small town of approximately 2,500 people. The job listings closed on January 22nd. “The response was surprising to me,” said Ms. Leslie by phone. “We have an amazing pool of people to choose from. I didn’t know we had such talent in our midst.” Tim King is owner of the canola oil-seed crushing equipment that was delivered to Oroville, starting in September. Currently, Rob Larsen is a sub-contractor setting up his own temporary crushing equipment to get the production started in approximately two weeks. He will train the new hires; equipment operators, mill wrights, and mill wright supervisors, while Mr. King’s permanent equipment is being set up to get operational. Mr. King is determined that Sustainable Oroville, will benefit the community in multiple ways. The town, has been hit hard by the recession, but still, he was surprised by the flood of applications. Furthermore, the job interviews will be conducted in the coming weeks, but King asked Ms. Leslie to let the other applicants know that it is just the beginning: “It is our plans that this is just the first round of many hires to come in the future. The economy and our position in it will determine how fast and large our future hires will be.” Oroville, is poised to evolve into a template of green industry, biofuel production, and sustainability. Continue reading on Examiner.com: Oroville crushing plant gets overwhelming response to job openings  Oroville, Washington, a small town located 4 miles south of the Canadian border, with a population of less than 2,000, was once a robust mining town, with over 10,000 residents. In more recent times, the town has been hard hit by the economy, but if a group of entrepreneurs have their way—things are about to improve dramatically for the struggling town. Oroville is poised to evolve into a template of green industry, biofuel production, and sustainability. Tim King is owner of the canola oil-seed crushing equipment that was delivered to Oroville, starting in September. Since that time, three different trucking companies were utilized to get his equipment brought down from Canada, where he bought it for a steal--from a defunct crushing business. The equipment has been moved from storage to the new facility in Oroville, which has 100 by 236 feet of open space. Perfect for what he wants to do, which includes getting the crushing plant operational, with the ability to crank up other staging facilities as space and time allows. Since King and his partners have been working with local town officials, farmers, and businesses, to put in a crushing plant--interest in the oil seed crushing business has increased dramatically. He now has municipalities in Southern Idaho, Calgary, and Sacramento, who have expressed the wish to have crushing plants installed in their communities. “The Sustainable component is very important,” said King. “The oil, seed, and meal for livestock will provide an opportunity for farmers, plant workers, and local businesses to benefit. I want to get away from the old ‘I win, you lose”, attitude that has been prevalent in our society for so long.” King, along with businessmen Ryan Skinner and Bryon McCann has formed Carbon Cycle Investments (CCI), with the goal of working with investors to deliver sustainable solutions to numerous communities, including Oroville. If you would like to learn more about the Sustainable Oroville and the renewable energy projects underway you can visit www.sustainbleoroville.com or www.carboncycleinvestments.com. Information can also be obtained from Ryan Skinner at 509-953-1004 or ryan.skinner@carboncycleinvestments.com. Continue reading on Examiner.com: Oroville: tiny town attracts big investments for seed crushing plant  Byron McCann's 'BIOFUEL' Volkswagen. OROVILLE – An Oroville company plans within the month to start crushing 48 tons of canola seeds a day to create oil. To start, Carbon Cycle Crushing will get its canola seed from Canada where it is that nation’s biggest crop. They also have high hopes local farmers will plant canola and camelina to be processed at the plant. Oil produced from the seeds will be sold for lubricants and to use in biofuels, according to CCC representatives. “One Super B truck can haul about 48 tons and that’s what we plan on crushing daily, with a goal of crushing 200 tons a day when we are at full operation,” said Tim King, COO of the company. “I’d love to see half of what we need come from local farmers. I feel it would be a beneficial crop in this area.” Towards that end King has met with local ranchers at several different locations and he says interest has been positive. “There are 20,000 acres of potential farmland that could yield crops that we could use in the crusher,” King said. King and Byron McCann, with Accent partners Group LLC, the CCC’s new CEO, met last Wendesday in Oroville with others working on getting the canola crushing operation going. McCann and his father are investors in the company. McCann, who describes himself as having been a “serial-entrepreneur” in cable and software has focused the last four years on green technologies He said he was impressed with King’s plans to create oil for lubricants and biofuels. One of McCann’s investments is in Propel Biofuel Stations which offer flexfuel and biodiesel in fueling stations in Western Washington and California. He is also the co-chairman of the Northwest Energy Angels. “We are starting to realize the dream of building a sustainable community and Oroville is our template,” McCann said. McCann said the company has signed a lease with a purchase option with Gold Digger Apples on buildings that used to be part of Oro Fruit. He said they would finish installing the crushing equipment and making upgrades so milling the seeds into oil can begin soon. “I don’t have an exact date but we will start crushing within the next month,” King said. “We want a truck to come in one day and the processed oil and meal to ship out the next day. We don’t want to store anything – seeds in products out. He added that they didn’t have a list of buyers waiting to purchase the oil and meal, because most buyers want to see samples of the particular product being produced first. “That’s why we’re anxious to get our first crush,” King said. According to King he had a list of 10 communities that he considered for the canola processing and Oroville had been at the bottom of the list. “Then everything just came together here and Oroville went from number 10 to number one,” he explained. “There are several factors that made us chose to start here.” King said the fact that there were a number of suitable empty buildings and the Heavy Haul Corridor that allows high capacity Super B trailers on the highway between the Canadian border and the plant were big factors. The fact that the railroad both starts and ends in Oroville was also a factor, he said. “The Cascade and Columbia River Railroad is obviously excited they’ll be getting more business,” King said. “And of course the suitable land that could be planted in canola and the support we’ve gotten from the community are important.” OROVILLE – Along with their plans to begin crushing canola at their Oroville location, Carbon Cycle Crush, is also pursuing the idea of a waste-to-energy generator that would literally vaporize anything that was put into it and create a liquefied gas and power generation as byproducts. Carbon Cycle Investments, the parent company of CCC, which hopes to crush as much as 48 tons of canola seeds a day at it’s Appleway location within the month and as much as 200 tons a day at full production, is also investigating a plasma arc gas liquefaction system. Rather than burning whatever is put into the gasifier, the high heat of the electric plasma arc in an oxygen-free environment would vaporize it, creating no pollutants but rather a gas that could be cooled to a liquid, according to Byron McCann, CEO and Tim King, COO, of Carbon Cycle Investments. The cooling process would create steam that could be used to generate electricity. The liquid produced could then be contained and sold for bio-fuels, used to power machinery or used on site to generate additional electricity. The company is excited about the technology and is investing in a gasification system they say could be installed at the Oroville crushing plant as part of the Sustainable Oroville movement (see www.sustainableoroville.com), but have not made the final decision as to where they first want to test it. “Phase one is oil crushing, waste to energy is phase two. We want to be able to make energy parks, kind of based on the idea of industrial parks with sustainable solutions,” said McCann. “They wouldn’t be like traditional waste-to-energy facilities that are huge like the one in Spokane, but rather they would be modular with the capability to scale to a community’s needs. You could put two or three together Whoever builds this it is going to have global benefit.” King said the gasifier would be quiet and is insulated using the same type of tiles they use to insulate the space shuttle. The electric plasma arc is at such high temperatures, more than 7000 degrees Celsius, that everything from plastic bottles, which are made from hydrocarbons, to forest wood and agricultural waste to garbage, could be turned into the liquefied gas. Even things like PCBs that are dangerous when introduced to the environment, are broken down by the gasifier in such a way as they are rendered harmless. Any metal would not be vaporized, but instead be extracted as molten metal that when cooled could be recycled, according to King. “This has the capability to break down PCBs, some of the hardest chemicals to break apart,” King said. “This technology opens the doors to solving many environmental problems.” In addition to creating fuel from waste the company sees the gasifier as a way to rely less on fossil fuels and perhaps help address the climate change issue. “You can put your head in the sand or you can find a way to rely less of fossil fuels,” said King. The two envision the gasifiers would be good in communities like Oroville and could create resource-based jobs for people. “Rather than the Forest Service burning slash to reduce forest fuel levels and creating all that smoke, that slash could be collected and turned into liquefied fuel – like jet fuel or kerosene,” King said. Send in your resumes! 01/11/2011
 Carbon Cycle Crush LLC, of Oroville, Washington, will be accepting resumes for multiple positions through January 22nd, 2011. CCC is seeking experienced, committed individuals for the following positions: Millwrights Equipment operator Supervisor Site maintenance person Office clerk Our plant runs 24/7 and will require four shifts, each independently managed by a shift supervisor. Teamwork will be job one. Positions are full-time and we offer competitive wages as we believe our employees are our most valuable asset. Please note that Oroville is a small community with limited housing available. We do not make allowances for housing or moving expenses for those coming from outside the area. Please send resume, including references, to: Carbon Cycle Crush PO Box 2147 Oroville, WA 98844  Oroville plant to produce canola oil for biofuel use A plant in Oroville, Washington, is in the final stages of planning for a facility which will crush canola seeds to extract oil for use as a mechanical lubricant and diesel fuel additive. At the onset, most of the canola seed will come from farms in Canada, but the company is looking into procuring seed from local farms as well. To learn more, read "Oroville One Step Closer to Producing Canola Oil" on the Sustainable Oroville website. To read directly on WSU's website: Click Here  Tim King directing the crane operator OROVILLE – With the delivery of several roller presses to Oroville, it seems that Tim King’s dream of making canola oil is one step closer. The presses arrived at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 1 at the old Oro HeavyPack Warehouse off 14th Street where they will be housed. The presses, weighing several tons each, were unloaded by a tall crane from a dual-trailered, semi-tractor under the watchful eye of King and those gathered to mark their arrival, including a documentary team from Tacoma-based T-Town Productions. The crushers and other equipment will be used to set up a pilot plant to crush canola seed into oil to be sold for lubricants and for adding to diesel fuel to create lower emission bio-fuel. The left over meal from the crushing can be used to create high-protein cattle feed as well. For now, most of the seed to be crushed will come from Canadian farmers, but King has approached local farmers about adding canola production to their regular crop rotation. King, manager of Carbon Technology Transfer Center LLP, said this was just the first of 15 truckloads of equipment that will be housed at in the packing facility owned by Gold Digger Apples, Inc. The company is leasing the building for now and may try and purchase it in the future, according to King’s timeline. Among the equipment that will be used to crush canola seed into oil will be 1500 metric tons of expellers, with cookers, flakers, electrical switch gear and materials handling equipment, such as drag lines, augers and conveyers. The next step after the equipment is moved into the building, said King, is to secure additional financing through a loan or investment. He said the company needs a minimum of $600,000, but $1 million would be optimal. As much as $400,000 would be used as a revolving loan to purchase canola seed. CTTC hopes to have the money in place within the next two weeks. “We really aren’t looking at your typical venture capital types,” said King. “They all want quick, high returns with no risk.” With $600,000 in capital, the company would purchase new technology crush equipment, an expander and centrifuge within 30 days. From there they could set up a permanent 200-ton a day crush line and make modifications to the building and be operational in three to four months, according to the timeline. The $400,000 revolving loan would be used to set up contracts from Canadian brokers for delivery of approximately 100 tons of canola a day or two Super B truck loads at $40,000 per day. A portable crush plant would be set up to crush the 100 tons of seed a day into oil to be sold until enough equity was built up to reinvest in a value-added bio lubricant plant, reads the timeline. The meal left over from the crushing would be sold as cattle feed until equity was built up to reinvest in a value-added feed mix and pelletization plant. From there the company hopes to replicate the Oroville pilot facility across Eastern Washington and the Pacific Northwest, with additional phases in Spokane, Omak and Douglas County, for total of 12 plants, five in Washington State, within three to five years. “Oroville is doing something no one else in the country is doing,” said Ryan Skinner of Sustainable Oroville, which is helping to get the word out about projects like the canola crushing plant and a proposed “green” hotel in Oroville on the web site www.sustainableoroville.com. “Oroville is going forward with projects like these and without the government getting involved,” Skinner said, adding that the Web site has brought positive attention to Oroville from other industries looking for a forward-thinking community. Skinner also applauded Roni Holder- Diefenbach, Executive Director of Okanogan Economic Alliance and Chris Branch, Oroville’s director of Community and Economic Development. They, along with Arnie Marchand and Pam Leslie of LM Energy, as well as interested area ranchers were on hand for the arrival of the presses. |
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