"Up North" Gawking (District 1 sightings)

Last I heard they were tied down at Leeds after they experienced engine issues.

Departed Rigby around 0400, we'll see how far they get today.

Cross Road Haverhill as of 0808.

guessing this will be located on D1 somewhere:

"A research and development company that has spent nearly 20 years honing new ways to turn woody waste into commercially viable energy and chemicals says it is close to building a biorefinery in Maine that will produce zero-emission heating oil.

Biofine Developments Northeast Inc. of Bangor said it has formed a partnership with New Hampshire-based wholesale energy supplier Sprague Resources LP to help produce and market a patented biofuel made from 100 percent ethyl levulinate, an organic chemical compound often referred to as EL.

Biofine said it hopes to finalize the site of its first biorefinery within the next month and be operating by 2023. The plant would process 100 tons a day of cellulose-based waste, primarily from paper and lumber mills, to make 3 million gallons of heating oil a year. It also would produce a side stream of renewable chemical byproducts that can be sold."

https://www.pressherald.com/2020/10/28/ ... -in-maine/

BM6569 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2020 7:20 am guessing this will be located on D1 somewhere:

Sounds really interesting but so was all the excitement about torrefied wood that went nowhere. Hope this is more successful.

I wonder how explosive this would be if carried on a tank car?

The finished product is supposed to be 100% compatible with all existing oil furnaces, so I assume it'll be no more or less explosive than traditional petroleum-based home heating oil... but the devil is in the details.

The article says they'll eventually be able to produce up to 3 million gallons of biofuel a year.* That would be 90 to 120 tank cars a year, depending on car size. Depending on who buys Pan Am, that might or might not be enough volume for the railroad to be interested in it.

*For comparison, Maine uses about 200 million gallons of home heating oil a year for residential use.

Even if you assume that virtually all outbound product is moving by rail, that would still only be about 1-2 cars per week. A very small customer.

The article doesn't mention rail access anywhere, and it sounds like the entire supply chain is intended to stay within Maine / New Hampshire from start to finish. This seems like the kind of thing that may not need rail service at all unfortunately.

Maybe inbound loads? Sounds like a lot of waste material needed

Outbound may only be 2 cars/week average, but more than likely they would be shipping a high volume this time of year, and very little during the spring and summer. Whether rail makes sense depends on the buyers' (wholesalers) location. If it all gets used in the local area, then no. Outside Maine, then yes. Inbound is unlikely to move by rail. Volume from a single origin would not be there.

Three million gallons is a drop in the bucket of no.2 fuel oil that moves every year. Your looking around 312 truck loads a year and I'd guess during the peak of heating season 200 truck loads a day are coming out of the existing Maine terminals.

Exactly this. 3 million gallons is nothing. That's half of what Irving brings through the port of Portland in a typical week.

I highly doubt this facility will have any kind of rail service.

If the plan is to produce the product somewhere in central/eastern Maine and then hand it over to Sprague for storage (and eventual distribution) in South Portland or Portsmouth, I guess there would be a theoretical advantage to locating the facility on PAR, since Sprague's facilities in SP and Portsmouth are both PAR-served... but it all comes down to the willingness of PAR's eventual new owner/operator to handle this traffic and to transport it less expensively than trucks. Is that possible?

I agree there's virtually zero chance that inbound loads would come by rail.

UMaine was researching how to make this type of biofuel a few years ago, and was exploring the use of it as a replacement for aviation fuel. I know someone mentioned Cate St. Capital's failed torrified wood venture, which was nothing more than a plan on the drawing board. I am not sure how far this will go, but Borco Fuels (Not sure of the spelling) in Mass has been shipping quite a bit of biofuel in the past few years. If anything I have a feeling they will sell more to the local market than anything. Plus there has been strong pushback against the oil docks in Hampden, as well as Pike's Liquid Asphalt storage facility in Bangor (recently torn down as a result, and a interesting side note is that they used former tank cars as extra storage) so I wouldn't be surprised to see those get torn down, and if the biofuel company located somewhere east of Old Town, they would be able to still compete with the Irving dock in Searsport for heating fuel contracts.

UMaine ran this product through the boilers at the University of Maine Presque Isle and had no issues. I think this is going to be the real deal. They've been able to make the product at an economical price. Co-location with a thermal source is a significant part of the plan. I will double check on the location ... I think it's going to be Bucksport.



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So I'm hearing Pan Am will start having regular freight service to Mattawamkeag again.

backroadrails wrote: ↑Thu Oct 29, 2020 2:54 pm I am not sure how far this will go, but Borco Fuels (Not sure of the spelling) in Mass has been shipping quite a bit of biofuel in the past few years. If anything I have a feeling they will sell more to the local market than anything.

Just announced. MassDot Rail Access Grants:

The 2021 recipients include the following:

Broco Oil Inc. ($218,738)
The project will assist Broco Oil to increase the amount of bio-diesel fuel oil that they can receive by rail and distribute by adding a new siding and railcar mover to their new transload facility in Haverhill. The result is expected to increase and improve reliability of railcar deliveries, reduce regional truck traffic and increase employment at the company. Broco Oil is providing 45% of the project cost.