The planned production facility would produce biomass fuel pellets made from residual sugarcane fiber, known as bagasse.
If located in Louisiana, Delta would create 126 new direct jobs with an average salary of $62,500, plus benefits. Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project would also result in 149 indirect jobs, for a total 275 new jobs in the Acadiana region. The production facility’s peak construction would generate up to 100 construction jobs.
Delta has secured long-term supplies of feedstock bagasse, which can be processed into biomass fuel pellets and used alongside, or in lieu of, standard industrial wood pellets in power generation. Bagasse fuel pellets are lower cost alternatives to typical wood pellets, and also result in greater reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, or GHGs.
European and Asian power and industrial heating plants transitioning away from fossil fuels now use over 25 million metric tons per year of wood pellet biomass, primarily displacing thermal coal as a feedstock.
The use of biomass fuel pellets results in a reduction of GHG emissions more than 100 percent versus the use of fossil fuel in these plants. The Jeanerette facility would produce up to 300,000 metric tons of bagasse fuel pellets annually.
The company would source all excess bagasse from four nearby sugar mills in Iberia, St. Mary and St. Martin parishes. Sourcing from these mills allows alternative use of the mills’ unneeded waste. Additionally, Delta has engaged European and Asian energy production facilities for multi-year commitments to purchase the fuel pellets.
The company plans to locate the greenfield facility on 16 acres near U.S. Highway 90 in Jeanerette, near one of its bagasse suppliers, Enterprise Sugar Mill. Groundwork for the new facility would begin September 2021, with completion expected in September 2022. Hiring would begin Spring 2022. Founded in 2019, Delta Biofuel is a wholly-owned start-up within Tasso Renewable Energy. ■
Under an intense surge of arctic air, Friday morning will begin with the coldest temperatures so far this season across much of the central and eastern U.S. with blustery conditions and a piercing wind chill.