Prince George, B.C.-   It’s new to North America, but Dimethyl Ether, is an energy source from wood residue, and it may be the next employment opportunity in the Terrace region.

Eric Switzer, head of GV Energy, says it can be used instead of diesel fuel, or can be blended with propane. Volvo trucks are testing their large trucks with it, although it is already being used in Indonesia and Japan for buses and trucks.

When it burns, it does not produce any particulate matter, which is why it is being use in Korea and Indonesia as a cooking fuel.    It produces a much reduced greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels used to power most vehicles today.

GV Energy is not the only company in B.C. looking at developing this kind of product from wood residue, there is company on Vancouver Island that is also looking at this type .

B.C. says Switzer, provides a positive atmosphere for this kind of project. He says he likes the policies, and the fact First Nations and the community of Terrace have come together to look for the development of this kind of industry.

Switzer says the Terrace area, where his company has optioned some land, is a positive site for such a plant because of the long term need for biomass, the favourable  growth cycle in that region and its location to a deep sea port for export to Asia.  The hitch is, his company will have to work in partnership with   whoever has the tenure   in the forest. “We can use any kind of wood, our process doesn’t care if it is dimensional lumber quality or pulp quality,   we simply use wood and chip it up and gasify it.” He says the plant could produce between 40 million to 100 million litres of diesel a year, which Switzer says is a small production in the fuel world.

According to Switzer, the new fuel would be   competitive  with current fuel prices.

The  plant would cost about $100  million dollars to build,   it would directly employ  about  40 people but there would be   indirect  jobs  for harvesting and delivery of the bio  mass and servicing the  industry.