Part 2: Entrepreneurs and Investments

Entrepreneurs interested in the Inception Micro Angel Fund (IMAF) for start-up money should not be influenced by the geographical names, Triad, East, Western, Charlotte, Triangle and, soon, Coastal.

“Geography doesn’t play the role it used to,” Tim Janke, IMAF executive director, said. “The way the IMAF family of funds work, we know the process and the due diligence is done well so the geography tends to break down a bit.”

Companies interested in IMAF start by applying online. The application is available for review by each of the fund directors. Don Mills, director of IMAF East and a retiree from NACCO Materials Handling Group, Inc., a forklift manufacturer, said his membership gives presenting companies 20 minutes and 10 slides to make their case followed by a Q & A session. 

“After the presentation, the entrepreneur leaves the room, and we take a vote,” Mills explained. “If the decision is to proceed, we go into due diligence (where) the companies are scrutinized. We look at how a company is structured. We look at any patents and intellectual property, other funding, exit strategy and sometimes we monitor the company to see how they are doing.” Investment decisions are made by a vote of the membership in an average of 60 to 90 days.

“You don’t come on Tuesday and get a check Wednesday,” said Charlie Owen, fund director for IMAF Western. “You have to be willing to go through the process and answer a lot of questions and share a lot of information.”

The information that entrepreneurs share can lead not only to a check for $50,000 to $150,000, but add-on member investments and additional funding from other IMAF funds and angel networks. Rival Healthcare, IMAF Charlotte’s first portfolio company, is an example. The healthcare software company received IMAF funding and additional funds from angel networks in South Carolina and Virginia.

Financial support is only the beginning. An IMAF member becomes part of the board of directors. Janke stresses that the Small Business Technology and Development Center (SBTDC), IMAF’s partner organization, does not influence investment decisions, but they do provide support services.

IMAF Charlotte Director Ken Paulus, who is also the vice president of business development for Enventys, a product design and marketing firm, adds that entrepreneurs should remember that, “We’re investing in the team first and the technology second. Companies have to have a compelling technology that is protectable and has an advantage in the market. We are not going to invest in a company strictly on its technical acumen. We’re not running the company. It’s still up to the entrepreneur and the team.”

The type of technology varies. Owen, an owner of a warehouse distribution company, has considered everything from herbal products to medical devices. One of IMAF Western’s lead investments is SensorTech, a “smart” polymer testing company with a product that measures pressure, force, torque and vibration that spun-out of Clemson University. The company has an ongoing contract with the US Department of Defense. Another investment is Traploch, a GPS tracking device and lock for shipping containers in which IMAF Triad co-invested. The company is working with FedEx. 

IMAF East experiences a similar variety of investments. “We have quite a few physicians in our investor group,” Mills said. “So we’re looking now at a liquid bandage that we’re excited about. We have a GPS dog color and an electric boat that will go to vote in the next several weeks.” IMAF Charlotte is considering sensor-based technology, crowd-sourcing software and a life sciences company.

Overall, Mills emphasizes, “This is a well-structured process, and it’s a good way to do business.” 

For more information, visit www.nccapitalhighway.com.

Part 1: The Model and Membership

Providing seed-stage funding, the first money into a start-up company, is probably the riskiest type of investing. Tim Janke, executive director of the Inception Micro Angel Fund (IMAF), emphasizes that the first round of independent financing is not only risky but absolutely critical.

For emerging companies, the first gap in funding hits at $50,000 to $100,000. “That’s the area we specialize in. It’s a serious funding gap, and money is extremely difficult to find,” Janke said.  “That’s why the IMAF model is designed as the first money in that really gets the company going. This is the highest of the high risk, but we think we have a model that manages that so we will in fact get a return on our investment.”  

The key to the IMAF model is that it is a family of funds, Triad, Western, East and Charlotte. Research Triangle Park launched last spring, and IMAF Coastal is in the formative stages. Each fund is an independent LLC managed by a fund director. The model minimizes investor risk while increasing the likelihood that entrepreneurs with solid business plans and competitive technologies will survive to commercialize their products and services.

Janke set the standard for IMAF success as fund director of IMAF Triad. After retiring from a career with corporations like Loreal Paris, Maybelline and Sara Lee Hosiery in 2001, he joined the Small Business Technology and Development Center (SBTDC) where he formulated the idea for IMAF. Since 2002, the 60 members of IMAF Triad 1 invested $3.3 million into 16 portfolio companies that include medical devices, biotechnology and Internet services. IMAF Triad II launched in June 2010. To expand IMAF further, Janke is devising a “boutique venture fund” to fill the second funding gap at $1 to $5 million that start-up companies face.

Beyond a family of independent funds, the IMAF model is dependent on members. Generally, IMAF Charlotte Director Ken Paulus, said “members are accredited investors who are well-connected and successful business people in their own right.”

As LLC’s, membership per IMAF fund is limited to 99. Members invest a minimum of $15,000, which is one share. Institutions and foundations invest as well. NC East Region sponsors a matching grant that gives IMAF East one dollar for every two up to $300,000 that they invest in a start-up company in the 13-county NC East region.

“That doesn’t limit add-on investment,” Janke points out. “We may have a million dollars in a fund pool, but members may invest four to five million in the life of the fund due to member add-ons.”

Members are eligible for a Qualified Business Venture Tax Credit that allows a 25 percent credit against North Carolina income tax liability. “That minimizes some of the risk right away and is very helpful in developing pools of capital,” Janke added.

IMAF funding complements state programs like the NC Department of Commerce’s One North Carolina Small Business Program and NC Green Business Fund and encourages future investment.

 “We have to be very mindful of being among the first money in,” Janke said. “Since there will be more rounds, we’re not going to have anything in our terms that is unfair or inequitable for future investors.” 

IMAF’s combination of educated investors and successful entrepreneurs is a model that other states want to emulate because, Janke remarked, “IMAF is good economic development that creates successful companies that generate jobs and tax revenue for the state.”

For more information, visit www.nccapitalhighway.com.

According to the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), bio-based products have the potential to replace 10 percent of US oil imports, significantly reduce CO2 emissions, create new revenue streams for US farmers and provide clean tech jobs in rural areas. A study released at the BIO World Congress held in Washington DC in June by the World Economic Forum (WEF) defines how the rise of the biorefining industry will make a bio-based future possible.

Steen Riisgaard, CEO of Novozymes, a world leader in bioinnovation, introduced the report, entitled “The Future of Industrial Biorefineries.” He highlighted that the US is expected to become the world leader in developing biorefineries.  According to data provided by BIO, the biorefinery industry already accounts for more than 40,000 US jobs. Commercialization of cellulosic biofuels is expected to create 800,000 new jobs in the US by 2022. The WEF report authored by Sir David King of Oxford University, conducted by McKinsey & Company and supported by Novozymes, Braskem, Royal DSM N.V. and Dupont, concludes that converting biomass into fuels, energy and chemicals could generate at least $230 billion to the global economy by 2020.

Novozymes, the world’s largest enzyme provider, is doing more than announcing reports to usher in a bio-based society. Novozymes, a company based in Denmark has operations in Franklinton, NC, outside of Raleigh. The company’s products are used in over 700 products in over 130 countries to do “everything from removing trans-fats in food to advancing biofuels.”

Novozymes has maintained an R&D priority on producing new enzymes to increase the commercial viability of biofuels, both ethanol and cellulosic. Recently, Novozymes announced Spirizyme Excel, a new enzyme that converts more of the starch in corn, wheat and other feedstocks into sugar that can be fermented into ethanol. Novozymes estimates that Spirizyme Excel can increase yields by more than one percent and profits for producers.

The news of Spirizyme Excel was followed by the announcement of a partnership between Ceres, Inc., an energy crop company, and Novozymes to co-develop customized plant varieties and enzyme cocktails for the production of cellulosic biofuel. The goal is to improve the process of converting biomass to fuel through more effective enzymes and higher quality energy crops.

The joint optimization project will lead to greater fuel yields and lower capital and operating costs for cellulosic biofuel producers. Research will initially focus on determining the best enzyme cocktails for the biorefining of Ceres’ commercial switchgrass seed products. Research will also include sweet sorghum. Ceres’ researchers plan to develop customized plant varieties that can be degraded more easily by Novozymes’ enzymes.

Novozymes is also making advances in the production of consumer products with an agreement with Dacheng Group, a major starch processing company based in China. The two companies are joining forces to make plastics from agricultural waste. Novozymes provides the Dacheng Group with knowledge and the enzymes for converting biomass like corn stover, wheat and rice straw into sugar. Dacheng Group will then convert the sugar into glycol, which are biochemicals used in household cleaning products, cosmetics and as building blocks for making polyesters and plastics. Dacheng Group has the first commercialized facility in the world to mass produce plant-based glycols. The facility, located in northeastern China, is expected to produce plant-based biochemicals within a few years. Novozymes has ongoing partnerships with global companies like Braskem in Brazil and Cargill in the US to develop new technologies to derive biochemicals that can replace traditional petrochemcials in a wide range of products like plastic and diapers.

In a company news release, Riisgaard commented: “Biotechnology will open the pathway to a biobased society in which renewable agricultural residues can be converted into biochemicals and nearly substitute the role that petrochemical industries have been playing since the industrial revolution.”

Read about Novozymes biofuels research in the Jan.Feb 2009 edition of Impact archived at www.readimpact.com.

Read the WEF report at http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_FutureIndustrialBiorefineries_Report_2010.pdf

Learn more about Novozymes at www.novozymes.com.

Today’s success as a clinical-stage drug development company discovering and developing “novel small molecule macrocyclic drugs primarily for gastrointestinal motility, metabolic diseases and cancer supportive care” are the fruit of years of entrepreneurial experience. Vipin Garg, PhD, a 30-year pharma and biotech veteran, is co-founder, president and CEO of Tranzyme. David Drutz, PhD, a physician, researcher, CEO, venture capitalist and entrepreneur, is co-founder and Chairman of the Board. With their combined experience, the two men can sum up their top entrepreneurial lessons in four words: value, management, focus, and operations.

Value

“The lesson that you learn all the time is that in this business you need a lot of cash because you need to create a value proposition all of the time,” Garg counsels. “You need to understand the market. You need to understand what is unique about what you are doing and how you will make money for your investment. I always put myself in my investor’s shoes and ask the question, if I were an investor would I invest in this? If you do that, you can figure out quickly how to position things and put together the right package so people will be excited about your story.”

Management

 ”One of the things about the biotech industry is that it evolves, and you want a management team in place that is nimble and light on its feet (so) that when a technology is not going to go forward, they find something else,” Drutz advises.

Focus

Flexible management is also able to achieve a targeted R&D focus. “There are only so many people and so much money and so much time, so you have to focus,” Drutz emphasizes.

Efficient Operations

Managing resources is a key to that efficiency. “We’ve done all of this (fund and build Tranzyme Pharma) for about $50 million. In big pharma, this would have cost more than $100 million. In general, biotech companies are very efficient.” Garg adds, “Canada, China, Eastern Europe, India, whether it is manufacturing, sourcing materials or clinical trials, we have people and activities all over the world that we are managing from North Carolina.”

For more details about Tranzyme Pharma, visit www.tranzymepharma.com and read more about them in our March.April edition available in our online archives.   

 “Like most entrepreneurial ideas, it started by tossing ideas around with friends in the industry and friends who are financially astute in other industries,” said Wilmington Pharma’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer Eugene T. Haley. “We tried to answer the question, is there a way that we can be helpful to patients and doctors at an affordable capital structure? This way we didn’t have to raise a whole lot of money at the beginning, and (we could) find out if our ideas are right. If you’re going to fail, you want to fail early and cheaply.”

Haley credits his advisors and friends for leading him in the right direction. “I had been involved in very successful fast growth companies. So I knew some smart folks who could be objective,” he said. “Any founder has to be passionate, but you also have to have around you objective dispassionate people who can challenge you to make sure that your passion isn’t overwhelming your business logic.”

Haley found angel investors to provide start-up funds. He describes angel investors as more patient and flexible capital. “Angel funds don’t have the same time pressures that VCs operate under. They are experienced business people who are encouraging and supportive of seeing a business succeed. They are very well organized, approachable and well networked,” he commented. “We’ve financed our success on considerably less capital and have been able to retain more for our investors than we would have if we had venture capital.” 

Haley did take his early business ideas to venture capitalists and benefitted from the experience. “We had some dumb ideas at first,” he recalled. “We met with VC’s and financiers and believed passionately in our dumb ideas. We got a lot of push back, and that’s a good learning experiencing. It forces you to keep refining your ideas to make sure you tightly understand what marketing advantage you bring to what is already a crowded marketplace. We kept working on that for a couple of years refining the idea until we honed it down to what I think is a great model. We’ve had a very gratifying success with our first product, and we have more lined up behind it.”

Wilmington Pharma’s first product is Metozolv™ ODT (metoclopramide), an orally disintegrating tablet for the short-term treatment (four to 12 weeks) of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in patients who have not responded to conventional therapy. It also is the first available orally disintegrating tablet for people with acute and recurrent diabetic gastroparesis.

Haley’s advice to other entrepreneurs is to make sure that their business plans meet real world needs. “You have to work and work and work on your business plan and keep refining it until you understand the market you are addressing, the problem you are solving, why your solution is unique and how you’re going to protect it when it’s out in the world.  That’s the first test. If you can’t pass that, you’re talking about your hobby.”

For more information, visit www.wilmingtonpharma.com.

Capital resources are the biggest challenge to any young company, says Paul Ulanch, director of technology development and commercialization for the Small Business Technology Development Center. Ulanch’s team offers counseling and support mostly to tech companies to help them navigate the options of early stage funding options. 

“Clients have business plans, but they are not thought out as well as a long-term strategic plan,” Ulanch said. “They develop their technology in minute detail, but they have no idea how to tackle the market and get to commercialization. We provide additional guidance on how to identify a strategy.”

For many companies, the first strategic step is a Small Business Innovation Research grant. Federal agencies including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense and the Department of Agriculture, are required to set aside a percentage of their budgets for SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants. SBIR Phase 1 grants average $100,000 and are aimed at proving the feasibility of a technology. Only Phase 1 recipients can apply for Phase 2 grants, which provide an average of $750,000 for R&D.

“We position ourselves in front of companies looking for knowledge of the SBIR program as a first resource to obtain funding, but there are other opportunities as well.” Ulanch points to the Green Business Fund or NC IDEA grants as examples. “We help position businesses to take advantage of those types of capital resources.”

Ulanch admits that Congressional reauthorization for SBIR/STTR programs is in flux.  Congress could increase the award size which will decrease the overall number of grants awarded. Also under debate is eliminating the restriction preventing venture capital-backed companies from eligibility.

“VC’s are not necessarily interested in pipeline refinement or continued R&D,” Ulanch noted. “Congress allowing for a percentage of SBIR funds of an agency to be used for VC-backed companies may be one of the largest changes that biotech companies could use.”

According to Ulanch, success with grants increases the likelihood of private equity, whether angel or venture capital. The SBTDC initiated the Inception Micro Angel Fund, which is a family of member-managed, seed stage, angel capital funds established by regions of the state: West, Triad, Coastal, RTP, East and Charlotte.

Even as the economy improves, Ulanch points out that a company may receive a lower valuation than expected. Some companies are choosing to boot strap themselves until valuations increase, but Ulanch recommends that entrepreneurs consider the advantages.  

“A lot of times with a lower valuation early on, you can set the founders and investors up for higher valuations later,” he said. “The initial, high valuation may disinterest an investor going into a Series B or later rounds.”

Equity capital may not be for everyone. “A good number of clients who obtain SBIR grants are not interested in equity capital. They plan to license or go to market and commercialize their technologies themselves. So equity capital is not on their radar at all.”

As third in the country in biotech, North Carolina is of interest to investors. So it’s helpful, Ulanch says, for companies to position themselves for grants and equity capital. No matter the course, the SBTDC is a resource unique to North Carolina that is dedicated to helping young companies navigate through early stage funding increasing their likelihood of long-term success.

For more information, visit www.sbtdc.org.

 The global recession may be receding, but predictions are that economic struggles may continue for the biotech and life science sector into 2011. For young companies, says Yonnie Butler, director of business development for the NC Biotechnology Center, the advice is to do whatever it takes for your company to survive for the next year or so and then look at approaching the investment community.

 “Deals that are being made are few in number,” Butler said, “and, whether mergers and acquisitions, co-development agreements or licensing, may not have the most favorable terms for entrepreneurs. Live off of grants, bootstrap, keep overhead expenses low, survive for the next couple of years and by then things will return back to normal.”

 Another piece of advice Butler offers is to get on the radar screen of potential investors. “There are so many young companies and so few venture capital firms and angel investment firms in North Carolina and the Southeast,” Butler said. “Many entrepreneurs think they’ll make a phone call, present and a check will be written. They don’t look at it like building a long-term relationship where it does take time and several interactions over time to establish that credibility and rapport.”

Butler encourage entrepreneurs to contact him at NCBC to learn about resources whether its grants, loans or referrals to people with specific areas of expertise such as regulatory, marketing or intellectual property. Butler encourages entrepreneurs to take advantage of other resources including those offered by the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED).

 CED hosts programs for entrepreneurs year-round, but their annual biotechnology conference is February 22 and 23 at the convention center in Raleigh. The conference, entitled Fusing Science, Technology and Industry Leadership, will be the gathering place for the state’s biotechnology and life science leaders and present the year’s best networking opportunity.  

 The slate of speakers features two people responsible for 2009’s largest biotech deals, Asset Management general partner Dr. Louis Lange, Ph.D., whose company CV Therapeutics was acquired by Gilead Sciences for $1.4 billion, and Talecris Biotherapeutics CEO Larry Stern, who oversaw the year’s largest biotech IPO. Other speakers include Steve Krognes, senior vice president and CFO of Genentech, Ernest Mario, Ph.D., chairman and CEO of Capnia and former GlaxoSmithKline CEO, and genomics pioneer Allen Roses, MD, FRCP, director of Duke University’s Deane Drug Discovery Institute and former SVP of GlaxoSmithKline.  

To take advantage of the networking and educational opportunities that might get a company on the radar screen of future investors or partners, make sure to register by February 17 before early registration closes. Registration will be available at the door, if space is available. For advice on how to capitalize on those contacts and opportunities, contact NCBC at www.ncbiotech.org. Consider one other opportunity to get on the radar, BIO 2010. Contact Kendyle_Woodard@ncbiotech.org.

This originally sent as an e-feature. To subscribe, send an e-mail to jwoodford@carolina.rr.com.

New Website

BioNetwork’s website, www.ncbionetwork.org, has a new look and arrangement scheme that places the organization’s vast training resources a click away. The new site showcases the variety of courses and programs from biofuels to nanotechnology offered by their seven centers. Many of the courses are available online not just in classrooms. Companies, entrepreneurs and individuals looking for information about the business of biotechnology and training resources can research BioNetwork’s offerings by degree programs, industry training and community colleges. There’s the latest in industry news, a calendar of events and detailed information about the BioNetwork Centers: BioAgriculture, Capstone, BioBusiness, BioProcessing, Pharmaceutical, BioEd, and the National Center for the Biotechnology Workforce.

New Career Launch Pad

Just as BioNetwork’s website started 2010 with a facelift so has their mobile laboratory.  The 40-foot l bus is now the Career Launch Pad. Thanks to funding from Duke Energy’s Community College Grant Program, the Career Launch Pad will introduce biotechnology and other critical industries like healthcare, aerospace and green technologies.  The Career Launch Pad will travel the state presenting hands-on scientific demonstrations and activities and computer-simulated learning stations geared to introduce high school and community college students to educational and career paths in science, technology, engineering and math-related industries.

New Green Initiative

Code Green is the NC Community College System’s newest initiative to prepare a workforce for “green-collar jobs.” The initiative focuses on workforce training for green jobs in six areas of emphasis, sustainable construction, fuels, green transportation, sustainable agriculture, advanced manufacturing in green-related industries and sustainable energy. The second part of the initiative is to integrate sustainable practices on their 58 campuses. A President-level committee is outlining the training framework and has conducted a “green” inventory of educational and training opportunities including short-term job training, longer-term degrees and career pathways that tie to the state’s universities.
For more information, visit www.ncbionetwork.org and read NCCCS Sets A Green Example in A Cleaner Environment, Impact’s latest edition, available online at www.readimpact.com. This was originally sent as an Impact eFeature, to subscribe, send an e-mail to jwoodford@carolina.rr.com.

Growing to heights of 12 to 14 feet in less than six months, kenaf, a member of the hibiscus family, is fast growing, requires few herbicides and fertilizers and converts greenhouse gases in the environment at rate that rivals the rain forests. 

The plant has been prized for thousands of years for the absorbency and strength of its natural fibers. Ancient Egyptians used kenaf as a source of food and cloth, sails and cords. Today, kenaf is farmed in Europe, Asia, India, Mexico and the U.S. for its commercial applications. Applications that two North Carolina companies are using to open new markets for kenaf-based products.

 BioTech Mills

 BioTech Mills, located in Snow Hill, NC and McRae, GA, has 3,000 acres under contract for the growth of kenaf that produces 30 million pounds of the plant annually. At their North Carolina facility, which is the largest producer of natural fibers in North America, they’ve researched and developed products used in cars, oil drilling, thermoplastics and oil and chemical spill clean-up.

 “The U.S. Navy determined it is the most absorbent natural material on Earth,” said Bob Hughes, BioTech Mills president. “We developed a number of products around the absorbency factor of the inner core of the kenaf plant.”

Drillwall™, one of their leading products, creates a wall around a drill bit to retain fluid necessary for its operation. Spillsuck™ and Spillsock™ are for oil and chemical clean-up. A fire retardant application is used by fire departments. Both products, absorb, Hughes says, up to 30 times faster than non-kenaf products. Another popular product is Nafcore™ horse bedding that is shipped to top breeders in the U.S., Japan, Dubai and Saudi Arabia. All the products meet EPA guidelines and are biodegradable.

Biotech Mills uses the bast fibers or the outer layer of the stalk for ThermoBast^TM, a product sold to plastic composite manufacturers. Auto manufacturers like Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, Jeep and Mercedes Benz use the kenaf reinforced plastics in door panels and center consoles. The lighter weight contributes to better gas mileage. They are also researching applications for concrete and insulation.

 3F, LLC

Based in NC State Universities technology incubator, Larry Dickinson and Sean Walsh of 3F, LLC are developing the science that will make kenaf not just a reinforcing fiber but a load bearing, structural fiber.

 ”What we’re doing is modifying kenaf fiber to overcome technical problems that have held it back from being used as reinforcement for plastics in advanced composite materials used in real structural applications.”

One of those problems, Dickinson explains, is water absorption, which weakens the interface between the fiber and the resin. “This interface between the reinforcing kenaf and surrounding matrix resin is critical, and it’s always been the weak link in the kinds of plastics that are used in high volume structural composite materials,” he said. “When you combine a strong but flexible fiber with a weak but stiff in all directions plastic resin, you get a resulting fiber-reinforced composite that is stronger and stiffer than just the sum of the parts.”

3F’s technology strengthens the interface between kenaf fiber and thermoset resins allowing a natural plant fiber to be used in the place of fiberglass. The new kenaf composites will replace fiberglass materials in everything from boats to bathtubs to lighter weight automobiles. These new materials are on track to hit the market in two to three years.

Supported by the NC Green Business Fund, a 3F kenaf-reinforced concrete may be five years from market. “We’re developing the engineering and science to make a lighter weight concrete that’s more ductile and tough. We plan to make concrete that won’t get damaged as easily and won’t take as much energy to produce,” Dickinson commented. 

Another research focus is the development of a construction panel for use in residential and light industrial construction. These three different kenaf fiber applications are part of a new vision for high-tech structural textiles. Big structures require large volumes of kenaf which will soak up and sequester huge volumes of the green house gas carbon dioxide.

From environmental benefits to marketable products, kenaf represents an incredible bioagricultural opportunity.

For more information, visit BioTech Mills, www.biotechmills.com, or 3F, www.3FLLC.com.

This was originally sent as an Impact eFeature in December 2009. Send email to jwoodford@carolina.rr.com if you’d like to receive our electronic supplement.

Green Comes Together: Catawba County Regional EcoComplex and Resource Recovery Facility

In 1996, Barry Edwards, director of utilities and engineering for Catawba County, was looking for a way to turn the methane gas from the Blackburn Resource Recovery Facility into electricity. Today, the three, 1-megawatt generators at the Landfill Gas-to-Energy Facility produce enough electricity to power 1,400 houses. Catawba County sells the power to Duke Energy but retains the credits and resulting revenue.

The Catawba County Regional EcoComplex  is more than green energy. It is jobs and economic development. The Blackburn Landfill employs 22 people. The first company to build in the 800-acre business park was Gregory Wood Products. They employ 115 and purchase electricity from Duke Energy, which is produced on site by the County’s Landfill Gas-to-Energy Facility, to power the equipment that produces their lumber.

Gregory Wood Products supplies feedstock to neighboring Pallet One, the largest manufacturer of new pallets in the U.S. Pallet One employs 29 people at their EcoComplex location.  In the future, the company will recycle discarded pallets. The woody waste materials from both facilities that can’t be used in the manufacturing of products are ground up to make a fuel source for generating additional energy.

 “We are applying Industrial Ecology to waste management by reusing and reducing waste streams and then marrying those waste streams with industry partners who are locating on properties that were once used as a source of soil for landfill operations.   By returning property once used to sustain landfill operations to a taxable industrial property, the EcoComplex is not only improving our environment but is also improving our economy, all while helping reduce the tax burden on our citizens,” Edwards said.

With Appalachian State University, the EcoComplex is also a research station. Sunflower and canola are grown on the buffer areas around the Blackburn landfill. “We’re hiring local farmers to plant and harvest those crops. Then we take the seeds to produce biofuel using ASU’s staff and students,” Edwards said. “We’ll also be taking some seeds from local farmers. We’re educating farmers in the western part of North Carolina about biocrops.”

When the crops are harvested, the electricity is available on site to operate the seed crushers and fermentation equipment as part of ASU’s Biodiesel Research Facility. The facility, currently under construction, consists of a 7,260 square foot processing building and an 800 square foot chemical storage facility for biodiesel testing.  UNC Charlotte researchers are looking at the EcoComplex to study the use of algae for a number of applications from bioremediation to energy.

In the future, a brick specialties company will locate at the EcoComplex to take advantage of the low-cost energy and provide a kiln for local potters. Talks are underway for a plastic pelletation company that’s found the EcoComplex a lower cost site to produce their products. A biosolids or sludge processing facility will provide additional waste biomaterials for fuels and electricity production. Catawba County is exploring the potential and subsequent permission from the State to plant biocrops on top of the landfill that can be another feedstock for future biodiesel production.

“There’s nothing new here. We’re just marrying components together at a location called the EcoComplex. When we get down to the nitty-gritty, it is industrial ecology that optimizes the production of a particular product,” Edwards commented. He added, “The EcoComplex’s overriding role is to improve our environment through practicing what we’re preaching. We’re making every effort ourselves to become carbon neutral and to do those things that we can do as a government to improve our environment and our own services.”

For more information, visit http://www.catawbacountync.gov/DEPTS/u&e/ecocomplex.asp.