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<br /> • CASE STUDY: Bixby Energy Systems •
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<br /> y Bob.Walker is CEO of a new company producing a new furnace
<br /> that burns corn and other biomass fuels with little waste.
<br /> -M U pyx 9�g so cleanly, Walker doesn't even vent '
<br /> ;�;� �� �`� Asx 4��� � �:st � �.: r ��..
<br /> e boutside.
<br /> BY DAVID HANNERS � 3 � �rsz ¢ his stove to the
<br /> Pioneer Press E o MM�lit' g� '
<br /> X4.0 "' � -Walkers vision of Bixby Energy
<br /> ��� � s 5 �" t � Systems.is to start with production of
<br /> that if life gives t ll x i f "�'
<br /> here's a saying seals t Y this moderate-sized heater, then pro
<br /> you lemons, make lemonade A, i t fi,,S? f h ,§fir y �; duce and market special fuel pellets for
<br /> As Bob Walker sees it, if life ,,fs 10it1:f #n 9r0► F l s5k 1 it. The pellets would be made from a
<br /> gives you corn, make a stove lir y `wel s� ��x soy,r , Y: variety of biomass material — things
<br /> burns it for fuel. #iartr lulCcis b�oias like sugar beet waste,cranberry w and
<br /> It's long been known that corn can 41 tt4t`nii a anti i t olti„a to xpa;-: s R grape waste.and even sewage
<br /> be an efficient fuel,and cornfueled fur- -�t�spr$410ln�` r' .*104Py x4 ; mixed and compressed with other
<br /> naces have been around for years.But 13'{Jeile �5izecl fuels i,r xz ingredients in a proprietary recipe so
<br /> Walker,the retired founder of mattress k r , material would
<br /> maker Select Comfort Corp.,isthe CEO I i Bob of 0 x :that
<br /> de-each
<br /> a type
<br /> amef basic BTUs when
<br /> and driving force behind a new compa w * burned.
<br /> fly that has developed a furnace that ha1Jefge,Maf►ufaCture ani To lay phrase
<br /> combines off-the-shelf technology and �, mark t-a furnace tliat runs on "alternative mostive clay ppeople,ethe visionsphre
<br /> some high-tech gadgetry to make corn, '' iass fuck To dothat,the environmentalists — "tree-huggers,"
<br /> other "biomass" fuel, i nipafiy also ha5=tb Increase "tree
<br /> pricey
<br /> or virtually any as Walker would say—pushing
<br /> burn even more efficiently pdbtc a�rarene5s of biomass fuel energy sources that seem more science
<br /> "It's the fuel of the future," the 59 '1 artt dem n rate that at tan b fiction than reality. But Walker is a
<br /> year-old Walker said as he demonstrate expensive than fossti fuels' _ business pragmatist, and he says he
<br /> ed one of his prototype biomass fur- , oib�iityo Coipany +as wouldn't have gotten into the alterna-
<br /> naces at his Ramsey home. "It'll allow it1Cfsoratedn Jule 2001;and tive-energy field if the market weren't
<br /> us to. get away from Mideast oil. We 'hasn`t tamed ►roc itd1Oii yet already there for a product that worked
<br /> weVare literallylhaving to putt inusland I"r'�Je' �`0 OO2 produ�tian as advertised—and at a price competi-
<br /> Corrttiany hopes to build 6,000 tive with fossil fuels. „Walker said.
<br /> fills" "EfuCrieces lii its first year of "I'm a marketing guy,
<br /> Bixby Ener- S)31rattt3Yt as excited about. this as I was
<br /> Walker s new comnany, "I'm
<br /> gy Systems,opens a new 6,000 square when I started Select Comfort.There,
<br /> foot plant in',Elk River this month to 0, was taking people off traditional
<br /> begin production of its first product, a ,1,,,,,,,,,„:„,„,,-„,--,„.........� „- springs and putting them on air.dHere,
<br /> furnace capable of burning 1 cornor; for we're taking people off fossil fuels and
<br /> other biomass fuels with:1.i#17.:,waste,, ,,.;:-and,can keep the furnace burning
<br /> save feverw ashes you clean out of the s y rets fo abouthree t$2,795,and it will hee ace t will putting Indeed, the alternative energy field
<br /> m on biomass."
<br /> stove every So often
<br /> A ppshel of e costs l ss`than,$x= rlorinal, ed home: It burns the corn Walker sat rack re ord.entrepreneurs 1987, he
<br /> • M' founded Select Comfort Corp., a Min-
<br /> neapolis-based company that took a
<br /> simple idea—the chambered air mat-
<br /> tress—and improved on it,
<br /> turning it
<br /> sae's s` into a high-tech line of mattresses that
<br /> '11,-'-'40-F=04-4',44,a" A� �' owners swear by. The company has
<br /> g -'..:::;•40`-'-',4-.-4.�'{' '- g' "� �� tmore than 325 retail stores nationwide
<br /> �r "' ' and last year had sales in the$278 mil
<br /> " , t ori, ' 0. hon range.
<br /> 4=:-":::=4.F„,‘,.:;"-A=4.,,,:.:: 4 j 4 Walker hopes to do the same thing
<br /> -, 4 t z 'rf' with biomass furnaces: Take a simple
<br /> .: o ' concept,•improve on it with technology,,
<br /> € market it to the right consumers and
<br /> A • * 0•` r 4i watch as business takes off. He wants
<br /> s 4 +}
<br /> � �F: ''-"'-?..:'-';`,:i4-,,,%,.4:,,.=',::::%.,., ,� `��,� to.make money and wants the business
<br /> :x '
<br /> r'` to flourish, but at the heart of it, he
<br /> �, ,:.=4:4 says,there is a certain altruism.
<br /> w 2 With mattresses, •it was a desire to
<br /> /- .'
<br /> tA: � help people who had trouble sleeping
<br /> get.a good night's rest. With biomass
<br /> °�'' furnaces,it is a desire to find a cheap,
<br /> clean and abundant source of fuel.
<br /> Corn and other biomass fuels have
<br /> Bob Walker holds vials of some of the 20-odd fuel pellets his company has that potential,experts say.A study that
<br /> developed from waste biomass products that will burn in the Bixby furnaces. Walker did last summer when he ineor-
<br /> These are dry distiller grain (left over from the ethanol process)and sweet porated Bixby Energy. Systems showed
<br /> that to produce 1 million BTUs of heat,
<br /> corn silage,sunflower hulls and navy bean cull and dry shelled corn. Others it worth of electricity,
<br /> include wheat pellet,soybean meal,waste feed, beet pulp,corn stalk and , it would$12.88 takewo$21.39th oliquid propane gas,
<br /> dry distiller grain,all pelletized and sold in 40-pound bags or in bulk delivery.
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