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Canadian wood pellet exporter nominated for bioenergy award

John Swaan, the founder of wood pellet supplier Pacific BioEnergy Corp., has been nominated for the 2010 World…

John Swaan, the founder of wood pellet supplier Pacific BioEnergy Corp., has been nominated for the 2010 World Bioenergy Award. Swaan is one of seven nominees for the award, which will be presented at the World Bioenergy conference in Sweden in May.
The World Bioenergy Award goes to an individual who has furthered the development of the bioenergy sector. The nomination announcement credits Swaan with arranging the first ever long-distance transport of wood pellets to Europe (Vancouver to Sweden).In doing so, he proved that long-distance transport of biomass could be economical.
Since 1998 Canadian exports to the EU have grown to more than 1 million tonnes and now 0.5 million tonnes are also shipped from the US South East and several thousand tonnes are now shipped from Australia.
Pacific BioEnergy Corporation is an integrated manufacturer of wood pellet biomass fuel for industrial purchasers worldwide. The company is based in Prince George, B.C., with its head office in Vancouver.
The other nominees are: Prof. Laércio Couto (Brazil), Prof. Pentti Hakkila (Finland), Dr. Dilip Ranade (India), Prof. Ralph Sims (New Zealand), Harry Stokes (USA), and Bernt Svensén (Sweden).