Basics

Koda Energy, LLC, is an innovative combined heat and power plant which burns agricultural byproducts and grown energy crops to create steam to generate energy in the form of electricity and heat. The project gets its name from the word “Koda” which means "friend" in the Dakota Language. Koda Energy is the only combined heat and power plant facility in the United States which burns exclusively natural, non-manmade materials.

Koda is a joint partnership of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) and Rahr Malting Company (Rahr).

The burning of byproducts from malting and food processing along with raw materials like wood chips, biosolids, and dry grasses is used to generate electricity and thermal energy at Koda Energy. The specific fuel mix burned at Koda Energy is a blend of materials to maintain a consistent heat output and limit emissions. The blend ratio is proprietary information.

Koda Energy’s heat conversion rate is approximately 87% compared to coal, which is about 63%.

Electric power generated averages 12.5 megawatts, with net power generated at approximately 23.4 megawatts and 220,000 lbm/hr of high pressure steam. (Amounts fluctuate based largely on Rahr Malting’s demand for heat.)

Rahr Malting Company and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Partnership

• Rahr Malting is one of the world's largest single-site producers of malt and brewing supplies.
• The facility is located on the Rahr Malting campus on Highway 101, approximately seven miles from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. 
• The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and Rahr Malting formed Koda Energy, a Limited Liability Company, in 2006 to build and operate the facility.
• The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is the majority partner.
• The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community financed Rahr Malting’s portion of the project.
• The Koda Energy Board of Directors consists of two members from Rahr Malting and two members from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.
• SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks is Chairman of the Board of Koda Energy.

Benefits of Koda Energy

• By-products from malting and food processing are used to generate electricity.
• The plant burns considerably cleaner than a coal plant and is considered CO₂ neutral.
• Rahr Malting uses heat from the generation of electricity in their malting process.
• Biomass fuels are one of the largest sources of renewable energy.
• Products burned in Koda Energy are agricultural and plant seed byproducts, materials which do not deter land from use as row crops.
• There is very little remaining solid waste.
• Purpose grown energy crops sequester carbon in their root system thus lowering overall atmospheric carbon. There is no net gain of carbon dioxide (the major greenhouse gas) to the environment.
• Dedicated energy crops reduce soil erosion and carbon sequestration.
• Renewable or green energy meets the goals set by the state of Minnesota.
• Koda Energy’s location is in a high demand area for energy usage.

Economic Impact

• The $60 million construction project created 17 new jobs with an annual payroll of $750,000 per year.
• Each year $6 million is spent in the local area for biomass purchases.

Technology

• The boiler and auxiliary equipment is capable of generating 220,000 pounds per hour of steam flow at 900 psig, 900 degrees F when firing the specified fuel.

Construction

• Construction on Koda Energy began shortly after the September 13, 2007, groundbreaking.

• McBurney Corporation of Norcoss, Georgia, built the power plant.
• The facility began generating electricity in March 2009 and commercial operations in May 2009.

Biomass fuel

• Product delivered to the facility must meet certain specifications for size and moisture content and contain no foreign materials or hazardous wastes.
• Koda samples all fuel deliveries to insure quality.
• Koda utilizes a truck lift to empty fuel trucks into the receiving pit.
• Fuel is segregated into six different storage silos with enough storage for four days of energy production.   

• Approximately 75% of Koda Energy’s fuel comes from all areas of Minnesota, Western Wisconsin, Northern Iowa, and North Dakota.  
• The remaining 25% of Koda Energy’s fuel is made up of Rahr’s byproducts and is pneumatically conveyed to the fuel storage site. 
• Incoming fuel must be no larger than 1 inch and ¼-inch thick, the approximate size of a quarter. Four hammer mills, also called grinders, grind 21 tons of product per hour to a talcum like powder.
• Up to 11 tons of dry wood can be burned per hour.
• 170,000 tons of biomass per year is required to fuel Koda Energy.
• Other products burned, deemed “Opportunistic Fuels” include sawdust, sunflower hulls, wood shavings, ground pallets, wheat hulls, and other agricultural products.

General Mills Oat Hulls

• General Mills makes their own oat flour for their cereals: Cheerios and Lucky Charms.
• Koda Energy burns oat hulls from two mills: Fridley, Minnesota facility is a high performance 24/7 operation. Purity Oats in Minneapolis operates intermittently throughout the year.
• Hillwood Products in Cook, Minnesota, transports the product to Koda Energy.
• General Mills provides approximately nine, 22-ton truckloads per day of oat hulls from the processing of cereals like Cheerios.

Hammer Mills

• A drag conveyor moves fuel from the individual silos to hammer mills that reduce the particle size to a fine dust. 
• The specific fuel mix, or recipe, is proprietary information, but in general is a blend of materials from the individual silos to maximize efficiency and minimize emissions.

Boiler/Energy Generation

• 23.4 megawatt power generator, with an average of 12.5 megawatts being supplied to the power grid.
• Power generation fluctuates based on Rahr Malting’s thermal demand. As Rahr’s demand increases, power generation decreases. As Rahr’s demand decreases, power generation increases.
• Rahr Malting uses extraction steam from the turbine to heat glycol which is then used in the malting process.
• Power generation is distributed between Koda and Rahr with the balance being supplied to Xcel Energy.
• The boiler was designed for the specific fuel types it burns. It also provides for rapid ignition of the fuel, adequate retention time to get full combustion, and sufficient air volume to optimize heat production while limiting emissions.
• Heat from the boiler generates steam that powers a steam turbine. 

• The boiler is suspended from the top of the boiler building and expands downward as it heats up.  
• There are three levels of burners for a total of six burners.

• The temperature inside the firebox is approximately 1,800 – 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
• The boiler operates at 900 degrees and 900 lbs while producing 220,000 lbm of steam per hour.

Byproducts

• At full capacity Koda Energy produces approximately 45 tons of ash per day.
• Ash is useful as a soil amendment for cropland, for composting, or for remediation of contaminated soil. It can also be used in the concrete industry or for road projects.
• Koda Energy provides 100% of the energy and heat needed by Rahr Malting.
• Smokestack is 228 feet tall.
• Two, 35-foot cooling towers help condense the steam vapor.
• Dust is controlled throughout the entire process with a number of dust collectors.  
• As a final step an electrostatic precipitator charges dust particles which are attracted to plates with a negative charge of 50,000 volts which cause the dust particles to be filtered out by removing the fine particulate matter.

Rahr Malting

• The Rahr Family has made malt for 162 years.
• Operational in Shakopee since 1936.
• The Shakopee plant currently employs more than 100 highly skilled workers.
• It is the largest malting facility in one location in the world.
• Five malt houses with 370,000 MT capacity.
• Also a facility in Alberta, Canada, built in 1993.
• U.S. customers include Anheuser-Busch, Miller, and Craft Brewers.
• International customers include Modelo, Asahi, Kirin, Sapporro, SAB, and InBev.
• Rahr uses heat to replace natural gas for their malting process which can last from 156-180 hours (6.5 – 7.5 days) for the three stages: steeping, germination, and kilning/drying.

Other Numbers

• Koda Energy operates 50 weeks per year while taking one week in the spring and one week in the fall for repair and maintenance.
• Koda was constructed on a 3½ acre site.
• The stack is 228 feet tall.
• The plant is designed to have a 60-70 year operational life.
• The Siemens turbine is approximately 18 feet by 20 feet wide by 38 feet long.
• Koda Energy is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week with at least three operators on shift at any given time.
• Control room operators have a State of Minnesota 1^st class ‘A’ Engineer’s license.
• Cost of project in excess of $60 million.

Native Prairie Plants as Potential Fuel

• The SMSC is exploring options for burning native prairie plants in the Koda Energy facility.
• Koda Energy has the potential to be an important regional source driving a conversion of marginal cropland to perennial grassland cover/energy crop, reducing agricultural run-off, creating wildlife habitat, while growing an important biofuel source.
• The SMSC is currently conducting agronomical research on energy crops.
• This research is the first of its kind at a functional scale to determine optimal plant mixtures and actual output of native prairie plants (tons/acre).
• The SMSC sees Koda and the associated energy crop research as a very important tool for future self-sufficiency and sustainability.
• The SMSC is at the forefront of this technology in hopes that this work will benefit other tribes and communities in years to come.
• Producing energy from crops creates jobs, fuels self-sufficiency, and supports sovereignty.

Milestones

• SMSC and Ralting Company partnership formed 2006
• Project design 2006 -2007
• Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO) interconnect submission 3/2006
• MISO interconnect approval 5/2007
• Minnesota Pollution Control Agency permit approval 9/2007
• Construction began 9/2007
• Steam blow completion  1/2009
• Power purchase agreement 1/2009
• Commercial operation 5/2009