Mesquite wood chips

Product Description

We at International Biomass Supply Company (IBS) are suppliers of hard wood fuel chips from the Gulf of Mexico and have a current operation in the field where we are harvesting mesquite wood chips to be loaded at the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas. To give you a quick understanding how significant all this is with respect to the mesquite IBS will have the capacity to handle over **0,**0 MT/ month from the current port with additional capacity via rail. Our recent SGS report from Berlin was analyzed from freshly harvested wood chips that were packaged and sent to the lab the very next day which had a moisture level of just under *0%. When filling a vessel load or rail we will be loading the wood chips between *0 to *5 percent moisture depending the time of the year.

The Mesquite operation by IBS is based out of the port of Corpus Christi where we can load the chips unto any large sized vessel for transport. The first contracted volumes have been secured from Ranch land where the removal of mesquite brings back a value to the ranch land since it is considered an intrusive species to this area. Current negotiated volumes with these land owners would sustain a ten year operation with volumes of up to **0,**0 MT per month.

Mesquite is the most common tree / shrub of the Desert Southwest. Like many members of the Legume Family (called Fabaceae these days), mesquite restores nitrogen to the soil. There are 3 common species of mesquite: Honey Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), Screwbean Mesquite (Prosopis pubescens ) and Velvet Mesquite (Prosopis velutina). They range from a few feet to *0 to *5 feet in height, although the Honey and Velvet Mesquites may reach *0 to *0 feet in especially favorable settings. They may have single or multiple-branched stems, with each plant assuming its own distinctive shape.

Harvesting mesquite from grasslands and rangelands for bioenergy serves a dual purpose in providing an alternative energy source as well as restoring these lands to its natural nature. The primary advantage of mesquite as bioenergy feedstocks is that they do not grow on land better suited for growing food or fiber and thus will not impact agricultural food markets. Harvesting the mesquite is referred to as a sustainable feedstock supply and provide the best opportunity to enhance ecosystem diversity, herbaceous forage production for livestock and habitat for wildlife. Thus, creating an ecologically sustainable harvest scenario that considers more than just feedstock supply yields.
 

IBS is a supplier of a hard wood fuel chips with the primary species being mesquite of the genus (Prosopis) which is harvested in the Texas region. The current operation is based out of the port of Corpus Christi which allows for the chips to be loaded unto ocean vessels, barges or rail for transport. Harvesting capacity can accomodate *0,**0 tons of volume per month which will net close to a million tons per year and as demand increases we have the capacity to double this volume. Mesquite is considered an invasive species that over takes considerable amount of ranch and farm lands in the Texas region. Mesquite is a tree or shrub that occurs on over *0 million acres in the U.S. with *0 million acres in Texas alone. Mesquite typically grows as a 2 m tall multi-stemmed shrub however, substantial sized trees i.e. *0 cm in trunk diameter and 8 m tall occur frequently. In the areas that we’re currently harvesting we’ve been yielding over *0 tons of wood chips per acre. We have current land harvesting contracts with private ranch land owners with an average contract length of ten years. We expect that this will yield approximately 5 million tons of feedstock through the first harvest. As demand increases we will secure additional lands with yield volumes of 2 million tons on a yearly basis that can be re-harvested on a 7 to *0 year cycle. Since IBS is providing a service to these private ranch land owners by harvesting the mesquite as a bioenergy feedstock compared to current practice of removal or suppression through chemical or machinery practices and then burning has become a more cost effective option to them.