SOLUTIONS

Renewable Carbon from Working Forests

Highland’s mission is to harness the transformative power of biogenic carbon, increase forest health, combat wildfire, and mitigate climate change. Sustainable carbon is biogenic carbon procured in a responsible manner that preserves the health of working forests and facilitates the efficient production of other wood-based products. We promote sustainable forestry’s multifaceted role through innovation and education.

Renewable Carbon Solutions

Highland is a leader in biogenic carbon products, such as wood pellets, that are replacing fossil fuels and playing an important role in mitigating climate change while promoting working forest resilience well into the future.

Biogenic carbon is part of a cycle where trees absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, converting it into organic carbon compounds and storing it in their biomass. The rate of carbon captured and stored is properly measured across a working forest area, not by the growth cycle of an individual tree. Modern silviculture methods in a well-managed working forest capture more CO₂ than unmanaged mature-growth forests.

The two greatest risks to our nation’s forests are land use change and climate change. If landowners can’t get a return by sustainably managing their working forests, they are more likely to sell to property developers. If a forest is not properly managed, it is weaker to withstand climate change and forest fires. Our objective in creating renewable carbon products is to help protect our natural assets while generating rural jobs.

Technology and Solutions

Although wood is one of the oldest sources of energy, modern technology now enables it to be processed into densified pellets that can be efficiently transported domestically and around the world. Even after allowing for the energy spent in collecting the wood, processing it into pellets and transportation, the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) released from burning the pellets is more than an 80% reduction compared to burning coal.

We manufacture wood pellets that are typically used in thermal combustion processes, for example in electricity generation. The advancements in carbon capture and storage now allow power stations to generate electricity with negative emissions and make valuable use of the captured biogenic CO₂.

Another product in development is biocarbon, which is essentially a higher fixed carbon content wood pellet. Biocarbon is a powerful reduction agent that is used to reduce fossil fuel in the production of iron, steel or silicon metals.

Operations and Logistics

Safety is our first priority and we firmly believe that a safe working environment is the foundation for everything that we do.

Highland manages two wood pellet plants, Highland Pellets and Highland FR in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and additional development sites in Pine Bluff as well as Ogemaw (Arkansas), Grenada (Mississippi) and further developments in the State of Maine. Highland uses the best-available technology in our operations to produce consistently high-quality, renewable carbon products.

Managing logistics is a key part of how Highland ensures that the supply chain is maintained and that pellets reach their destination quickly and reliably. With strategic site locations next to rail spurs, river barges or direct access to ports, we can take advantage of optimal logistic solutions to meet our customers’ needs.

Sustainable Carbon

There are over 200 million acres of timberland in the U.S. South, with about 60% owned by individuals and families and around 28% managed industrially. Our two pellet facilities in Pine Bluff use around 1.8 million tons per year of wood feedstock or fiber taken from sawmills and sustainably managed private working forests in the local area.

Our strategy has been to locate our pellet plants in the area with the best availability of sustainable fiber. This provides the best possible risk mitigation against short-term supply shocks caused by weather and protects against any future increase in fiber demand. For example, Highland is able to source 3.5 million tons of softwood pulpwood each year within a 75-mile radius of Pine Bluff, which is around 2.2 times more than what is needed.

Highland’s operating facilities in Arkansas use predominantly loblolly pine (Pineus taeda) which is a species of southern yellow pine. Fiber is sourced from privately owned semi-natural planted forests and any waste wood provided by local sawmills.

Highland will not source any wood from protected sources or if the wood has a higher value in an alternative market. All the following is excluded from our supply chain:

• Fiber from conservation lands

• Areas of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

• Saw logs

• Longleaf pine

• Cypress

The wood fiber that we take from the forests is mostly thinnings — small trees that must be removed to prevent overcrowding and enable the remaining trees to obtain more light, nutrients, and water to grow into a healthy forest. If forests were not thinned, there would be an increased risk of forest fire, disease, and the value of the remaining trees would be less because they would not grow into high-quality saw logs for the lumber market.

For commercial and environmental reasons, Highland’s fiber strategy is to purchase the lowest-cost pulpwood of the required quality to make high-specification pellets. Highland doesn’t put any bark or pine needles into our pellets, but we do use unwanted treetops that have been removed when cutting the saw logs to size. Highland will also use any rejected trees that cannot be used as sawlogs because of disease or damage. Highland provides a market for the lowest-value wood which provides a much-needed source of regular income to local landowners. Highland helps to keep the local forests commercially viable and reduces the risk of the land being converted from forest to other uses.