As renewable energy disparager President Donald Trump continues to prop up and promote coal and fossil fuel industries, Mississippi finds itself on a path to grow industries producing renewable energy alternatives to coal.
Gov. Tate Reeves did not mention renewable energy when he announced the new partnership between Weyerhaeuser and Aymium that will bring “biocarbon” production to Magnolia in Pike County. “TerraForge Biocarbon Solutions is bringing innovative industrial manufacturing to Mississippi and helping modernize an industry that powers our economy,” said Reeves. Over the next five years Weyerhaeuser expects to construct multiple new biocarbon production facilities across its national footprint.
“We are thrilled to partner with Weyerhaeuser to expand our footprint in Mississippi,” said Aymium CEO and founder James A. Mennell.
Yes, this is Aymium’s second venture into Mississippi. In 2022, Aymium partnered with Steel Dynamics in Columbus to create SDI Biocarbon Solutions. Its announcement was part of the announcement of Steel Dynamics $2.5 billion aluminum plant, the largest capital investment in Mississippi at the time.
Aymium says that by replacing emission-intensive materials, its offerings provide measurable environmental impact across energy, metals, agriculture, and water and air purification sectors. As the Weyerhaeuser plan indicates, Aymium is on a path to revolutionize metallurgical processing worldwide.
Aymium only has two other major industrial sites at this time, one in Gwinn, Michigan, and one in Williams, California. The company touts itself as “accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels” by using renewable biomass to produce clean energy alternatives. A summary of the company’s history says it began in 2012 as Biogenic Reagents – its R&D phase, transitioned to National Carbon Technologies – its proof of concept phase, then to Aymium – its global decarbonization platform, all driven by the same core renewable-biomass carbon technology.
Here’s how it works. Biomass is placed in large rotary kilns and heated through pyrolysis to reduce it to pure carbon. Pyrolysis is the heating of an organic material at high temperatures (500°C or higher) in the absence of oxygen so there is no burning. Aymium’s process also produces biohydrogen. Waste heat and the gas are then used to sustain the highly efficient process.
In both Mississippi ventures, Aymium’s patented process converts wood fiber biomass into high-purity biocarbon that can substitute for coal and coke in metallurgical manufacturing. Both Mississippi facilities are located near major wood waste sources – in Magnolia by a Weyerhaeuser lumber mill and in Columbus by an International Paper pulp mill.
Mississippians can be thankful that Reeve’s “Mississippi Power Play” initiative incorporates an “all of the above” approach to pursuing energy related industries.
"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up" – Galatians 6:9.
Crawford is the author of A Republican’s Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives.
