Biodiesel firm adds forestry consultant in expansion effort
July 2, 2012
BY Ron Kotrba
As the latest move in its quest to become a major consulting firm in all alternative fuels as it has done in the biodiesel sector, Lee Enterprises Consulting added Gerald Kutney, managing director of Sixth Element Sustainable Management, as its expert in forestry bioenergy, bioproducts and emerging technologies.
Kutney achieved his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Toronto, and has more than 15 years of executive management experience with global corporations and entrepreneurial enterprises in the development of technology, commercialization, biomass economics and procurement in biorefining, bioenergy, and bioproducts. He is a founding member of the Canadian Biochar Initiative and an Adjunct Professor and Instructor in the Environmental Science Program at the University of Northern British Columbia.
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Kutney began his career in the pulp and paper industry and later led the biorefining business of a major forest products company, which included the largest cellulosic ethanol business in North America, a biomass-to-energy CHP facility and an international bioproducts business. He subsequently led a new company in the commercialization of a novel bioenergy technology. Kutney currently serves as managing director of Sixth Element Sustainable Management.
Lee Enterprises CEO Wayne Lee said the group is currently positioned to handle virtually every type of alternative or renewable fuels matter for a variety of clients worldwide and will continue its expansion as necessary.
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“Dr. Kutney is a recognized professional in the field of forestry bioenergy and bioproducts and is very well versed in emerging new technologies in alternative and renewable fuels” Lee said. “His work has resulted in the development of several new technological processes, patented inventions and scientific publications, and his publications have been presented at major bioenergy conferences worldwide. We are very excited to have him as part of our consulting group.”
“Lee Enterprises Consulting is known worldwide as the top group in alternative and renewable fuels consulting,” Kutney said. He noted that the consulting group not only has a broad presence in alternative and renewable fuels, but also has affiliations with the top attorneys, accountants, appraisers, insurance teams, EPC contractors and other professionals, all of whom will now be available to his projects. “Lee Enterprises Consulting has assembled a group of the top people with a wide variety of expertise in alternative and renewable fuels,” Kutney said, “and I am quite excited about being part of that pool of talent.”
Lee Enterprises isn’t the only biodiesel company to expand its operations beyond conventional methyl esters. In fact, on July 2, the same date Lee Enterprises announced the addition of its newest consultant, Austria-based BDI-BioEnergy International AG and oil company OMV Aktiengesellschaft opened a pilot plant utilizing BDI’s Biocrack technology to coprocess biomass such as wood and fossil oil into a diesel product made of up to 20 percent renewable content. BDI-BioEnergy, previously called BDI-BioDiesel, has built more than 30 biodiesel plants worldwide, and although its core strength is biodiesel—much like Lee Enterprises’—the company has successfully broadened its scope to include biogas, biomass-based diesel beyond methyl esters, and more.
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