Two of these important initiatives are biofuel-related. One is a deal between Chemrec AB, a Swedish company, and the NewPage Corp., which operates a paper mill in Escanaba, Mich., in the Upper Peninsula.

The other is an initiative by the Mascoma Corp., a Massachusetts-based company, to build a cellulosic ethanol plant in Otsego County, near Gaylord, Mich. The Mascoma operation could end up being the first plant in the nation to produce ethanol from wood on a commercial scale.

The idea behind the Chemrec-NewPage partnership is to build a plant right next to the existing paper mill in Escanaba.

“Having Chemrec in Michigan is very exciting,” said Steven Pueppke, director of the Office of Bio-based Technologies at Michigan State University.

He traveled to Sweden in August along with Granholm and Ray Miller, manager of the Upper Peninsula Tree Improvement Center. At a ceremony, Granholm recognized the efforts of Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station researcher Kris Berglund, who is also a professor in Lulea, Sweden, from where some of Berglund’s relatives hail.

Pueppke had this to say about the technical process at a typical paper mill: “It’s taking a low value material, black liquor, and turning it into synthesis gas, and that can be turned into fuel for an automobile.”

Black liquor is a byproduct of the brown paper processing system. It’s usually burned or disposed of in some way, but it can be gasified and turned into “syngas.”

Pueppke describes syngas as a chemical process, while the ethanol production process is all about fermentation, which is biological.

The Chemrec deal may come closer to fruition later this month when officials from Sweden travel to Michigan to discuss the deal with NewPage. Pueppke estimates that the deal will become final in another two months.

Bridget Beckman, spokeswoman for the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC), described the proposed Mascoma cellulosic ethanol facility as part of an effort spearheaded by the state, called “woods to wheels.”

“The ‘woods to wheels’ effort in Michigan is all about turning woody biomass into biofuels,” she said.

MEDC has been heavily involved in the Mascoma initiative. Among other things, it helped secure a $3 million community development block grant to lure Mascoma to Michigan.

As long as the deal is finalized, Mascoma will locate its plant at a former Georgia Pacific fiberboard plant that closed last year. In addition to the incentive package, Mascoma chose Michigan because of the state’s abundant timber resources, and because of the expertise to be found at MSU and Michigan Technological University.

Although the Mascoma deal was announced last July, it will take 18-36 months before the company has its facility up and running, according to Jeffrey Ratcliff, executive director of the Otsego County Economic Alliance, a county wide nonprofit. As part of an environmental review under the federal community block grant, a 30-day public comment period is mandatory before the project can be finalized; that is underway right now.

“If it all comes together, it will be a really neat project,” Ratcliffe said. “We’re pretty confident it’s coming together.”

According to Ratcliffe, the new ethanol plant, once up and running, could produce 300-500 new jobs in the region.