Groupe Savoie is investing in their mill operations in Northern New Brunswick. They have decided to build a 60 ton/year pelletizing plant. Using a 35 MMBTu Wellons FEI stepped grate combustor, the plant will burn bark in order to dry white wood in an M-E-C Rotary dryer for the pelletizing process. The Wellons FEI stepped grate burner has an automatic ash extraction system which makes it possible to burn wet bark without stopping operations to clean out the grate. Using bark for the drying process gives them a use for this low grade fuel, while keeping all of the white wood for the finished product. Many of the early pellet plants use part of the dry white fibre coming out of the dryer to operate a dry wood burner. This means up to 20% of the value added production that leaves the dryer has to be burned to operate it. With the Wellons FEI stepped grate burner they can burn the wet bark directly in the combustion chamber without any special fuel treatment, so in the end the dryer will yield 20% more value added product, or you will need a dryer 20% smaller, whichever way you want to look at it.
Wellons FEI recent projects: New England Wood Pellets, Deposit, NY
New England Wood Pellets is also investing in a new pellet plant. The company has purchased the Norbord Deposit site in New York State. The plant will be called Deposit Wood Pellets and will yield 100 000 tons of pellets per year. Ever since the significant increase in the price of white wood fibre in the past few years, it was only logical that Deposit Wood Pellets would choose to burn low grade fuel in order to dry their white wood. That’s why they decided to invest in a 40 MMBTU Wellons FEI stepped grate burner. By using this equipment Deposit wood pellets will be able to combust low grade forestry biomass and bark in order to dry the raw material for their pellets, thus keeping more of the higher value white wood available for pelletizing.
Why burn, value added white wood, when you can burn bark?