Groupe Savoie to dry wood using bark Sainte-Julie, QC – Groupe Savoie is investing in its northern New Brunswick sawmill operations by building a 55,000-tonne/ year wood-pellet plant. Using a Wellons FEI stepped grate combustor, the plant will burn bark 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 a use for this low-grade fuel and keeps 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 the dryer. With the Wellons FEI stepped grate burner, the wet bark can be burned directly in the combustion chamber without any special fuel treatment. Thus, the dryer yields 20% more value-added product or a 20% smaller dryer is required. The pellet plant is currently in construction and will be operating in spring 2010. As tec acquires ONTARIO pellet-mill coMPANY Chattanooga, TN – Astec Industries has acquired Industrial Mechanical & Integration (IMI), located in Walkerton, Ontario. IMI is a small company that has woodpellet- making machine technology. Rick Minke, president of IMI, and key employees have agreed to remain with the company to further develop and promote this new technology. IMI has been testing the technology for two years and is now making the first group of production machines. "We are excited about the potential of this new technology,” says Dr. J. Don Brock, chairman and chief executive of Astec Industries. “Conventional pellet production machines were designed for easy-to-use materials and do not always work well with a wide variety of wood species. With this acquisition, Astec Industries can provide a one-stop solution to customers desiring to own a pellet plant that can process material from roundwood all the way to the finished product. We are well positioned to be a turnkey supplier to the growing wood pellet industry.” Morbark and HTI form partnersh ip Winn, MI – Morbark, a manufacturer of wood reduction equipment, has forged an agreement with Heat Transfer International (HTI) of Kentwood, Michigan. HTI is a technology company that provides turnkey waste-to-energy biomass gasification systems. The agreement, which will create new jobs in Michigan, includes a manufacturing agreement for Morbark and an equity investment in HTI. Morbark’s investment in HTI is in line with its vision of sustainable energy through responsible forestry. “Not only will we manufacture wood reduction equipment, we’ll be producing the systems which convert wood and other organics into usable electricity and steam,” says Lon Morey, president and CEO of Morbark. “Our agreement with HTI will allow us to manufacture large custom equipment systems with world-class quality, and will allow HTI to focus on managing the rapid growth of its exciting sustainable energy technology.” Alberta funds Energy Campus Drayton Valley, AB – Scrap treetops and branches from forestry operations in Alberta will soon be converted to electricity at the Drayton Valley Energy Campus. The Alberta government is providing $25 million to develop a waste-toenergy production facility in the town of Drayton Valley. Minnesotabased Otoka Energy Corporation is receiving a $20-million grant from Alberta’s share of the Canada ecoTrust for Clean Air and Climate Change. The project also received $5 million in July 2009 through Alberta’s Biorefining Commercialization and Market Development Program, administered by Alberta Energy. “The Town of Drayton Valley is delighted to have Otoka Energy Corporation as part of our community,” says Drayton Valley Mayor Moe Hamdon. “We have a shared interest in finding clean, renewable and rewarding energy solutions, and this project complements our bio-mile development, an ongoing initiative to create industrial development without waste.” Otoka’s Drayton Valley Energy Campus will convert an estimated 380,000 tonnes/year of wood waste into electricity once the project is fully operational. The project will reduce Alberta’s greenhouse gas emissions by about 400,000 tonnes/year. Otoka has plans to develop its Drayton Valley operations in three phases. Phase one includes the construction and operation of the Drayton Valley Energy Campus. The total cost of this development is estimated at $100 million. The next two phases are estimated to cost an additional $140 million and will add a methanogenic reactor to produce natural gas and an upgrader to produce ethanol. Envergent’s pyrolysis chosen for power Des Plaines, IL – Italian power company Industria e Innovazione has selected Envergent Technologies’ rapid thermal processing (RTP) technology for the development of a facility to convert biomass into pyrolysis oil for renewable power generation. The RTP works by rapidly heating biomass at ambient pressure to generate high yields of pourable, liquid pyrolysis oil. The oil can then be burned in industrial burners and furnaces for heat or electricity generation. Industria e Innovazione and Envergent, a joint venture of UOP and Ensyn, have signed an agreement to pursue the development of an RTP facility to convert a mix of pine forest residues and clean demolition wood into pyrolysis oil. The facility will be designed to process approximately 150 bone-dry tonnes/day of biomass to pyrolysis oil for the generation of renewable electricity. Envergent will provide engineering for the facility, which is projected for start-up in 2012. First Nation ok's Sea 2 Sky biomass Ferndale, WA – Sea 2 Sky Corporation has received the endorsement of the Lake Babine Indian Nation (LBN) of Burns Lake, British Columbia, to proceed with agreements to develop Lake Babine biomass resources for alternative energy uses in North America. LBN has substantial volumes of fibre under its control. It and other indigenous peoples have been in consultations with the BC Department of Forestry and various industry sectors to develop these resources to improve the local economy by salvaging pinebeetle- killed trees to provide employment for local people in the bioenergy industry. Sea 2 Sky would process the biomass locally for sale into the North American bioenergy market. LBN would provide the biomass. Sea 2 Sky is planning a local plant to produce pellets and other bioproducts. Northern Ontario pellet project progresses Atikokan Renewable Fuels aims to take delivery of pellet mills in January 2010 to begin wood pellet production in March, reports Thunder Bay’s Chronicle Journal. An assembly plant to manufacture pellet machines is also planned for Thunder Bay, Ontario. About 110 jobs could be created at the two plants. First Nations buy BC sawmill The Williams Lake Tribune reports that the First Nations communities of Anaham, Redstone, Stone, and Toosey have purchased the Sigurdson Brothers Sawmill near Hanceville, British Columbia. The communities are exploring the possibilities of reopening the mill and building a bioenergy plant. Community members could be back to work by next summer if the economy continues to improve. Michigan pellet company is booming Michigan Wood Pellet Fuel is increasing its production and workforce to keep up with pellet demand, reports WZZM13. Com. The company plans to fill two million bags of wood pellets in the next year, producing at 100% capacity. Ingleside pellets still in design Co-owners and brothers Stan and Dan Stasko broke ground for a new pellet plant in August 2009, reports Cornwall’s Standard Freeholder. However, the $80-million facility remains in the design phase. The Canadian Bio Pellet plant will be located in Ingleside, about 20 km west of Cornwall, Ontario. The plant is licensed to produce 360,000 tonnes/year of pellets when completed, with a planned capacity of 450,000 tonnes/year. NS approves Crown timber for NewPage biomass The province of Nova Scotia has approved the sale of timber from Crown land to the proposed NewPage Port Hawkesbury biomass power facility in Cape Breton, reports the Chronicle Herald. The approval should allow NewPage Port Hawkesbury to move forward with the project, which would supply electricity to Nova Scotia Power.