COMPREHENSIVE PRODUCT & SERVICE PROGRAM FOR THE WOOD PELLET INDUSTRY With 50 years of experience in the wood processing industry we offer a complete air fi ltration program for all production areas of wood pellet mills. Our product line includes customized systems for air extraction, dust collection, pneumatic convey-ing, air fi ltration and dryer exhaust gas cleaning. Wet and Dry Electrostatic Precipitators | Cyclones | Bag Filters | Pneumatic Conveying Systems | Fans | Rotary Valves Scheuch Inc. 2351 Huron Street, Unit 1, London, Ontario, N5V 0A8, Canada Phone: +1 (519) 951-7700 I Fax: -7711 offi [email protected] www.scheuch.ca Canadian_Biomass_178x124_151013_RZ.indd 1 15.10.13 08:43 concern, as it can cause diseases such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis, asthma and lung cancer. Because PM is composed of tiny particles invisible to the human eye, it can be inhaled deeply into our lungs.” According to the Air Action Plan, slash burning is the number one source of B.C. particulate emissions, accounting for 32 per cent of all particulates in the province. This means that by ban-ning slash burning in the province the B.C. government could not only provide a reliable source of fibre for B.C.’s pellet indus-try, but also dramatically reduce B.C.’s air pollution and in so doing, protect our childrens’ health. Like the ancient mariner staring at a sea of undrinkable water, the pellet industry watches the BC lumber industry burn our for-ests. The government could easily stop this waste of our forests by banning slash burning and compelling tenure holders to uti-lize wood waste – either internally or by selling it to those who could use it. • Gordon Murray is executive director of the Wood Pellet Association of Canada. He encourages all those who want to support and benefit from the growth of the Ca-nadian wood pellet industry to join. Gordon welcomes all comments and can be contacted by telephone at 250-837-8821 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Table 1. Estimated logging slash burned annually in British Columbia – bone dry metric tonnes Annual log harvest – public and private (m 3 ) Annual log harvest – bdt (@ 2.45 bdt/m 3 ) (bdt) Potential fibre available for wood pellets Branches (bdt) Foliage (bdt) Bark (bdt) Low grade log waste (at 4.7% of annual timber harvest) (bdt) 4,800,000 2,900,000 910,000 1,400,000 10,010,000 Less actual harvest residuals used by B.C. wood pellet producers (bdt) Equals amount burned and wasted annually (bdt) 75,000,000 30,600,000 670,000 9,340,000 For more on fibre allocation policies, visit www.canadianbiomassmagazine.ca Data sources: B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations, B.C. Forest Practices Board, and WPAC calculations Canadian BIOMASS 9