the coming winter became front-page news in newspapers from Maine to New Hampshire and Massachusetts. As a result, Curran Renewable Energy has built its plant with these regional residential and small commercial markets in mind. The plant itself has been built in Mas- sena’s industrial park right on the edge of town. It sits alongside a rail line, and future plans may well include a spur if an industrial bulk market develops. “That’s what we hope, to give us a mix of the two markets, but for now the focus will be on the market for bagged pellets, including lo- cal sales right from the plant. We don’t expect to move a lot of pellets locally, since the popu- lation just isn’t here. On the other hand we’ll be moving a lot of trucks through town to get here, so it’d be nice to offer the local market a consistent supply of pellets in return.” unlimiteD Design As a logging and chipping company with very little manufacturing expertise, Curran Renewable Energy turned to outside help for plant design and equipment selection. Still, the process was not without early hiccups “The first thing John (John Lundell of Energy Unlimited) asked me was where we wanted our fire,” Pat Curran recalls. Fire and explosion protection has thus been given high priority, with a Firefly AB system installed front to back. Curran says, admitting that his eagerness to get going almost cost the young company. Fortunately the curious mechanic and log- ger in Pat came out just at the right time and allowed for a timely change of direction. “At one point we were set to buy a used drum dryer from the southern United States, and just to be sure, I went to a local hard- ware store and bought a wrench set to open it up and have a look. It was warped like a banana inside. So I called John Lundell at Energy Unlimited to ask about fixing it, and when we went through all the costs of pulling it out, shipping and repairing it, it made more sense to buy new. At that point I started checking some of what I had been told, and pretty soon after, John was han- dling the project.” Energy Unlimited eventually assumed close to a turnkey relationship, providing design and equipment selection advice, han- dling mechanical installation and start-up, and even supplying much of the conveying and drying gear. The mill handled site prep and concrete work for the plant that will tar- get 100 tons per year. The process starts in the woods, where 18 CanadianBIOMASS AUGUST 2009
Canadian Biomass August 2009: Page 18
