and exhausted out a stack through the use of a fan, while the remaining dry fibre goes into a Schutte Buffalo hammer mill. “The hammer mill is basically mak-ing wood flour, really tiny pieces,” says Levesque. “Ninety-nine per cent is under four millimetres and the majority of it is two millimetres.” After the wood fibres leave the pellet mill, they are sent to one the plant’s three Andritz pellet presses, which use extru-sion wheels that pressurize the fibre into its wood pellet form. Each press can generate approximately four tonnes per hour. The pellets are then screened to remove unwanted fines and dust; and are sent to the cooling tower to reduce the chance of pellet breakage during the handling phase. Afterwards, they are sent to the company’s Premier Tech bagging line, where a Fanuc robot stacks the bags of pellets on skids and they are wrapped and ready to be shipped. right away,” says Levesque. “And if the spray system doesn’t extinguish the spark, there’s a deluge on top that will flood the whole system. It may have gone off two or three times in the past five years, but we’ve never had any major issues. A well-de-signed pellet mill will significantly reduce the risk of a fire.” With Groupe Savoie doubling its domes-tic pellet production, the province’s wood pellet-consuming residents will be better prepared to battle the next harsh winter that comes to New Brunswick. No matter what the frigid temperatures might be next year, these residents are likely in for a much more comfortable and warmer winter. • To learn more about pellet plants in Canada, visit: www.canadianbiomassmagazine.ca In an effort to fill the gap and help avoid future shortages close to home, Groupe Savoie decided to dedicate a percent-age of its industrial production to producing more residential grade pellets. DUST MANAGEMENT To manage dust in the pellet opera-tion, the company decided to place the hammer mill in a separate building, away from the rest of the operation. “The risk factor has been put outside,” explains Levesque. “We haven’t had any issues in the past five years. We have a de-tection system in place.” Groupe Savoie installed a Flamex spark detection system for its pellet plant oper-ations. “If there’s a spark, the spray system acts Canadian BIOMASS 13
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