movinG inside Pelletizing is via five Promill pellet mills supplied by Comact. The mills are designed for fast maintenance access and to avoid lubricant contamination of the final product. process move into a confined space, a compromise Sellin is very comfortable with. “There may be some challenges in winter, although we don’t get the heavy snow here they do in other regions. In any event, we’re making something very explosive here – it’s a fuel. We kept that in mind every time we had to balance our decision making.” Another long-term supplier to the forest products sector, Ro-drigue Metal (RodAir), supplied the dust control and pneumatic handling systems. Pelletizing occurs in five Promill pellet mills, all painted and branded Comact. Pellets are transferred to a Promill cooling station designed to minimize the creation of fines, and then to an interior storage area, where they are held for 24 hours prior to bagging. “When I was touring France and Estonia, I heard the same story every time – if you’re going right from production to bags, there is always a little bit of moisture that will play havoc down the road. So we made the decision to store product in the ware-house for 24 hours to allow it to cool down correctly and remove all the potential moisture in the product before it is sealed in bags for our clients.” The mill can bag 100% of its product in smaller consumer bags or larger one-ton bulk bags, allowing for market flexibility. The automated bagging line is from Quebec supplier Premier Tech. Depending on how much domestic bagging is required, total plant staff will settle somewhere between 35 to 50 people. Accord-ing to Sellin, staffing up with the right people was not an issue. “There were many people from our sawmilling days that were keen to come back and work with us. It’s a new process, and they’re all excited to come here and make it work. That makes my job a lot easier,” he adds as he wanders back in to continue the challenging work of ramping up a new pellet mill. Overall, Sellin is pleased with the plant design and layout. “We haven’t seen any major design issues that need to be ad-dressed. It’s more about fine-tuning the processes to reach the plant’s potential.” • DEHYDRATION SYSTEMS ROTARY DRUM DRYERS Baker-Rullman Triple-Pass Technology remains the superior dehydration system by optimizing operating costs, efficiency, and end product consistency. n n n n Wood Pellets Ag Products Municipal Waste Bio Mass Call: (920) 261-8107 email: [email protected] www.baker-rullman.com Baker-Rullman Manufacturing, Inc. 4 East Main Street • P.O. Box 67 Watertown, WI 53094 Canadian BIOMASS 15
Canadian Biomass November/December 2011: Page 15
