We started off the day visiting the Hamer Pellet Fuel Company. Being in the lumber business to begin with, the company realized at one point that they were spending a million dollars to have their waste sawdust disposed of. They decided to take their waste and turn it into usable fuel my making pellets.
The making of pellets begins with saw dust. Truck loads are brought in (at $60-$100 a ton) and the type of saw dust (oak, walnut, maple, etc) is logged in. The different types of saw dust are then "mixed" by a loader and then put into a large dryer. The dryer is a 55 million BTU burner that runs on saw dust. (Click here to find out what BTUs are). The dryer is capable of drying 15 ton of saw dust in an hour. They also use wood chips BUT, they are chopped up and turned into saw dust as well.
Picture of the dryer (big blue drum)
When the saw dust is dry, then sent by conveyor to the building where it is mixed with vegetable oil and water and then put into the extrusion machine. During this process the mixture is pressed out small holes which produces the pellets.
This is the large machine that produces the pellets
This company was able to find a way to reduce both their waste and make money from their waste. How is this helpful to our environment?
In 2004, automated stickers came out that helped speed up their process. Sticks are used to separate the boards to help the drying process while in the kiln. The picture below shows a stack of boards with stickers ready to go in the kiln.
The making of pellets begins with saw dust. Truck loads are brought in (at $60-$100 a ton) and the type of saw dust (oak, walnut, maple, etc) is logged in. The different types of saw dust are then "mixed" by a loader and then put into a large dryer. The dryer is a 55 million BTU burner that runs on saw dust. (Click here to find out what BTUs are). The dryer is capable of drying 15 ton of saw dust in an hour. They also use wood chips BUT, they are chopped up and turned into saw dust as well.
Picture of the dryer (big blue drum)
When the saw dust is dry, then sent by conveyor to the building where it is mixed with vegetable oil and water and then put into the extrusion machine. During this process the mixture is pressed out small holes which produces the pellets.
This is the large machine that produces the pellets
These are the pressing wheels inside that "squeeze" the saw dust mixture through small holes (at the bottom).
Here is an "outside" view of the small holes with pellets sticking out.
These pellet machines can produce up to 6 tons of pellets per hour. How many pellets can they make in a normal 8 hour shift?
Once the pellets are made they are sent to be bagged. The quality control is to check 1 in 50 bags to look for size of pellets and amount of dust particles per bag. If too much dust is being created, they slow the process down. Why do you think slowing the process down would help with the amount of dust particles in the pellets?
Here is a video of the bagging process.
After bagging, the bags continue down the conveyor where a robot stacks them on a pallet and then the pallet is wrapped to keep it togetehr and keep the weather out. Here is a video of that process.
WILSON LUMBER COMPANY
Our next stop was just next door at the Wilson Lumber Company. The company started in the early 1960's. They got their first wood drying kiln in 1961 and by 1987 their kiln capacity was 250,000 board feet. They buy their boards directly from the saw mills.
In 2004, automated stickers came out that helped speed up their process. Sticks are used to separate the boards to help the drying process while in the kiln. The picture below shows a stack of boards with stickers ready to go in the kiln.
This is a picture of one of the kilns being filled.
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