BC - UNBC Opens Pellet Plant

Cooking hamburgers for 50 guests on wood pellet barbecues that used less than 10 pounds of wood pellets was a first for UNBC on Tuesday

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UNBC Opens Pellet Plant

Written by Bernice Trick
Citizen staff
Wednesday, 01 July 2009

Cooking hamburgers for 50 guests on wood pellet barbecues that used less than 10 pounds of wood pellets was a first for UNBC on Tuesday.

"We used hardly enough pellets to count; about a quarter of a (40-pound) bag," said John Swaan, CEO of the Wood Pellet Association of Canada and Prince George pellet manufacturer .

The occasion at the I.K. Barber Forestry Lab marked the official kickoff of UNBC's bioenergy program that features a pellet heating system on campus.

The major experimental project is an exercise "to gain accredited knowledge, about efficiency and economy as compared to natural gas," said Swaan.

The project, which has created interest across the province, will be monitored closely to measure the efficiencies, heat output, wood differences in pellets, future potential and more, and the results of the studies will be made public.

"Together with industry, government and northern communities, this program will hopefully enable the development of new renewable energy opportunities, UNBC interim president Charles Jago said on his final day of work before turning the reins over to incoming president George Iwama.

The $500,000 project, which runs silently, will heat the forestry lab and will be used as the basis for bioenergy research.

It has involved the the installation of a wood pellet combustion system which includes a water boiler and furnace with automatic feed of pellets from a large pellet storage silo, and year's provision of pellets from local member companies of the WPAC.

Cariboo-Prince George MP Dick Harris said as the project grows, the pellet industry will grow, "shrinking the carbon footprint we've put on this planet."

The federal government's Community Economic Diversification Initiative funded the project.

Swaan said the roots of the wood pellet industry are in Prince George, beginning 20 years ago.

He said there are nine pellet plants operating today, most of which "are within 100 km from here."

The next phase of UNBC's bioenergy program will be a biomass gasification system for the campus buildings installed by B.C.-based Nexterra Energy adjacent to the forestry lab. Site preparation has begun with the system expected to be in operation by 2011.

Additional Information

Web Site: http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20090701200160/local/news/unbc-opens-pellet-plant.html

Category: Forestry>Wood Pellets

Region: BC - Canada

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