Welcome to the Wood Pellet Association of Canada’s Fall 2024 newsletter. We hope you enjoy reading it and we welcome your feedback.
The Headlines
The Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC), in collaboration with BioPower Sustainable Energy Corporation (BioPower), has completed a study that outlines the feasibility and economic implications of in-woods grinding to process forest biomass for wood pelletization in Ontario.
The study, led by Dr. Fahimeh Yazdan Panah, WPAC’s Director of Research and Technical Development, highlights that forest biomass when processed with the right technology, such as in-woods grinding, can serve as an economically viable feedstock for wood pellet production in Ontario.
The study was funded by the Ontario Forest Biomass Program, which supports the objectives set out in Ontario’s Forest Sector Strategy and Forest Biomass Action Plan and helps fund initiatives that secure and increase long-term wood utilization, including biomass.
Read the full article.
Can Canada’s forest sector — from its woodlot owners to pellet producers, and the consumers in between — get back to being proud of what it does?
It’s a question hundreds of forest sector insiders considered as they gathered for the Wood Pellet Association of Canada’s much-loved annual conference mid-September in Victoria, B.C.
Industry drivers, such as Drax’s Vaughan Basset, equipment leaders, such as David Dubios of Fink Machine Inc., and top market analysts, such as FutureMetrics’s Bill Strauss, and Argus Media’s Robbie Webster Junior and Hannah Adler, came together to discuss what’s next for the industry.
Read the Canadian Biomass article about the WPAC Conference.
View the presentations.
With the growing global demand for renewable energy and the increased use of forest residues left behind or burned after harvesting, the wood pellet industry is looking into optimizing feedstock. While using forest biomass holds great promise, it also brings challenges such as contamination, ash and moisture content variability and higher processing costs.
The Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC) and The University of British Columbia’s Biomass and Bioenergy Research Group (BBRG) are developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) assisted Near-Infrared (NIR) technology specifically for use in the wood pellet sector. This tool could significantly improve the efficiency of biomass sorting, leading to higher-quality pellets and reduced operational costs.
Read the full article.
A few months ago, the phone rang. It was Alberta… inviting me to visit and talk about pellets. Of course, I jumped at the chance. Afterall, this is a province that leads the country in forecasted economic growth, that has attracted nearly $43 Billion in private equity investment over the last decade, has the highest real GDP per hour worked of Canada’s largest four economies, is investing people and local communities and supporting clean energy development.
It’s also Canada’s fastest growing province. According to Statistics Canada, as of January 1, 2024, Alberta’s population was 4.8 million, an increase of 202,000 over the previous year—the largest increase on record. It also broke a national record in 2023 for interprovincial migration, with a net gain of 55,107 people.
Read more about the trip to Alberta.
Research completed in cooperation between the Wood Pellet Association of Canada and UBC’s Biomass and Bioenergy Research Group found that hammer milling a heterogenous mix of feedstock consisting of unground forest residue, unground sawdust, ground forest residue and ground sawdust is possible without any loss of productivity.
Post-doctoral researcher, Dr. Jun Sian Lee conducted the study to understand the grindability and friability (the tendency of a solid substance to break into smaller pieces under stress or contact) of woody biomass such as sawdust and forest residue. The findings demonstrate that introducing a more heterogenous feedstock into a hammermill will not necessarily lower hammermill productivity. This would reduce the need to stratify the feedstock before hammer milling.
Read the full article.
SAFETY FIRST FOCUS
Join us for our sector’s largest safety summit, as wood pellet producers, operators of biomass power and heating facilities, suppliers and regulators from across Canada meet to discuss evolving trends and regulatory topics.
This annual event is hosted by the Wood Pellet Association of Canada’s Safety Committee, in co-operation with the BC Forest Safety Council, WorkSafeBC and media partner Canadian Biomass.
Explore current safety initiatives and trends, creating a safer foundation for our industry. Learn more about Process Safety Management, drum dryer hazards, BC’s new combustible dust regulation, WorkSafeBC’s trending safety initiatives and workplace mental health skills. Also have your say in identifying safety priorities for 2025.
The Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC) recently hosted a 15-minute safety huddle on the outcomes of a project applying bow-tie analysis to assess working at heights hazards. The Manufacturing Advisory Group of the BC Forest Safety Council sponsored the work.
Working at heights in wood pellet plants and sawmills poses a risk to workers performing routine and non-routine maintenance, completing rail car loading, and entering and exiting large mobile equipment. These tasks present the risk of falls, which can lead to injuries, fatalities, and business interruption.
Read the entire article.
Read report: Bow Tie Analysis of Working at Heights in Wood Products Manufacturing
Congratulations to Donald White, who is being recognized this month by the Wood Pellet Association of Canada as a Safety Hero for his significant contributions to making the workplace safer and better for others.
Donald is a plant operator at Shaw Renewables in Hardwood Lands, Nova Scotia, whose upstanding work ethic and commitment to the safety of his co-workers have consistently led to improvements in the plant’s safety management system.
Congratulations to Corinne Nendick, Plant Leadhand at Drax’s Princeton facility, for being recognized as the latest Wood Pellet Association of Canada Safety Hero for her outstanding contributions to making the workplace safer and better for her colleagues.
Corinne is an active member of Drax’s Joint Safety team. She is a leader in developing and working through Task Risk Assessments. She is also a leader regarding Hazard IDs and corrective actions. She is proudly accident/incident free.