Product News
December 2012

Trying to keep up with all the latest products available in the biomass industry can be an impossible task, however, with the help of Wood Bioenergy magazine and our ever-updating blog site—you can now stay up-to-date on the products that really matter, and get first hand knowledge of their implementation and performance.

 

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Pellet Plant Partners With Sawmill Supplier

Holzwerke Weinzierl started up a new wood pellet plant in Vilshofen, Germany last year. While Austrian company and bulk material technology expert, Knoblinger, installed the machinery and transport devices, MiCROTEC delivered the complete control system. It is the third partnership between Knoblinger and MiCROTEC.

Annual output of 80,000t of pellets are produced from sawmill waste and offcuts. The pellets are being produced for the German company Firestixx in Vilsbiburg.

Every 30 minutes the MiCROTEC control system updates fill level information of all silos. Thanks to the continuous update, arranging transports of the pellets can be easily and transparently scheduled.

From either the control room or the MiCROTEC offices, it is now possible to check-up on operations and make adjustments by remote control.

M-E-C Names Vice President Of Sales

M-E-C Company announcd that Stephen Rice has joined the worldwide supplier for industrial dryer systems as Vice President of Sales. Rice has spent the last 30 years in various senior management positions, including an extensive background in the wood products industry. His most recent experience was with Kilntek, Inc. where he served as president.

Size Reduction Firms Form TerraSource

Gundlach Equipment Corp., Jeffrey Rader Corp. and Pennsylvania Crusher Corp., leaders in material handling and size reduction equipment, announced the unification of the three brands into one organization and brand name: TerraSource Global.

The company conducted a thorough process to select a new brand name that reflects the organization’s focus on providing material handling and process equipment to a global industrial base that utilizes natural resources in their processes. Along with the new name, a new logo was developed that graphically depicts the company’s leadership position in industrial equipment.

There are two organizational groups within TerraSource Global that are industry-specific: The Power and Mining Group and The Engineered Systems Group.

The Engineered Systems Group, spearheaded from the Greenville, SC location by Tony Lubiani, vice president, supports the forest products and related markets.

Kice Industries Opens Southwest Office

Kice Industries has opened a third regional sales office in Houston, Tex. The office is led by Darin Teetes, who has worked in the milling and grain industry as a mill design engineer and project manager.

Kice Industries designs and builds industrial air systems including pneumatic conveying, dust control, and aspiration systems.

Terex Signs Chipper Distributor Off Shore

Terex signed its first distributor in Singapore to sell its wood chipper product line, Bonco Enterprise Pte Ltd. Bonco Enterprise already sells Terex site dumpers and Terex Finlay crushing and screening equipment.

Barry DeLau II, Terex Woodsman’s General Manager, says, “This is a completely new market for us and is the first time our products have been sold into Singapore. It offers a significant opportunity for us to penetrate new markets other than North America. Bonco Enterprise was an ideal choice to partner with as they already distribute other Terex products and we look forward to developing our working relationship in the future.”

Bob Campbell, Regional Sales Manager, recently visited Singapore to train the sales and service teams from Bonco Enterprise on their first order of two 730 wood chippers. The training program lasted several days and consisted of sales, technical, service and health and safety training.

Wilbert Leong of Bonco Enterprise Pte Ltd comments, “The advantage with the 730 is their ability to process fibrous material such as palm trees.”

Terex offers a comprehensive range of arborist chippers, biomass chippers and trommel equipment. Headquartered in Farwell, Mich., Terex emphasizes efficient production, low operational costs and ease of maintenance. www.terexwoodsman.com

Emissions Firm Megtec Acquires Turbosonic

MEGTEC Systems, Inc. is purchasing Turbosonic Technologies, Inc. Both companies manufacture clean air technologies.

The transaction is expected to close late in the fourth quarter of 2012 or early in the first quarter of calendar 2013.

German Venture Opens Power Plant

GBE Gocher Bioenergie GmbH, a joint venture of RWE Innogy, Goch (Germany)-based food producer Nähr-Engel and Goch municipal utility, has started up a new biomass-fuel cogeneration plant. The combined heat and power plant fueled with landscaping wood will supply Nähr-Engel with process heat and feed electricity into the grid.

The cogeneration plant is designed for a capacity of 7.6 MW electric and 28 MW thermal. It will generate electricity for up to 11,000 residential households and at the same time supply Nähr-Engel with up to 130,000 tonnes of process heat per year.

Nähr-Engel uses the steam for the production of high-grade potato products. Johannes Anton van den Boom, Managing Director of Nähr-Engel, comments, “The conversion of our steam supply to largely carbon-neutral biomass constitutes a milestone for the sustainable development of our company. Being a manufacturer of foodstuffs, we take great care along the entire value chain that the required resources are used sparingly. The biomass plant fits in with this understanding of sustainability in practice.”

Carlo Marks, Managing Director of Goch municipal utility, adds, “The power plant does not only supply the steam for the production of the company Nähr-Engel to secure the company’s competitiveness and its jobs. It also produces electricity in a decentralized, ecological and climate-friendly way. At Goch, electricity production will exceed consumption in the future. Goch has thus already successfully managed the energy turnaround.”

The plant is largely carbon-neutral because it is fueled by landscaping wood. Compared with a conventional plant of the same size, its CO2 savings potential totals approximately 48,000 tonnes per year.

Frank Mattat, Head of Biomass Germany of RWE Innogy, comments, “With a construction period of roughly 18 months, we are absolutely on target. The plant is a successful example of decentralized combined heat and power production and stands for climate protection and energy efficiency.”

University Of BC Starts Biomass CHP System

Nexterra Systems Corp., the University of British Columbia and GE celebrated the successful completion of an energy-from-renewable-waste combined heat and power (CHP) system located at UBC’s Vancouver campus. This is North America’s first commercial demonstration of a transformative system that combines Nexterra’s gasification and syngas conditioning technologies with one of GE’s Jenbacher internal combustion engines.

GE’s Jenbacher gas engine will produce 2 MW of clean, renewable electricity that will offset UBC’s existing power consumption, enough to power approximately 1,500 homes. The Nexterra system will also generate 3 MW of thermal energy, enough steam to displace up to 12% of UBC’s natural gas consumption. This will reduce UBC’s greenhouse gas emissions by up to 5,000 tonnes per year, which is the equivalent of taking more than 1,000 cars off the road.

The startup of the system represents the culmination of more than four years of product development work and collaboration with GE’s Gas Engines business. Prior to installing the gas engine at UBC, Nexterra successfully completed more than 5,000 hours of trials at its Product Development Center in Kamloops BC.

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