Alaska Coal Firm Acquires Pellet Mill
Officials with Alaska-based Usibelli Mines, Inc. recently announced the company has acquired Superior Pellet Fuels of Fairbanks, which produces wood pellets and briquettes for local markets. New Usibelli subsidiary Aurora Energy Solutions is also installing a new generation wood kiln that will utilize waste heat from a nearby Aurora coal-fired power plant.
The project is part of an overall effort to improve air quality in Fairbanks, where firewood is the primary mode of heating but the market is mostly green wood, leading to higher emissions. Fairbanks has been out of compliance for years with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency air quality standards because of local temperature inversions during cold winter weather that concentrate pollutants at low levels in the community, creating health hazards.
The kiln, supplied by SII Dry Kilns, will produce dry firewood that burns much cleaner, up to 7,000 cords annually. Officials with Superior Pellet Fuels say the acquisition will also allow financing for long-needed expansion and a move to year-round production. The projects will provide regional residents with more local options for low-emissions wood fuel. A small local natural gas utility is expanding in the area, but it still relies on trucked in liquified natural gas.
Latest news
Drax Announces $40M Investment In Arkansas
Drax Group will begin constructing the first of three new “satellite” pellet plants in Arkansas, the company has announced. The three plants are together expected to produce around 120,000 metric tons of sustainable biomass…
Drax Sets Sights On Carbon Capture
Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is an essential negative emissions technology needed for the UK to meet its legally binding net zero by 2050 target and demonstrate global climate leadership, according to UK power…
Bruks Will Install Truck-Receiving In Greenwood
Bruks Siwertell reports it secured a truck-receiving system order from industrial wood pellet producer Enviva for the plant at Greenwood, SC. The order includes a back-on truck dumper, with receiving hopper and…
Find Us On Social
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Wood Bioenergy News Online hits the inboxes of subscribers in the wood-to-energy sectors.
Subscribe/Renew
Wood Bioenergy is published and delivered worldwide 6 times per year. Free to qualified readers in the U.S. Subscribers outside the U.S. are asked to pay a small fee.
Advertise
Complete the online form so we can direct you to the appropriate Sales Representative.