August 2024

Inside this issue

IN THE NEWS
  • Novo BioPower Gets Some Breathing Room
  • NorthtStar Moves Ahead On Conversion
  • LanzaJet SAF Gains Additional Funding
  • DNV Gives Green Light To Methodology
  • CHAR Tech Begins Production Run
  • ‘Bioshiop’ Is Planned For Development
PELLETIZING
  • Brunette
  • Fiberpro
  • Moisttech
  • Nordson
  • Salmatec
  • Schutte Hammermill
  • Terrasource
  • West Salem
PRODUCT NEWS
  • BE&E Teams Up With AE Gibson
  • Novopan Orders Dieffenbacher Plant
  • CPM Incorporates Direct Drive Technology
  • Sandasa Implementing Muhlbock Belt Dryer
  • Valmet Will Deliver Pellet-Fired Plant

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From the Editors

A New Industry In the Northwest

We started this magazine in 2009 and for several years thereafter there was an influx of wood pellet mills throughout the Southeast, and lots of ownership companies were involved. We did stories on most of them. A couple of them didn’t make it, including the first big one, Dixie Pellets. But most of them did and many of them were purchased, until we watched the vast majority of wood pellet production in the Southeast fall into the hands of Enviva, which was also building greenfield plants in addition to purchasing them, and then Drax came on, and of course Fram had been here from the outset, as well as a couple of smaller operations; but the point is our coverage was beginning to get a little redundant. The same players if you will.

Well, as you may have gleaned from the cover, there’s a new kid in town, and to borrow additional lyrics from the Eagles, “everybody’s watching you.”

First of all, we’re elated to see a new wood pellet plant and a new company come into the industry, and we’re most appreciative that their management allowed our senior editor Dan Shell to visit the operation recently for the story that appears in this issue. The plant is not a large one, as compared to some of the giants out there, but there’s plenty of space on the lot.

Of course, to be totally truthful here, while Peak Renewables and its new wood pellet mill in Dothan, Ala. may be the new kid in town to you, those of us editors (as shown on this page) who have covered other segments of the forest products industry, especially sawmills and logging, as we have in our other magazines, have actually known many of the people that comprise this operation for a fairly long time.

The main guy is Brian Fehr, and while Dan’s story provides detail on the makeup of Fehr’s various operations and how they relate to each other, suffice to say here that in recent years Fehr has reinvented himself so to speak and formed a group of companies under the Peak title that is constructing and operating pellet mills, sawmills, cross-laminated timber and glulam facilities and OSB plants. In fact, next to Peak’s pellet mill in Dothan is its mass timber facility, SmartLam.

Especially for the sawmill industry, Peak has acquired several equipment and machinery companies, which are providing their wares into new mills and projects built by Peak for other forest products companies. Fehr and his team have a lot of experience at this, because they did something similar at his previous British Columbia-based company, BID, which is where we got to know them in the first place, and which, since Fehr departed it, has dominated turnkey sawmill construction in the South for the past decade.

The new pellet mill at Dothan also involves other old friends, such as Rex Lumber, owned by the McCrae family, which operates several southern yellow pine sawmills, including its newest one at Troy, Ala., and supplies planer mill shavings to the Peak pellet mill. Rex Lumber also operates a small pellet mill near its sawmill in Brookhaven, Miss.

From Left: Jessica Johnson, Managing Editor; Dan Shell, Senior Editor; Rich Donnell, Editor-in-Chief; David Abbott, Senior Associate Editor

 

Cover Story: Peak Renewables Plant Up, Running Smoothly

Photo Courtesy of Pinnacle

Article by Dan Shell, Senior Editor, Wood Bioenergy

DOTHAN, Alabama – Operating the country’s newest pellet mill, Peak Renewables is using premium raw materials to produce renewable fuel in a small carbon footprint here in southeast Alabama. With a rated capacity of 150,000 tons annually, the plant is a joint venture between Peak Renewables and Rex Lumber, a top regional lumber producer with three sawmills located near the new facility.

The strategic partnership works well for both companies: Peak Renewables is part of the Brian Fehr Group, which operates multiple companies in the forest products and wood bioenergy sectors including a construction division called Peak North America. Founder Brian Fehr is perhaps best known as a mill machinery and equipment systems manufacturing and construction developer first with the BID Group and now Peak North America, a major sawmill equipment and systems supplier. Fehr and his companies have a wealth of connections throughout the wood products manufacturing and related construction and fabrication industries.  Rex Lumber is a family-owned producer of kiln-dried Southern pine lumber with a long tradition of quality and consistency.  The three sawmills provide premium dried planer shavings to the pellet mill—a key factor in the plant’s small carbon footprint and emissions profile.

In addition to the pellet mill, Rex Lumber is also a partner in SmartLam, a major cross-laminated timber (CLT) panel manufacturer that’s also part of the Brian Fehr Group and located adjacent the pellet mill in south Dothan (with another plant in Montana). With its high quality and low moisture content lumber, Rex Lumber is a key supplier to the CLT facility as well. Though the CLT plant isn’t a big pellet furnish supplier with just a few truckloads of shavings a week, the two facilities together create a compelling vision of fossil fuel reduction strategies and carbon sequestration innovation that benefits both the Brian Fehr Group and Rex Lumber and shows the companies’ commitment to environmental protection.

Dothan Project

The pellet plant began construction in June 2023 and ran the first test pellets in December 2023. Plant Manager James Potts, a 30-year veteran of the regional pulp and paper industry who joined the company during construction, notes the pellet mill had moved into full production by this past February. “We’re always learning as we go, but since February I think the team has built a good knowledge base,” he says. “They’ve learned a lot because they started from the ground up in getting the plant running.”

While the plant is the newest in the U.S., the equipment has been around: Formerly operating as a Pacific Bioenergy facility in British Columbia, the equipment was disassembled, refurbished and re-installed at the Dothan site. Peak Renewables General Manager Operations Mark Cunningham says, “Moving equipment from northern British Columbia to south Alabama went very well logistically. Our partner company Peak North America did an outstanding job safely removing the equipment, cleaning it of any residual material and refurbishing worn components, at our various shops in Canada, Alabama and Florida.”

Peak North America also handled construction and installation and did a great job on a short six-month timeline, company officials say. “Having a plant that had been running made the design seamless in many aspects,” Cunningham adds. “As with most projects, we always find areas where we could improve the layout, but fundamentally we are very happy with the finished product here in Dothan.” He says that overall, “The project at Dothan has been a huge success in our eyes.”

During an open house event earlier this year, Cunningham thanked the City of Dothan planning department and Chamber of Commerce for all their work and help getting the project up and running, and the efforts of Peak North America and its subcontractors as well.  “Our Peak Dothan Operations Team have learned so much in only a few months and demonstrate daily that we have an awesome team running the plant,” he added.

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Wood Bioenergy is published and delivered 6 times per year tosubscribers worldwide. Readership includes corporate executives, mill ownership, mill management, logging contractors and equity venture interests. Wood Bioenergy is FREE to qualified readers.

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