Clippings
Industry Developments
The 10th edition of LVL in North America: The Decade Ahead is available from Leonard Guss Associates. The report is suitable for LVL manufacturers, companies considering making LVL, companies supplying or financing the industry and any company making or planning any structural engineered wood products.
The report includes more than 150 pages of detailed information about LVL and includes more than 40 charts and figures and 25 tables, all based on LGA research, surveys and industry contacts. The report also contains a concise executive summary of key facts and forecasts. Forecasts for all markets are made through 2019.
Feature
Biomass Energy Implications For the Panel Industry by Trotter Hunt & Johnny Leggett
The RPS would set minimum levels of energy that must be produced from renewable sources. These levels start at 4% of energy generation in 2012, increasing to 20% of generation in 2020. There will be a 2.5¢ per kWh penalty for all electricity out of compliance. A carbon cap-and-trade system would also have the effect of increasing the costs of fossil fuels and increasing the attractiveness of carbon neutral alternatives.
While solar and wind typically steal the spotlight when it comes to renewable energy, many utilities, co-ops and independent power producers view biomass as the most attractive renewable energy option. Biomass is a baseload power source—its availability is not intermittent like solar and wind. Biomass technology is proven and can be incorporated into existing coal plants through co-firing or conversion of facilities, thereby lower project costs and improving project returns. Biomass power is also classified as carbon neutral since carbon will be released natur
Bio-Oxidation Reduce Costs and Carbon Footprint
Bio•Reaction Industries, LLC is a leading provider of sustainable air pollution control systems that utilize microbes found in ordinary compost in its bio-oxidation systems to break down industrial pollutants and odors.
These innovative systems provide a whole new way of controlling Volatile Organic Compounds and Hazardous Air Pollutants. According to the company, these systems deliver the highest removal efficiency of any air phase bio-technology in the world, while also allowing companies to make proactive, energy saving choices for their business.
CGT, PGT Claim Fuel Savings, Elimination of Greenhouse Gases
If you were to name the hot environmental topics today, what would they be? Climate change? Greenhouse gases? Global warming? Hazardous air pollutants? Acid rain? Non-renewable fuels? Formaldehyde? Methanol? NOx? Carbon credits? There are likely more that you can name. When we look at a new technology called CGT, Catalytic Gas Treatment, relative to these environmental hot topics, we find a technology that is in the right place at the right time.
CGT (US Patent No. 7,304,187) is a proven technology for which TurboSonic has worldwide marketing rights, with several installations that have been operating successfully for three years. CGT eliminates the use of non-renewable fuels used in thermal oxidizers for the destruction of hazardous air pollutants such as formaldehyde and methanol. It eliminates the generation of nitrogen oxides and greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from combustion and the related contribution to global warming and climate change, while generating the
Langboard Turns to New Technology for Emissions Control and Mact Compliance by Rich Donnell
Langboard MDF, like many fiberboard plants, was caught between a rock and a hard place. It was pursuing the low-risk category of the 2004 EPA MACT (maximum achievable control technology) rule for national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants. And, like other plants, in a 2006 EPA ruling it had received an extra year to comply, from the original October 2007 deadline to October 2008.
Then in June 2007, in a lawsuit brought against EPA by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia threw out the low-risk category and the one-year compliance extension. The court basically indicated that such leniency on the part of EPA was not in sync with the intentions of the Clean Air Act.
Like It or Not, Emerging Wood-to-Energy Industry Enters Forest Products Equation by DK Knight
In the ongoing debate over whether the U.S. forest resource will be ample enough to sustain the long-term needs of both established markets and the emerging wood bioenergy sector, some perspective—global, historical and otherwise—is appropriate.
In its Global Forest Resource Assessment of 2005 (the latest year officially documented), the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) ranked the U.S. fourth worldwide in “forested area” at just under 750 million acres. With 766 million, Canada edged the U.S. for third place. Brazil came in second with 1,181,138 and the Russian Federation was on top with 1,999,039. Worldwide, total forested area was estimated at 9.75 billion acres.
LP's New OSB Plant in Alabama: Down, but Hopefully Not Out by Jennifer McCary
It wasn’t that long ago that southwest Alabama was in the midst of its strongest economic boom in many decades—the result of progressive leadership and aggressive economic development efforts at local, regional and state levels. While the nation’s economy began its slide into the abyss of recession in 2007, the southernmost counties in western Alabama were buoyed by a series of announced industrial development projects just getting under way in the timber products, steel and aerospace industries.
The first of those to break ground was the Louisiana-Pacific OSB Clarke County plant located on an 820 acre parcel in North Clarke Industrial Park just south of Thomasville. With a projected fourth quarter 2007 startup, the planned 746MMSF facility would become LP’s flagship OSB mill, replacing the OSB capacity of two other mills. Capital improvement projects at the Hayward, Wis. and Silsbee, Tex. plants converted most of their production to specialty panel production like LP’s Smar
Meeting New Regs with New Multiphase Biosystem Technology by By Dr. Rakesh Govind & Kevin Moss
October 2008 the newly installed MultiPhase BioSystem at the Roseburg Forest Products MDF plant at Holly Hill, SC plant underwent testing to determine its performance efficiency for destruction of volatile organic compounds (VOC). The MultiPhase at Holly Hill, designed and installed by Tri-Mer Corp., handles more than 250,000 ACFM of VOC laden exhaust gases that also contain particulates and condensables. Dryers are the primary source of the exhaust gas. The purpose of the tests was to see if VOC destruction efficiency was able to meet MACT standards. These standards require 90% destruction of formaldehyde or methanol, or a 90% destruction of total organic compounds as determined by EPA testing method 25A.
Commenting on the MultiPhase approach, Darrell Keeling, Vice President, Composites, Roseburg Forest Products, said, “I believe this technology, in whatever form, is the future of [VOC emission] controls due to the avoidance of thermal combustion and processing of waste in a
PELICE Program Taking Shape; Speakers, Exhibitors Joining Up
Organizers of the 2010 Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo continue to add speakers to the event, which will be held February 4-6, 2010 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in downtown Atlanta, Georgia USA. The first PELICE, held in 2008, attracted 90 speakers, 90 exhibitors and 600 registrants.
The event is hosted by Panel World magazine and Georgia Research Institute.
“PELICE is really gaining momentum,” says Rich Donnell, PELICE Co-Chairman and Editor of Panel World. “The bottom line is that PELICE will continue to offer presentations that feature brand new technologies or examples of technology applications in the field, as well as updates on the pertinent economic and environmental issues. I think PELICE will be an excellent gathering point where industry personnel can take the pulse of the industry.”
Thermal Oxidation Can Be Economical
The letters “RTO” can conjure up images of profit-busting energy costs in the minds of panelboard plant managers. After all, burning high volume dryer emission streams with natural gas is bound to make the gas meter spin at terrifying rate. Right? Not necessarily.
In 2007, Murphy Plywood installed a Geoenergy GeoTherm Regenerative Catalytic Oxidizer to control VOC emissions from a new Raute veneer dryer at the Sutherlin, Ore. LVL plant. Designed for 25,000 cfm of dryer emissions, the RCO system was guaranteed to destroy over 98% of the VOCs in the dryer vent gases. As expected, after startup, performance tests in June 2008 confirmed that VOC destruction guarantees had been met with less than 10 ppm of VOC at the outlet. Also, the carbon monoxide emissions were well within regulations.
Projects
Recent Mill Orders, Installations & Startups
Ventek Inc. has added more diversity to its product lines by opening up a new division, Ventek Machinery Group (VMG), in Eugene Ore. VMG is located in Ventek’s former location one block away from the main office and manufacturing facility. Heading up the team at VMG is Jason Tracy, formerly of Innovative Systems Northwest and prior to that CTC; also on board is Bob Biesinger from ISN and CTC.
VMG specializes in the design, engineering and manufacturing of material handling systems as well as a variety of other custom applications for the veneer and plywood industry.
Supply Lines
Equipment & Supplier News
Biele Group, a leading European company that specializes in industrial automation, has appointed Juan Flores as its exclusive representative in the U.S.
Flores has significant experience in the laminate and wood flooring industry. During the last 12 years he managed Faus Group, Inc. in North America as president. “We are proud to have Mr. Flores as member of the Biele team. He brings with him his exceptional expertise and knowledge of the U.S. market,” says Txomin Andonegui, Managing Director of Biele Group.
Taking Stock
I the Stock Market Has Crashed, Don't Read This by Rich Donnell
September, in a public forum, I asked a question of an economist from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. I asked him what is the relationship between the stock market going gangbusters while the general economy continues to stumble along.
First he said that if he fully comprehended the pulse of the stock market he wouldn’t be at this public forum answering questions, but rather hanging out full time on a Mediterranean beach. (So would, for that matter, all of those stock market pundits we watch on television each night.)
Update
Breaking News
Two months after purchasing the assets of Chapman Forest Products and taking on its debt, Coastal Forest Products officials announced plans to invest $10 million in the Chapman, Ala. complex that includes a sawmill and plywood plant. Company officials hope to have the plywood plant reopened by January 2010 and the sawmill running by the end of the first quarter.
Coastal’s Travis Bryant, CFO, notes that both plywood plant and sawmill require extensive deferred maintenance work, “from top to bottom, going through every machine center to get capacities up to speed.”
What's New
New Products & Technologies
Georgia-Pacific Chemicals has launched its LEAF low emission adhesives, designed to aid in complying with green building standards and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Airborne Toxic Control Measure to Reduce Formaldehyde Emissions from Composite Wood Products Phase 2 requirements. LEAF adhesives are for particleboard and medium density fiberboard that is used in furniture, paneling, cabinetry and other products with composite wood parts.
LEAF products can be easily substituted into current manufacturing processes and help customers move ahead of the curve in terms of CARB Phase 2 compliance. CARB Phase 2 emissions are not required until 2011, but due to the time needed for certification and other concerns about sell-through provisions, it is critical for manufacturers to start the certification and conversion process now.