ForestNB

Healthy forests, quality products

Growing a Future for Our Communities

  • Newsroom
    • Forest NB News
    • Newsletter
    • Media Releases
    • Upcoming Events
    • Videos
  • About Us
    • Our Values
    • Members
      • Member Directory
    • Chairman’s Message
    • Executive Director’s Message
    • I Am 1 of 24k
  • Resources
    • Ask ForestNB
    • Healthy Forest Partnership
    • Forest Info
    • Teachers
  • Contact Us
  • 2022 Industry Forum
  • English
  • Home
  • People & Products
  • Forestry & The Economy
  • Community & Sustainability
  • Jobs & Training
    • Available Jobs In Forestry

Forest NB members heat thousands of New Brunswick homes with wood pellets

December 16, 2016 By Admin

With the holidays just around the corner, many New Brunswickers are firing up woodstoves to keep their homes warm for the season’s festivities. While some are turning up their thermostats, others are filling their stoves with wood pellets.

Three Forest NB members, H.J. Crabbe & Sons Ltd. in Florenceville-Bristol, Marwood Limited in Traceyville and Groupe Savoie in Saint-Quentin, are prominent manufacturers of wood pellets used for heating homes in the province.

Pellets are an excellent example of the forest products industry’s commitment to sustainability and value-added products, as they are manufactured from recycled wood materials.

“With split wood it’s stacking, cutting, drying. It’s full of spiders, full of bugs, and quite a bit of hands on,” said Frank Vandenborre, industrial sales manager at Marwood Limited. “Pellets are somewhere in between electricity and burning wood. You get the convenience of going to the Home Hardware and picking up a bag of heat, there’s not a lot of ash to clean up afterwards.”

Vandenborre also notes that pelletizing wood is an efficient way to reduce waste. “You’ve already cut down a tree and you’re just using more of it,” he said.

Annually, Marwood Limited produces approximately 12,000 tonnes of pellets. Crabbe produces between 12,000-20,000 tonnes and Groupe Savoie, 90,000.

The pelletizing process begins with wood preparation. Round wood fibre is chipped, while sawdust, chips and shavings are fed through a grinder. The processed wood is then placed inside a rotary dryer that reduces its moisture content. From there, the wood is fed through another grinder and dropped into the pelletizer. Pressure squeezes the particles through a funnel. Heat generated from the pressure activates lignin, a natural adhesive occurring in wood. Softwood has more lignin, making it easier to pelletize than hardwood. The pellets are then cooled and bagged before being shipped or stored for inventory.

Forest NB executive director, Mike Legere, says pellet manufacturing is an economically sensible approach to recycling wood.

“From the industry’s perspective, any time you can fully utilize harvested trees it’s a good thing, especially when you’re adding value to what’s otherwise a residue or a low value product,” he said. “It’s a more complete utilization of the resource. It’s a good replacement for fossil fuels, given that forest based products are really our only truly renewable natural resource,” he said.

 

 

 

Filed Under: People & Products Tagged With: forest nb, Groupe Savoie, H.J. Crabbe & Sons, heat, Marwood Limited, New Brunswick, New Brunswick forest products, wood pellets, woodstove

Get The ForestNB Newsletter

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: ForestNB, 1350 Regent Street, Fredericton, NB, E3C 2G6, http://forestnb.com. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Recent News

Forest NB Working to Address Labour Force Gaps

March 7, 2022

CFFO Announces Christopher Lee Memorial Scholarship

February 25, 2022

Employment Opportunity -Executive Assistant

January 18, 2022

Economic Recovery and Climate Change: Forest Sector Contributions to a Low Carbon Economy

September 27, 2021

Celebrating the 24 000 Employees

September 7, 2021

Our Members


acadian
jamer
forest safety
gnt
wr
urquhart
remsoft
national
cain
brunswick valley
toromont
port of belledune
liebherr
hub
envirem
waska
seacoast
maibec
marwood
savoie
chaleur-Forest-Products-3-locations-2
garant
crabbe
tompkins_logo
delco_logo
goguen_logo
twinrivers_logo
nafp_logo
avgroup_logo
arbec_logo
alpa_logo
ysclogo
primematerial_logo_white-1
FPL_LOGO_COLOUR-1

Copyright © 2022 Forest NB | Forêt NB