Plant Expansion Well On Its Way

Thursday, June 24, 2010 03:58 AM

Prince George, B.C.- Pacific BioEnergy’s expansion of its wood pellet plant in Prince George is at the half way mark.

When complete, the $24 million dollar expansion will make the Prince George pellet plant the largest of its kind in Canada and the second largest in North America ( the largest is in north Florida).

When operational, the expanded plant will add 10 direct jobs, and at least 25 indirect jobs.

The expansion will not only double the plant’s current size, but will add a third in-feed line. The two existing lines handle sawdust and shavings, the new one will handle bush grind – wood waste residual from the bush which the company is moving to as a more secure source of fibre. It will also see two new dryers added to the facility.

The major feature for this expansion is the electrostatic precipitators. That means while production will double, the emissions from the plant will drop to about 1/3^rd of the current emissions.

The work is expected to be complete this fall.

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Posted on Thursday, June 24, 2010 03:58 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: truewitt on June 24 2010 6:30 AM

When they say 1/3 of the emissions, I wonder if they mean the fake numbers they report to the MOE or the actual numbers which far exceed the permitted levels. This plant has run out of compliance for a majority of the time since moving to current location.Spending a few grand on flags will make up for what they have been putting in our lungs the last few years.

ewitt

Posted by: mythoughts on June 24 2010 6:45 AM

This is great news for PG...10 more employed. Keep it coming!

Posted by: gus on June 24 2010 7:25 AM

"This plant has run out of compliance for a majority of the time since moving to current location."

I am interested in that statement. How can you verify that to us readers?

Posted by: truewitt on June 24 2010 3:12 PM

gus

When the plant was built it was found it could not operate at a profit and keep emissions within permitted levels.Therefore the decision was made at the highest level to turn everything up to increase throughput(turned back down for MOE emission tests.)
This comes from an unimpeachable source and is current to the last month or two when we last spoke.

Posted by: muckermike on June 24 2010 7:30 PM

It was also in the paper truewitt.

Posted by: Palopu on June 24 2010 9:45 PM

In any event they will produce 10 more jobs which is a plus. I suspect they are going to bush grind because the bulk of chips, sawdust, and hog fuel is controlled by the big boys, and as the market expands, they will ensure that they get the bulk of the available raw material.

Bush grind is much more expensive than sawdust, or hog fuel, because it has to be ground in the bush and then trucked to the pellet plant. Sawdust and hog is a by product of the lumber process, and therefore is cheaper to produce.

As long as they are getting a good price for the pellets,they should be able to continue to operate, however if the price falls, you can kiss them goodbye.

Posted by: gus on June 24 2010 11:45 PM

Thanks for that. Will follow it up.

The MoE does not do any random checks of their own, I understand. Lack of money.

That entire production plant, from the original one built by Swaan to the new one has been a bureaucrat nightmare from day one as we have found out over time.

When I look at that, I wonder why we even bother with MoE here. Then again, maybe without them it might be even worse.

Posted by: opinte on June 25 2010 2:17 AM

http://www.shehandbag.com/

Posted by: opinte on June 25 2010 2:20 AM

http://www.expwatches.com