Fuel pellet

plant is

answer to mill waste

Limbs, bark, and sawdust are fully
utilized in ‘environmentally-friendly’ way

HEARST, ONTARIO — For the past
8 years some IWA-CANADA Local
1-2995 workers have been witnessing
a new breakthrough in dealing with
waste from sawmills.

In this northern Ontario town of
4,500 people, Bioshell Inc., a division
of Shell Oil of Canada, has been per-
fecting a patenting process to create
an environmentally sensitive fuel pro-
duct from organic wastes generated
by local sawmills.

By using 60% bark and hog fuel
from debarking operations and 40%
whitewood waste (ie. chips and saw-
dust) the company has, in a relatively
simple way, been producing high-

energy efficient fuel pellets and logs.

As a result of Bioshell’s efforts,
local sawmills have resolved their
waste problems, and good paying
union jobs have been created.

© Small fuel pellets provide energy for
pulp and paper mills.

Bioshell purchases 100% of the saw-
mill residues produced by Hearst saw-
mills (Levesque Lumber, Lecours and
United Sawmills), which are also [WA
operations.

“This has been a good thing for the
Hearst area because the sawmills had
a serious environmental problem with
the bark and other wastes,” says local
president Norman Rivard. “I think
there should be more facilities built
like Bioshell to take care of the waste
problems that exist across Canada.”

The product produced is also cost
competitive with fossil fuels and actu-
ally has more heat generating value
per tonne than lignite coal. After
burning, sulphurous waste and par-
tial emissions are negligible.

Branches, barks and other wastes
(up to 10 inches in size) are loaded
into a primary pulverizer which beats
the material down to a fine mash. The
material passes through a hugh tum-
ble dryer which reduces moisture con-
tent to a mere 7%.

The material is then repulverized
and pelletized under high pressure of
95,000 Ibs. per square inch.

The natural lignents in tree bark
provide the binding properties for the
fuel pellets.

Bioshell is presently converting 2%
of its production into fuel logs for
domestic fireplaces.

Recently the company won an
award for new product development
from the SSA (Super Salon L’Alimen-
tation) in Montreal which recognizes
the company’s achievements in creat-
ing environmentally friendly prod-
ucts.

The company is increasing fireplace
log production to 18% of the plant’s
output this summer. This will create
additional union jobs on the packag-
ing lines.

Presently two shifts employing six
workers are in production. This work-
force should increase as Bioshell hopes
to eventually increase firelog produc-
tion to use up to 50% of the plant’s
output.

The sawlogs are compressed at a
much higher 145,000 Ibs. per square
inch. They are heavier at a bulk den-
sity of 75 lbs. cubic feet, than natural
wood is at 13-15 lbs. cubic feet.

Fireplace logs, marketed under the
trade name of Energex, are 4 inches in
diameter and 10 inches in length.

Shipment of 40,000 logs per week
are presently being sent to ware-
houses in Toronto, Barrie, and
Montreal.

Abitibi Price’s pulpmill in Iroquois
Falls consumes 100,000 tons of fuel
pellets per year, and is the major
consumer of Bioshell.

¢ Front end loader scoops up hog fuel to make fuel pellets and fire logs.

¢ Above: In the control room at Bioshell are (I. to r.) panel operator Michel
Damphousse, shift millwright Pierre Marineau, and lead millwright Robert
Vaillancourt. Below: Marcel Dorval packaging fuel logs for use in home fireplaces.

Study underway to test
literacy of mill workers

According to a recent national
study by Southam Inc. (the large
newspaper and communications com-
pany), approximately one in five
Canadians cannot read this sentence.
For these people, reading has either
been a skill that they never had an
opportunity to learn or, if they had
the opportunity, the skill was never
properly developed.

Whatever the reason, illiteracy is a
serious problem. Without basic read-
ing and comprehension skills a person
faces an enormous struggle trying to
cope in today’s world. Billboard signs,
newspaper advertisements, signs in a
grocery store all require a reading
skill that many people take for
granted. To those without that skill
even simple tasks like completing a
bank deposit form, paying a hydro or
telephone bill or reading the correct.
dosage for medication all become an
intimidating experience.

At the workplace illiteracy can be
just as intimidating and, potentially,
quite hazardous. If an employee can-
not read operating instructions or
safety manuals, he or she runs the
risk of injuring themselves and oth-
ers. If an employee cannot read com-
pany and local union notices, he or she
risks losing, by default, some of the
advantage and security which come

from being an informed member of a
bargaining unit.

In the forest industry, these work-
place concerns convinced IWA - CAN-
ADA to support a research project
which would study literacy and com-
munication skills of sawmill employ-
ees (both management and bargain-
ing unit) in British Columbia. The
project is funded by the federal goy-
ernment and is jointly managed by a
steering committee which includes
representatives from the IWA, the
Council of Forest Industries (C.O.F.I.),
Forest Industrial Relations (F.I:R.),
and MacMillan Bloedel Ltd.

Under the terms of this project,
researchers will survey employees in
approximately ten sawmills across the
province. In each of the selected mills
a random sample of employees will be
interviewed. In addition, researchers
will be evaluating a variety of written
material which is common to all mills
(eg. grading rule books, operations
manuals and safety information book-

lets).

The researchers hope their results
will help answer a number of ques-
tions. Is there a gap between th
reading skills of sawmill employee:
and the written material that those
employees use in the on-going opera-
tion of the mill? If there is a gap, how
large is it and what are the most
appropriate and effective ways to close
that gap?

The steering committee anticipates
a preliminary report by mid-fall with
a final report submitted by year end.

— Phillip Legg
Assistant Research Director

18/LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER, 1990