Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, plans to expand US$4.4M wood biomass heating plant to also produce site's electricity by December; boiler already largest U.S. user of wood pellets
Audrey Dixon
LOS ANGELES
,
November 8, 2011
(Forestweb)
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Jackson Laboratory (Jax) in Bar Harbor, Maine, plans to expand its US$4.4 million biomass boiler, already believed to be the largest wood-fired heating plan in the U.S., to also produce its own electricity by December, Fenceviewer.com reported Nov. 4.
Petrokraft AB, based in Goteborg Sweden, manufactured the 44.4 million Btu burner for the boiler. Petrokraft representative Leo Dwyer said the current Jax installation is the largest U.S. consumer of wood pellets.
Two Maine wood pellet companies have entered five-year contracts to supply 12,000 tons/year of pellets to Jackson Laboratories, reported Fenceviewer.com.
Strong-based Geneva Wood Fuels Llc is about 140 miles from Bar Harbor and Athens-based Maine Wood Pellet Co. Llc is about 95 miles away.
The Bar Harbor facility grinds wood pellets into powdery sawdust that is aerosolized for suspension combustion, said Jax facilities head John Fitzpatrick.
The U.S. Department of Energy gave final approval to the pellet-fueled heating plant in June, and it was installed that month. It is believed to be the largest of its design in the U.S.
The 1,200 horsepower boiler from Babcock & Wilson Co., which is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, provides 75% of the heat at the Jax facility.
The primary source of this article is the Fenceviewer.com, Hancock County, Maine, on Nov. 4, 2011.
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