New Pellet Plant in NEK Vermont

[Fixedblade]

Saw some great news in the local papers today that a very successful businessman, with local ties, is buying the vacant Ethan Allen factory in Island Pond and will be making wood pellets. This near same story came around a few months ago with another guy doing the same thing but his deal fell apart. The new guy, Fran Azur, is quite wealthy and will definately do it and do it right. He's donated many thousands of dollars to local causes recently. I believe their plan will involve whole tree chipping so they're not dependent on buying sawdust to make pellets. Article said they plan 50,000 tons first year and expand to 100,000 tons over time. They are also talking about doing a co-generation plant in the same building. Pretty exciting news for the NEK as things are pretty bleak up here, like everywhere else. Hopefully, we'll be able to buy pellets directly from the plant or a local dealer for decent prices like $150 a ton or less... Time will tell.
FB in Vt.

 

[Lousyweather]

This IS good news! Hopefully they can get the raw material to make the pellets.

 

[Sawduster]

I was very excited to hear about this story as well. I hope that they can make a very high quality pellet right from the get go. We don't want them to end up with a product like those Athens pellets of Maine I've read about on this forum. That kind of thing only hurts the entire industry.

 

[Lousyweather]

Ive heard the Athen plant's pellets are better than they were....still on the high side of ash content for a premium, but it still falls into the "premium" guidelines.....last analysis I saw was .97% BY WEIGHT of ash, which falls below the 1% upper end limit....barely.....contrast that with the .5% or so of the New England Hardwood, etc.....

 

[BDPVT]

I just read an article in the Wall Street Journal about a new pellet mill/ biomass power plant being built in Berlin NH . With the demise of the paper industry they have significant raw materials available. They expect to create several hundred jobs in the area to support this new industry. Good things are happening in New England.

 

[pelletdude]

Maine woods pellets have done a complete turnaround from the fall. The pellet is now very good. Burned 4 bags this week, good burn medium ash.

 

[lessoil]

Well maybe we can have a price war on pellets!!
Glad to see more plants coming on line.
This is our first year with a pellet stove, and it looks like
we will be reducing our oil consumption by 400-500 gals.
AND...I am warmer too!!

 

[pelletdude]

lessoil,

what do you think about the athens pellets?

 

[lessoil]

lessoil,

what do you think about the athens pellets?

Well, the heat from them has been very good, no complaints there.
The ash is on the high side which requires more TLC.

 

[pelletdude]

Thats great.

You know what gets me - I hear alot of people mention ash and how much this pellet or that pellet makes ash. Think about a wood stove and how much ash you have to shovel out of you stove. Most people do not have many options when it comes to pellets, due to the transportation from the pellet dealer the end user gets what is available in his/her area. As long as the pellet burns HOT a little more ash is acceptable.

 

[lessoil]

Thats great.

You know what gets me - I hear alot of people mention ash and how much this pellet or that pellet makes ash. Think about a wood stove and how much ash you have to shovel out of you stove. Most people do not have many options when it comes to pellets, due to the transportation from the pellet dealer the end user gets what is available in his/her area. As long as the pellet burns HOT a little more ash is acceptable.

I agree!
But, there are many stove designs which can not tolerate the high ash pellets.
Harman is one of the designs which can burn these and does extract a good amount of heat.
We have burned a little over 2.5 tons since mid October.
I have a chance to swap my old Athens for the improved ones. The plant is 70 miles from me. Not worth the trip.
I will just burn the rest and call it a Winter.
I do want to support U.S. companies and keep our money in the states and not sent it to OPEC!!

 

[pelletdude]

I have been told by a distributor of Athens that the pellets coming out this spring will be very good. The owners have put a lot of money into to improving the process.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Thats great.

You know what gets me - I hear alot of people mention ash and how much this pellet or that pellet makes ash. Think about a wood stove and how much ash you have to shovel out of you stove. Most people do not have many options when it comes to pellets, due to the transportation from the pellet dealer the end user gets what is available in his/her area. As long as the pellet burns HOT a little more ash is acceptable.

Actually the issue with ash is potential burn pot pile up in top feeders. The combustion air must be able to keep the ash from causing a pileup. Most top feed stoves specify premium pellets for this reason.

I have accomplished an eight day burn of the late January version of Athens pellets. I stopped the burn at that point to check things out on the stove.

If they continue to improve they will have an excellent product.

I took on a three ton order February 8 of this year.

 

[novah]

Maine woods pellets have done a complete turnaround from the fall. The pellet is now very good. Burned 4 bags this week, good burn medium ash.

You must have a stove with a horizontal auger system. An angled auger like a Big E or Pel Pro 120 still can't feed Maine Wood Pellets. They crumble into dust and the auger won't transfer pellets.

The plant manager, Dave Carr, has stopped working with me on this so I wouldn't give them a complete turnaround. They still need to figure out what Energex, Lignetics, Somerset, Natures Heat, Fireside Ultra, Greene Team, Pennigtons, NEWP and Blazer are doing differently because they all burn fine in my stove.

If your auger lifts the pellets and then drops them into the burn pot, stay away from Maine Woods Pellets.

 

[novah]

I have been told by a distributor of Athens that the pellets coming out this spring will be very good. The owners have put a lot of money into to improving the process.

Money is no substitute for Knowledge. They are still struggling to create a pellet that burns in all stoves. The Harmon has a horizontal auger so it pushes the pellets side ways. The pellets hold up to this but if the auger is on an angle like my Pel Pro 120, the pellets crumble and turn to dust. The auger still turns but the pellets don't move.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I have been told by a distributor of Athens that the pellets coming out this spring will be very good. The owners have put a lot of money into to improving the process.

Money is no substitute for Knowledge. They are still struggling to create a pellet that burns in all stoves. The Harmon has a horizontal auger so it pushes the pellets side ways. The pellets hold up to this but if the auger is on an angle like my Pel Pro 120, the pellets crumble and turn to dust. The auger still turns but the pellets don't move.

Novah,

I have a top feed stove, it has an angled auger.

I have had absolutely no problems with the stove feeding Athens.

 

[novah]

This is what my auger looked like after less than one bag. The auger keeps turning but no pellets are transfering. Is your auger cast iron? Mine is bent sheet steel welded to the main rod. It is very smooth and can't push dust and has trouble with the crumbles. How smooth is the surface of your auger?

In the pictures below, the one on the left is from the 4 tons bought in August. The one on the right is the pellets they gave me a sample bag of in January. Looks worse to me.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

This is what my auger looked like after less than one bag. The auger keeps turning but no pellets are transfering. Is your auger cast iron? Mine is bent sheet steel welded to the main rod. It is very smooth and can't push dust and has trouble with the crumbles. How smooth is the surface of your auger?

In the pictures below, the one on the left is from the 4 tons bought in August. The one on the right is the pellets they gave me a sample bag of in January. Looks worse to me.

Please explain why the right hand picture of the pellets they gave you in January says 12-30-2008 on it and looks like it has pellets from two different runs?

Did you get all of the crud from the prior bags out of the stove prior to putting in the new ones?

My auger is smooth steel and I suspect if I were to feed it a lot of pellets that were broken up into small pieces and dust it would have issues as well. It also doesn't appear to be at as steep an angle as yours, when the pellet level gets down later I'll get a better look at it.

However, after going through 3 tons of late July Athens with only one jam (caused by part of a bag, not the pellets) and 20 bags of late January. The stove has been happy as far as feeding pellets is concerned.

I have had a few bags that I sifted from the first batch because of excessive fines but haven't had any bags of pellet crumbs like I've seen pictures of.

How the pellets are handled and stored can cause issues with pellets that can affect feeding.

What year is your Pel Pro 120?