Commodities

Wood Pellet Pricing on Upward Course

The wood pellet industry in North America has grown six-fold since 2004, with the dramatic expansion resulting in higher costs for sawdust and wood chips in some geographic regions.

According to the North American Wood Fiber Review (NAWFR), regions with the greatest growth in demand include the western United States and Canada. NAWFR is an annual 24-page publication produced by Wood Resources International LLC, Seattle.

Matching the demand, there has been a rapid expansion in wood pellet capacity in North America, from just over 1 million tons in 2004 to more than 6 million tons in 2009, according to a recent report from the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Forest Service.

British Columbia is cited by NAWFR as “the first region to take advantage of inexpensive sawmill residues and to produce wood pellets for the fast growing European market.” Capacity in that western province of Canada has remained steady during the past several years, allowing producers in the southern United States to take over as the leading pellet-producing region in North America, according to the publication.

“Much of the investment in pellet capacity in the U.S. South has been driven by the export market in Europe,” says the publication in a news release. “On the other hand, the second largest producing region in North America, the western U.S., has so far only sold pellets into the domestic market.”

In 2004, the pellet industry was practically non-existent in the South, but the sector has now reached a capacity of almost 2 million tons, according to NAWFR. Although pellet volumes have grown, operating rates in 2008 were at about 66 percent of capacity in the United States and 81 percent of capacity in Canada, according to USDA Forest Service estimates.

Pulp wood and wood chip market updates, including pricing information, are included in the most recent edition of the NAWFR.

More information  is available at www.woodprices.com.

NSA Recognized for Ceiling Tile Recycling

Armstrong World Industries, Lancaster, Pa., has named the National Security Agency (NSA) as its 2009 Ceiling Recycler of the Year. Over the past 14 months, the government agency has recycled more than 400,000 square feet of discarded ceiling tiles rather than sending them to a landfill, according to Armstrong.

The Armstrong award is designed to recognize companies and organizations “that make significant environmental contributions through their recycling initiatives,” says the company. The 2009 award was presented to the Fort Meade, Md.-based NSA at a ceremony at the National Cryptologic Museum in Baltimore.

The NSA began recycling old ceiling tiles in 2008 as part of the Armstrong Ceiling Recycling Program, which enables building owners to ship old tiles to an Armstrong ceiling plant as an alternative to landfilling them.
More information on the Armstrong Ceiling Recycling Program can be found at www.armstrong.com/recycling.

Phoenix Industries Acquires Technology to Pelletize Asphalt

n Phoenix Industries, a recycling technology company based in Las Vegas, has announced the acquisition of technology for pelletizing rubber-modified asphalt to be used in the paving industry. Under the licensing agreement between Phoenix Industries and Billian International, also located in Las Vegas, Phoenix Materials Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of Phoenix Industries, is now allowed to produce and market the product.

“We are very pleased to have this agreement in place,” says Kelly Sockwell, Phoenix Industries’ director of operations. “It will help us expand our product line while staying within our company’s initiative of green and sustainable projects. We are always looking for new and profitable applications for recycled materials and believe this has a huge potential.”

The asphalt rubber pelleted binder for hot mix is a blend of high quality asphalt oil reacted with ground tire rubber, lime and other preparatory ingredients, according to a company news release.

“I feel we have a very good team, with the know-how and expertise of Phoenix Industries, we can bring the benefits of paving with recycled tire rubber to areas that could not afford to do so with the old field blended method,” says Bill Bailey, president of Billian.

“We are now in the process of building our first plant in the Las Vegas area and should have it operational in July of 2010. We also hope to be installing our first of several international plants in the fourth quarter of this year,” Sockwell adds.

More information about Phoenix Industries is available online at www.phoenixindustries.com.