Petersburg Pilot

One man’s search for alternative

heating source coming to fruition

Keith Chaplin

July 15, 2010

Sitting at the Petersburg dump one day, staring at the large pile of wood debris about to be burned that week, an idea sparked into Ben Johnson’s mind.

The heat from that pile of burning debris could heat a home, or multiple homes for that matter, Johnson realized.

So began the process of developing an idea that has consumed years of Johnson’s life.

His idea, to produce an ecologically friendly product that reuses burnable waste by turning it into fuel briquettes, has taken off.

In 2007, Johnson was a finalist in the Alaska Marketplace competition and was awarded a grant for $30,000.

That year, the process of refining the science of heating briquettes and pellets in Petersburg began, and continues today.

In a large warehouse along the Wrangell Narrows, that idea is coming to fruition in the form of several blue painted wood drying, processing and pelleting machines that could be the future of heating in Petersburg and Southeast Alaska.

The equipment is a small-scale experiment in the science of heating pellets.

“It’s my baby,” Johnson said with a smile.

Paper, cardboard and wood waste that would otherwise be disposed of have a new lease on life after being shredded, combined, dried and squeezed through a pellet-making machine.

Not only does the process of making heating pellets provide a use for what would otherwise be waste, it is cheaper than heating oil, Johnson pointed out.

One ton of pellets produces as much potential heating energy as 100 gallons of heating oil, Johnson said.

The price per ton of heating pellets will be about $250 per ton, he said.

In Petersburg on Wednesday, 100 gallons of #2 heating oil was selling for $3.06 per gallon, making the equivalent amount of heat $56 more than the one ton of pellets.

While the advantage to the consumer’s pocketbook is already apparent, there is an added advantage to the heating pellets, Johnson pointed out.

Because there is no shipping needed to bring the paper and cardboard recycling south, and less shipping needed to bring oil to Petersburg, the process is carbon negative.

It reduces the carbon footprint because of the reduction of emissions from shipping heating fuel and waste back and forth from the mainland to Petersburg.

Johnson has found other grants for the project, and is now partnered with Petersburg Indian Association.

“Right now we are in the ‘prove it’ stage,” Johnson said. “We’re hoping by November to be making a ton every workday. Once we prove it’s viable we’ll look at getting more equipment.”

On Wednesday, sections of a new drying system were being installed in the warehouse. The equipment was found to be necessary after multiple test runs showed that moist wood did not yield good pellets.

In June, Johnson hired Jeff Simbahon to work on the project full time. Simbahon is as excited about the project as Johnson as the two walk around the warehouse describing the pellet making process.

One recent development with the pelleting machine was the need for oil in the material to make better pellets.

So Simbahon went around to area businesses and collected their used vegetable oil, and the most recent run yielded the best pellets so far, Johnson said.

Heating pellets are not a new idea, Johnson said. They are popular in several European countries and are shipped around the world.

In fact, a large majority of those made in the world are produced on Vancouver Island, Johnson said.

And there are already pellet mills in Alaska that produce pellets, but none in Southeast, Johnson said.

Pairing with PIA has been a very valuable step, Johnson pointed out. Because of the PIA recycling pick-up service, the pellet mill has as much material as needed to produce heating pellets.

“We’re the ones doing the recycling anyways,” Johnson said.

And the pelleting machines have other uses.

“This can be used for livestock bedding,” Simbahon said as he held up a handful of pellets made from recycled paper.
The process could even be converted to produce animal and fish feed, Johnson said.

Johnson pointed out that any timber-thinning project that yields scrap wood is a perfect source of material for heating pellets. He already gets wood scraps from area lumberyards.

As far as potential customers, Johnson said people would need a dependable source before they started buying pellet stoves, but he said there will soon be customers.

The Sealaska building in Juneau will soon be run on heating pellets, and Johnson said he has heard estimates that they will need 350 tons of pellets per year.

There is also a possibility of tax breaks in the future for using ecologically friendly heating sources such as wood pellets.

But for now, perfecting the process and making a positive contribution to Petersburg’s needs is the priority, Johnson said.

“Realistically we want to start by utilizing all the wood, cardboard and paper waste of Petersburg,” Johnson said. “Right now we’re working out the bugs.”