Britton Lumber expands steam plant capacity
Britton Lumber Company in Bath, New Hampshire, continues to invest in its Eastern White Pine manufacturing operation and recently broke ground on a combined heat and power project to update its steam plant capacity. The company will be replacing its aging thermal energy equipment with a new wood-gasification system meant to maximize the value of wood residues from the sawmill. A new 300-horsepower Hurst wood boiler system will be installed along with a microsteam turbine-generator. The backpressure steam turbine, from Nline Energy, will produce efficient, low-cost electricity that will be used by the company, with excess being put back onto the grid.
John Moses, mill manager, says: “We are very excited about our boiler plant upgrades and the addition of the microsteam turbine. This project helps operations become more efficient and gives us more flexibility with our byproducts as markets change. A new boiler and turbine sets us up well for a successful and sustainable future.”
This project will provide Britton Lumber the opportunity to leverage low-value wood residues to generate thermal energy onsite. An added benefit will be heat for the sawmill, which will help with employee comfort and decrease wear on machinery during the winter months. The building, which will house the boiler and turbine, will use mass timber as part of the structural system. Funding and project support has come from Britton Lumber, Ledyard National Bank, the United States Forest Service Community Wood Grant Program, a Rural Energy for America Program Grant, the New Hampshire Department of Energy, and Eversource, New Hampshire's electric utility.
