Montana lumber mill gets alternative energy project

Stoltze Lumber, a family-owned lumber production facility in Northwest Montana, will participate in an alternative energy project utilizing algae, wood chips and methane gas. The biomass-to-energy project will receive funding from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. The $350,000 grant originates with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Algae Aqua Culture Technologies, a partner in the project, will help build a commercial sized greenhouse system that breaks down wood waste into organic fertilizer. Methane gas will also be produced by the biomass and converted into mechanical energy to run equipment at the sawmill.

Located outside Columbia Falls, Mont., the sawmill’s main business is the production of dimensional lumber, typically Douglas fir, larch, cedar, white and ponderosa pine. The company was founded in 1912.