Deer River Hired Hands Inc. has biomass operation in full swing April 29, 2010
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Deer River, Minnesota, 56636
The Bible Says | Looking Back |
Volume 110, Number 41, Date: July 8, 2010
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Deer River Hired Hands Inc. has biomass operation in full swing
The Deer River Hired Hands Inc. biomass operation, located in the west wood yard of Blandin, keeps a lot of waste wood from ending up in the landfills by grinding it up and selling the wood chips for fuel use. “It doesn’t generate a lot of money for us,” said Melvin (Mel) Gullickson, “but it does cover the operation costs and bring in a bit extra.”
The Deer River Hired Hands Inc. biomass operation needed a bigger, more technologically advanced grinder, and once they were able to lease one the operation went into full swing. Seated at the controls is Stuart Perrington.
by Louise H. McGregor, staff writer The strong gusts of wind kept the wood chip dust and dirt swirling through the air, but that did not alter Stuart Perrington’s pattern as he guided the claw from the huge pile of scrap to the top of the grinder on the morning of April 16. This work, being done by Perrington, was for the Deer River Hired Hands Inc. biomass operation that is located in Blandin’s west wood yard. “We swung into full steam operation a week and a half ago,” said Melvin (Mel) Gullickson. Gullickson and Perrington make up the wood grinding crew for this company which originally got started about three years ago when, after approval was given by the Deer River Hired Hands board, a grant was obtained from the Blandin Foundation, and a grinder was purchased from Northland Biomass (an operation that was located at the Deer River Rajala Lumber Company location). It was discovered that the small grinder purchased was not capable of doing big logs and all of the different waste products that were being brought in for recycling. “It did quite well on pallets,” said Gullickson, “but not some of the other products, so we have leased this grinder for a month. The Komptech Crambo 6000, which was made in Germany, removes 90 percent of the metal and nails with a screen and magnetization process as it grinds up the waste product wood into the finished chip product. We sell our chips to Rapids Energy, owned by MP&L. They use it for fuel.” The aim of this two-man crew is to get all of the scrap wood that is currently in the yard ground up during the month’s lease of the more powerful, higher tech grinder. And, be able to take care of anything that is brought in. “We get pallets from several companies,” said Gullickson, “who haul them in here and drop them off. This is a free recycling service for wood products that we offer to everyone.” Blandin’s wood yard has been leased to the Hired Hands company for use in their biomass recycling program for four years. This part of the business does generate an income. “We don’t make a lot of money,” said Gullickson, “but the operation does pay for itself and keeps a lot of material from ending up in the landfills."
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