We use 100% of the logs that are harvested and brought to our sawmill and planermill. The sale of byproducts from our processes have helped us survive through down cycles the lumber market has experienced and we are proud to offer hogfuel, woodchips, shavings, sawdust, stringers, trimblocks, and pallet stock to our customers.

Hogfuel

The products from the sawmill that have been removed from the log and routed to other areas for utilization consist of bark and anything trimmed off the log after that. The bark, along with some larger pieces of whitewood waste that could not be sent to the chipper and pieces too small to be used for chips, is conveyed out of the mill. This fibre goes to the hog, which grinds the bark and waste into relatively uniform pieces called hogfuel (hogfuel biomass). We use the hogfuel on-site to provide 90% of our facilities with heat and we sell the rest of the hogfuel into the regional market.

If it is used for heat, the hogfuel is supplied to a storage metering bin that consistently feeds this fibre into a heat exchanger to maintain a regulated flame and temperature. The heat generated is used to increase the temperature of oil in the exchange unit. The hot oil is then transported by way of pipes to the kilns, the sawmill, the planermill and our secondary manufacturing shed, supplying them with heat in the process. Northland is currently researching opportunities to utilize excess heat generated by this system.

Woodchips

Any other solid whitewood waste that comes out of the sawmill is routed to the chipper. The chipper reduces pieces to a uniform one inch size for use in pulp and paper products. A thorough screening process sorts pieces too big that can be chipped smaller, and pieces too small that are sent to the sawdust holding area. Those that are just right are stored in 15 foot high, 20 foot long overhead bins. Chip trucks can drive under a bin and drop a load right in.

Shavings, Sawdust, and Trimblocks

Fibre removed from boards as they travel through the planermill consists of shavings and sawdust as mentioned earlier and trimblocks cut off at the trimmer. Our shavings are primarily used for animal bedding and distributed by Cowboy Shavings™ out of Missoula, Montana, USA. The sawdust is generally used within the Wood Buffalo region for its absorbent qualities, and the trimblocks, depending on quality, are sorted, stacked and sold for finger jointing, or made into chips.