BRATTLEBORO — Cersosimo Lumber, a leading producer of high quality Northeastern Hardwood and Eastern White Pine lumber, has installed a new system at its Brattleboro hardwood mill to extract energy from the steam it produces to dry lumber in kilns, and convert it into approximately 600 kilowatts (kW) of electrical energy.
The energy system, built by Turbosteam, will use waste wood from milling operations used to fuel Cersosimo's existing biomass boiler, allowing the mill to effectively use its steam three times - first to dry lumber, second to generate electricity, and third to heat buildings.
The Brattleboro project will be the second steam recycling project implemented in Cersosimo's operations; there has been a 200 kW Turbosteam unit generating electricity at the Brattleboro Kiln Dry plant since 1989.
“The Turbosteam project offsets energy costs at the plant and increases environmental sustainability of our operation,” said Jeff Hardy, Cersosimo vice president of operations.
The project, which is expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2013, is part of Vermont's Sustainably Priced Energy Development Program (SPEED), which seeks to promote the development of in-state energy sources that use renewable fuels to ensure the economic benefits for the Vermont economy in general and the state's rate-paying citizens in particular.
Turbosteam said its steam turbine generator will generate electricity at 480 volts, and it will connect to the local utility grid owned by Green Mountain Power through a step-up transformer to 12,470 volts, where it will be purchased at the SPEED program's established rates.
Cersosimo Lumber, founded in 1947 by Anthony F. Cersosimo, is one of the largest producers of lumber in New England.
Turbosteam, a division of Recycled Energy Development, is the leading supplier of steam turbine generator systems for industrial and institutional facilities.