Many of the well-known and respected companies in the wood pellet industry have built their businesses on trust, solid work and a good reputation. That fits the bill for Player Design, which has underscored these traits over the past 15-plus years, since Tyler Player founded the company in 2008. Initially focused on supplying drum dryers and biomass furnaces, PDI quickly established a foothold in the wood products industry. Over time, the company's expertise and success in executing projects propelled its growth, evolving into a portfolio that now includes 60-plus installations around the world, and a cutting-edge technology soon to debut at commercial scale. &nbsp;Right now, the largest ongoing customer project of PDI’s is a 340,000-ton-per-year pellet plant currently under construction in Jeanerette, Louisiana, that will use bagasse, a byproduct of sugarcane production, as feedstock. PDI will provide full EPC services to the $100 million plant, with the contract including the delivery of two 17-foot by 70-foot PDI dryers, each featuring a 100 MMBtu/hour furnace. “It’s exciting to have the opportunity to participate in something innovative and new,” says Player, a mechanical engineer by trade. “At PDI, pushing the boundaries and exploring uncharted territory is part of our DNA. We thrive on taking on challenging projects.”&nbsp;A Maine native, Player has found plenty of work close to home, including but not limited to serving as the EPC contractor for FE Wood Natural Energy, a 37,000-ton pellet plant in Sanford, Maine, as well as MaineFlame, which Player owns. An excerpt from MaineFlame’s website says it all: “Each Maine Flame firelog is carefully made in our rehabilitated sawmill by the fine folks of Ashland, Maine, using nothing but discarded tree debris from tree harvesting operations, the sweat off our backs, and some pretty serious high-tech machinery.”Located in Ashland at the site of a repurposed lumber mill, Player opened MaineFlame in 2020. The $6 million investment was intended to serve as a showcase for PDI's machinery, with its initial purpose being the production of compressed/extruded firelogs. However, the company is expanding its focus with a venture that began after a collaboration exploring black pellet technology with Active Energy Group—an England-based company that for many years had a proposed black pellet plant in Lumberton, North Carolina.Now, MaineFlame is in the midst of a $7 million expansion to add 30,000 annual tons of steam-treated—different than steam-exploded—wood pellet capacity to its product line. Successful trials of the state-of-the-art technology were completed at the Ashland site in 2021-’22, which Player says became known throughout the pellet industry and generated new business partnerships for the product both home and abroad.&nbsp;In regard to proof of concept and the testing phase, Tyler highlights the importance of relying on existing research and leveraging established technologies.Testing, Technology and the Market&nbsp; PDI imported a test reactor from the supplier of the reactor they will be using for commercial production, and performed extensive testing over a one-year period. “This rigorous process provided us with a high level of confidence in the technology's effectiveness,” Player says. While acknowledging that there is an element of faith involved in venturing into uncharted territory, PDI's extensive knowledge in the field and the machine's successful track record in similar environments make them optimistic about the outcome.Player says that PDI's approach to technology implementation focuses on finding machinery that has been extensively used in similar or even harsher conditions. “This ensures that the equipment is tried and tested, reducing the need for custom designs or risky experimentation,” he says.&nbsp;Construction is underway at MaineFlame, and the steam-treated wood technology is set to be fully functional by the fourth quarter of this year, with implementation expected to continue into the early months of the next year. What sets this technology apart from others, Player says, is its ability to utilize forest slash, which is typically discarded in the sawmill industry. “Steam pressurizes the reactor, and the wood is held under that high steam pressure for a period of time,” Player explains. “Then, the pressure is released, allowing the condensate inside the reactor to ‘flash’ back into steam at lower atmospheric pressures. Steam treatment of wood substantially reduces the amount of wastewater generation caused during a typical steam explosion process.”Previously, flash has been used at biomass power plants, but scarcity and logistical challenges have limited its application. PDI aimed to solve this problem by finding an alternative use for flash.&nbsp;Player emphasizes that though the company has worked on black pellet technology with a client before, this technology at the Ashland plant is not steam explosion. &nbsp;Regarding the slow adoption of black or steam-exploded pellet technology—despite the attention it has garnered over the past decade—Player attributes it to scalability issues. Many existing technologies are limited to small-scale operations, he says, rendering them impractical for widespread adoption. However, PDI's background in supplying machinery to the wood pellet industry puts them in a unique position to overcome this challenge—and they’re ready to assist clients. “Our machinery, while new to the black pellet application, is proven and scalable,” Player says. “Our investment in this technology is based on our understanding that the machinery we utilize has been running effectively in other industries for an extended period. This mitigates the risks typically associated with the simultaneous implementation of innovative technology and operational processes.”&nbsp;As for the market for steam exploded pellets, Tyler emphasizes their target audience: mid-sized industrial facilities in North America that are currently using coal or seeking alternative energy sources. The water-resistant nature of the pellets makes them suitable for direct integration into existing material handling systems, requiring minimal modifications.&nbsp;Player exudes enthusiasm about using waste materials to their full potential. “Our real goal is 100% use of every tree,” he says. &nbsp;The utilization of flash in the production of black pellets is meaningful toward achieving this goal, coupled with a focus on sourcing feedstock from local sawmills—specifically, residuals and waste streams not utilized in lumber production.” &nbsp;With a solid portfolio, longevity in the industry and ambitions to continue to innovate, Player says the icing on the cake regarding working in the biomass and pellet space are the individuals who have worked to make it what it is today. &nbsp;“I really like the people in the industry,” he adds. “They’re very hardworking, very earnest, and quite an honest, solid group of people.”Contact: Anna Simet&nbsp; asimet@bbiinternational.com&nbsp;

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Tyler Player, owner of Player Design Inc., discusses the company’s journey from a dryer and furnace supplier to launcher of a proven steam-treated wood pellet technology.

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