Industrial waste recovery: Bois BSL’s SmartLog
| Region(s) | Mont-Joli, Québec, Canada |
|---|---|
| In domains | Agriculture, Construction / Engineering / Building Materials, Energy Sector, Forestry, Paper and Wood Products, Manufacturing, Reduced Toxicity, Reuse of Materials, Waste Reduction |
| Participants | Bois BSL |
Bois BSL manufactures finished wood for flooring. By reassessing its processes, the company found a use for its postproduction wood residue and developed the SmartLog, a packaged log made from compressed wood.
Since 2006, spinoff company BSL Énergie, which firmly believes that Nature does nothing futile (La nature ne fait rien d’inutile - its motto), has been the exclusive manufacturer of this star product.
Innovation, in depth
During the manufacturing process, the hardwood is shaved to eliminate roughness. The shaving residue is then recovered by Bois BSL and transformed into energy logs, which have been labelled pressed firewood logs by EcoLogo. In fact, SmartLogs are a solid biofuel made from the compressed sawdust and chips generated in lumber production.
The company is therefore able to reclaim 100% of the raw materials used to manufacture the flooring, and the process is a model of industrial waste recovery and maximum natural resource use. Bois BSL has created a new production cycle in which the outputs become the inputs in a new production strategy.
Even before the SmartLog, Bois BSL was already maximizing raw materials use – a fundamental strategy for President and CEO Gino Ouellet for whom innovation is key in order to remain a leader in the wood processing industry.
In fact, the company had to choose between wood pellets and artificial logs. Seeing as the pellets could only be used in special stoves, the logs became a more worthwhile option.
After establishing the availability of the wood residue, Bois BSL had to compare standard elimination costs to determine whether or not it was worth diverting the waste to manufacture a new product. Then, the 1999-2000 forest crisis slowed the market and trade. In one instance, a wood panel manufacturer stopped purchasing sawdust from Bois BSL, which ended up with a surplus. Given the high cost of landfilling or burning the residue, the company decided to find it a new purpose.
Feasibility and waste composition studies were conducted, and a recovery method was developed by a Bois BSL engineer in collaboration with other partners. Pilot tests and laboratory analyses were also carried out. With positive results in hand, Bois BSL then oversaw the design of prototypes for small-scale production and applied for a patent.
In enhancing its industrial processes, Bois BSL has curbed its waste of raw materials, the financial burden of warehousing and its environmental footprint. The benefits of the SmartLog initiative are therefore both economic and environmental.
SmartLogs are made from natural hardwood residue. They contain no polyethylene, chemical additives or paraffin, a hydrocarbon used in candles, certain artificial logs and as paper wax. SmartLogs limit creosote build-up in chimneys, release fewer fine particles and yield up to 35% more heat than standard logs.
Bois BSL consumes less energy in raw materials transport since its supply comes from the flooring plant situated in the same manufacturing complex. By the same token, the company has also reduced its greenhouse gas emissions.
The production line and finished product are quality-controlled, and Bois BSL was able to obtain an EcoLogo certification, which endorses ecological artificial logs that meet certain standards. Among other things, log manufacturers must ensure that no toxic sawdust, chipwood, plywood or painted, varnished or treated wood is used in production.
Production waste reuse and recovery fit into an eco-industrial approach to enhance the efficiency of existing industrial processes and reduce their environmental impacts.
Boisaco, a lumber company in Haute-Côte-Nord, established a process to recover wood residue and began to manufacture energy-efficient pellets for household and industrial stoves. Boisaco also developed a partnership with Bois BSL, taking advantage of the company’s distribution network.
On another scale, multinational cement company Lafarge promotes the use of alternative products in its manufacturing process, reducing its raw materials consumption. At the Milaki plant in Greece, part of the industrial sludges are mixed with cement production materials.
