Press release
For immediate release
St. Hyacinthe, April 9th, 2021 – Säätötuli Canada announces that the first ever Säätötuli biomass boiler made in Canada has been fired-up.
The boiler was started on March 25th, 2021 and has successfully passed the first tests. For these tests, the fuel is woodchips provided by a sugar shack located at only 3km from the boiler. The energy meter installed inside the boiler room confirmed that the boiler can provide continuously more than the nominal output with this dry fuel.
After two weeks of continuous operation, the boiler has not had any major issues. “I have been working on biomass boilers for more than 27 years. From experience, I know that the start-up of a pre-series model always requires a certain amount of debugging. We had to change some parameters on the first days, but the start-up process took place with far fewer problems than anticipated. This new boiler performs well, and I am really satisfied” stated Marko Pihlajamäki, Säätötuli Canada’s CTO.
Resulting from a joint development between Säätötuli Canada and its manufacturing partner ProMétal Plus located in Deschambault, QC, the boiler features several innovations. The boiler’s fire chamber is optimized for Säätötuli’s biomass burner thereby guaranteeing high combustion efficiency and low atmospheric emissions. The boiler is equipped with a vertical tubular exchanger which reduces cleaning operations and makes automated cleaning more efficient. Ashes that accumulate in the fire chamber are automatically evacuated to a bin using an auger system.
“In the beginning of our Canadian venture, we had the choice to sell our European equipment directly. Regulatory issues would however make their use difficult. The other solution would have been to use an existing boiler from a North American manufacturer, but none of them met our specifications and quality standards. Thanks to our manufacturing partner ProMétal Plus and more than two years of work, we are fortunate to have been able to develop a boiler with the same qualities as our European products but manufactured in accordance with local standards. We have therefore managed not to compromise on quality while reducing our carbon footprint as well as our risks related to transport and currency thanks to manufacturing in Quebec.” said Topi Tulkki, CEO of Säätötuli Canada.
The first boiler that was fired-up has a nominal output of 200kW (683,000 BTU/hr). It was manufactured to ASME section IV that allows it to be used on a pressurised hydronic heating loop. The boiler has been approved for Quebec and Ontario by the Régie du Bâtiment and TSSA who gave it a valid CRN (Canadian Registration Number).
A 400kW (1,365,000 BTU/hr) boiler has also been approved for QC and will be started in a few weeks. The 300kW (1,024,000 BTU/hr) model started its approval process.
Eventually, Säätötuli plans to produce a full range of ASME biomass boilers from 40kW (137,000 BTU/hr) up to 1500kW (5,118,000 BTU/hr). “We have the know-how and more than 36 years of experience in Europe on these products. The development of the first unit in Canada allowed us to learn a lot about local standards and refine our collaboration with our manufacturing partner. The development of boilers of different outputs will now be much faster” stated Topi Tulkki.
The boiler and the fuel transfer systems are driven by an industrial automation cabinet. All the automation boxes are also manufactured in Canada by certified sub-contractors to meet electrical regulations.
This first boiler heats the ProMétal Plus factory in Deschambault, QC and will also be used for testing purposes. Säätötuli Canada is committed to supply in 2021 also a 400kW boiler for a factory in Quebec, as well as 3 containerised 200 and 300kW biomass boiler plants for municipal building heating for First Nations in Northern Ontario.
Biomass-fired hot-water boilers can be used for many applications like heat-networks, district-heating, and to heat municipal, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and residential buildings.
Säätötuli Canada supplies also biomass burners for other applications. They can be used to automate the fuel feeding on log-fired equipment. Säätötuli burners have been installed for example on a maple syrup evaporator in Deschambault, QC and a traditional bread oven in Sherbrooke, QC.
Heating with locally sourced woodchips is a renewable, carbon-neutral form of energy that generates local employment.
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Download PDFAbout Säätötuli Canada
Säätötuli Canada, established in St. Hyacinthe, QC in 2015, owns the product rights for the Finnish Säätötuli biomass heating equipment for North-America. Based on 36 years of expertise, acquired by manufacturing over 14,000 biomass heating systems and more than 300 containerized bioheat plants, Säätötuli equipment can operate with a wide variety of solid fuels like woodchips, pellets, wood-energy chips, wood industry residues and agricultural residues.
More information
Topi Tulkki, CEO, Säätötuli Canada
info@saatotuli.ca
450-253-1567
www.saatotuli.ca
About biomass heating :
https://www.saatotuli.ca/2018/03/15/biomass-a-renewable-carbon-neutral-and-socially-responsible-energy/
About municipal district heating with biomass:
https://www.saatotuli.ca/2019/06/26/biomass-fired-municipal-heat-networks/