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By Logan Wells, DNR Forest Products Specialist, Hayward
This winter, the Forest Products Services team hosted three webinars on different aspects of manufacturing lumber. Each webinar highlighted principles from the recently published Forest Products Technical Guides.
Recordings of these webinars are available. These recordings expand on each topic, filling in some details about the industry.
We look forward to offering future webinars to highlight Wisconsin’s forest resources. Thank you to our partners Lake States Lumber Association Education, Northcentral Technical College and UW-Madison, for their help in putting together these resources and webinars.
Learn more via the Forest Products Technical Guides or watch the webinar recordings here: http://bit.ly/WiForestProductsResources
The DNR’s Forest Products Services team hosted a webinar in June 2020 that highlighted some of the positives of building with wood and explored the state of Wisconsin’s forest resources. To expand on that basic message, we are working on a series of future webinars that will address more specific themes within the broader theme of building with wood.
To best assess which topics potential attendees are most interested in learning about, we kindly ask that you fill out the survey linked below. We would very much appreciate you taking the time to provide feedback. We estimate that the few short questions found in the link below will take less than three minutes of your time. The survey will close on April 21, 2021.
Access the survey link here.
If you have any questions regarding the survey or webinars, contact Alex Anderson, DNR Forest Products Specialist, at 715-492-0571 or Sabina Dhungana, DNR Forest Products Specialist, at 608-220-4531.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced new programs to bring financial assistance to producers, including assistance for timber harvesting and hauling firms, who were impacted by market disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The USDA will re-open the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) signup for at least 60 days, beginning on April 5, 2021. Please visit the USDA Pandemic Assistance webpage for more information.
By Sabina Dhungana, DNR Forest Products Specialist, Madison
Were you shocked by your mill or plant’s power bill recently? Then 2021 might be a good year to consider adding a wood-fired combined heat and power (CHP) system or upgrading your existing biomass-fueled boiler system to add power generation capability.
Operators and managers of mills or other forest industry plants looking to reduce energy costs may qualify for the 30% energy tax credit included in the 2021 Federal Omnibus spending bill. Organizations may also be eligible by upgrading an existing biomass-fueled boiler system to add power generation capability. Biomass energy systems with more than 150 kW of electricity generation capacity may be eligible for the tax credit. To qualify for the energy tax credit, construction must start before Jan. 1, 2022.
The 2021 Omnibus also established a 30% Waste Energy Recovery Property tax credit for power systems with less than 50 MW capacity. A “waste energy recovery property” is defined in the legislation as a property that generates electricity solely from the heat of buildings or equipment if the building or equipment’s primary purpose is not electricity generation.
Eligible systems could use any fuel source (e.g., natural gas), not just wood-fired systems. Property owners must decide whether to claim the energy tax credit as a CHP facility or elect to treat their facility as a waste energy recovery property – they can’t claim both. To qualify for the Waste Energy Recovery Property tax credit, construction on the project must start before Jan. 1, 2024. Note that this credit scales down annually from 30% to 22% by the year 2023.
Many sawmills with kilns and old boilers could take advantage of these tax credits by adding a backpressure steam turbine to their system. Other companies that currently don’t have a wood boiler could also qualify for the tax credits if converting to a biomass-fired heat and power system.
Whether a biomass CHP system makes sense financially depends on each company’s situation. Companies with ready access to mill or manufacturing residues such as bark, chips and sawdust, or cull logs or ends or pieces or companies paying high prices for purchased power may have a financial incentive to explore CHP systems. For other companies, a wood heat or CHP system may provide a more stable outlet for the disposal of mill or manufacturing residues.
Companies interested in evaluating whether wood-fired heat or heat and energy systems are a good fit can get free assistance through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) partners with the Forest Service’s Wood Energy Technical Assistance Team to provide free wood heat and power evaluations. Contact Sabina Dhungana, DNR Forest Products Specialist, at 608-220-4531 for further assistance.
For more information about the federal income tax energy credit, consult your tax professional and see 26 U.S. Code § 48 – Energy credit and 26 U.S. Code § 45 – Electricity produced from certain renewable resources, etc., (c) (3) Open-Loop Biomass. For more information about the Waste Energy Recovery Property tax credit, see Section 203, pages 2453-2455 in the Omnibus Budget Bill.
26% Tax Credit Passed For Residential Biomass Heat Systems
Homeowners are also beneficiaries of the 2021 Omnibus Spending Bill. Congress passed a 26% tax credit for residential biomass heat systems in December 2020. A tax credit was implemented for wood and pellet heaters with a thermal efficiency rating of 75% (higher heating value of the fuel). The tax credit, initially set at 26% for 2021 and 2022, drops to 22% in 2023. The credit expires at the end of 2023, unless extended. The IRS is expected to issue guidance on the tax credit this year. For more information, see the Alliance For Green Heat’s web page.
By Alex Anderson, DNR Forest Products Specialist, Rhinelander
When people think of wood-based panel products, plywood and oriented-strand board (OSB) usually come to mind. However, a vast array of panel products whose primary building block is wood do not fall under the auspices of plywood or OSB. Before we explore those, it’s important to understand the distinction between “structural” panels and “non-structural” panels.
As the name implies, structural panels are designed to bolster the strength, stiffness and resistance of the items they adhere to. Plywood, generally, is utilized in commercial structures, whereas OSB is more common in residential construction.
Both plywood and OSB function as cladding for roofs, walls and subfloors. In Wisconsin, various plywood manufacturers generally produce hardwood plywood for decorative applications, such as furniture, cabinets, pinblocks for pianos and many others. There are also two OSB manufacturers in Wisconsin that utilize OSB as a base for their siding product.
Alternatively, non-structural panel products are primarily represented by medium-density fiberboard (MDF), particleboard and hardboard. Like OSB and plywood, these panels are prized for their dimensional stability and textural consistency.
MDF
MDF is used extensively by the furniture and cabinet industries. It is produced by breaking down wood into cellulosic fibers and then gluing them into panels compressed under heat to cure the resin, giving the panel its structural integrity.
MDF is a heavy material, weighing approximately 45 pounds per cubic foot. For reference, that’s nearly 4 pounds per square foot of 1-inch-thick material. In comparison to plywood, MDF is inexpensive. It has good machining properties and takes paint very well. However, it does not hold screws and nails particularly well, and care must be taken to avoid splitting the panels when drilling or nailing into its edge. The closest MDF plant is ARAUCO, just over the U.S. and Canadian border in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
Particleboard
Particleboard, like MDF, is created by combining wood particles with heat and adhesive under pressure to form a panel. The most salient differences between the two panels are the particles’ size variation and the final products’ density. Whereas MDF comprises tiny, uniform particles, particleboard is made up of larger, less uniform particles visible on the edge of a piece.
Particleboard is also less dense and lighter weight than MDF and hardboard. Particleboard is often used as the base material for melamine, vinyl and other artificial veneers. Its dimensional stability and low cost allow for inexpensive components for cabinetry and countertops. Like MDF, particleboard does not hold fasteners particularly well. Its rougher surface texture is generally veneered or covered with another material rather than finish directly applied to it. There is a large particleboard plant in Grayling, Michigan, operated by ARAUCO. Furthermore, Masonite Architectural constructs particleboard door cores at their Marshfield facility.
Hardboard
Hardboard is the densest of all the non-structural panels, generally found in thin panels less than one-fourth inch thick. Hardboard is used for wall paneling, door skins —likely the version most folks are familiar with— and perforated stock, also known as pegboard.
Creating hardboard panels also requires pressure and heat, just as MDF and particleboard, but the process of adhering the panels together is often different. In the making of hardboard, the fibers are essentially “exploded,” freeing up the lignin within the wood to perform the act of adhering the board together.
Current hardboards, however, often have resins mixed in during the panel-forming process to improve some of the physical characteristics, such as moisture resistance and increased strength. For decades, Georgia-Pacific operated a hardboard plant in Phillips, Wisconsin, specializing in decorative panels; however, the plant shuttered a few years ago.
The demand for most non-structural panel products has steadily increased since the Great Recession. Wisconsin is well-positioned to support any growth in the non-structural panel industry. The state has a significant volume of certified wood and millions of acres of sustainably managed forests. Wisconsin and nearby states are also home to large furniture and cabinet firms that utilize substantial volumes of these products. A centrally-located plant would be well-positioned to serve those markets.
A hardboard, MDF or particleboard plant in the state would bolster forest management, logging opportunities, secondary markets, and communities positively affected by the continued success of Wisconsin’s forest products markets. As the recent idling of the Verso mill in Wisconsin Rapids has shown, diversity is critical to a healthy forest products supply chain—a variety of markets makes the industry robust and more capable of weathering hardships that strike one sector.
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