A heart-warming collaboration – 25 years of energetic development

28th October 2024
Partnership stories Industries District heating

Just on the shore of the narrow and beautiful lake Fryken in the west part of Sweden lies Moelven Notnäs Ransby AB, a sawmill that has collaborated with Adven on energy supply for 25 years. Here, the sawmill’s by-products are used as fuel at Adven’s energy plant, which in turn supplies the sawmill’s dryers with energy and heats the residents of Torsby with district heating.

“The long-term relationship with Adven brings both stability and the right expertise,” says Peter Broberg, CEO of Moelven Notnäs Ransby AB.

Deep in the forests of Värmland and about 40 kilometers from the Norwegian border, more than 80 Moelven employees convert logs into sawn timber products for flooring, carpentry, glulam and construction. About half of the production is exported, while the rest is used in Sweden.

Every hour, the Moelven Notnäs sawmill receives 2.5 timber trucks. At the same time, 1.5 trailers leave the area with sawn timber products. Recently, large volumes have been transported to its sister company in Töreboda, among other places. Here it has been used for production of glulam, building material that is currently being used to build one of the largets warehouse and logistics facilities in the Nordics.

Major investment in new dryers

At the sawmill, the largest amount of energy is consumed in the dryers, where the wood must be dried from a moisture content of 40% to 18% – or lower depending on what the wood is to be used for. Adven supplies hot water that reaches about 125 degrees to the dryers, which dry the wood in anywhere from a couple of days to up to 12 days.

In 2024, the sawmill made a major investment in new dryers to increase both capacity and efficiency. The investment of approximately 75 million SEK was important to secure future production.

“It was a necessary investment for us. Thanks to the collaboration with Adven, we can focus on our core business and at the same time know that the energy plant is operating efficiently,” says Peter Broberg.

Local fuels and an efficient plant

Just over half of the timber that comes into Moelven Notnäs becomes wood products, while the rest becomes by-products such as cellulose chips, shavings, dry chips and bark. Bark and dry chips are used as fuel in Adven’s plant, creating a local fuel supply with minimal transport.

In order for as much of the forest’s raw material as possible to be utilized, the energy plant also needs to contribute.

Already at the turn of the millennium, Adven carried out an upgrade of the plant by installing a flue gas condensation, which increases the efficiency of the plant. The energy recovered from the flue gases is used for district heating for Torsby residents. Today, about 40% of the total energy at the plant is used for district heating and 60% is used to dry wood products at the sawmill.

In recent years, the plant has been further modernized by updating the control system and adapting the combustion air. In addition, it has been adapted to be able to use the part of the bark that, for logistical reasons and other conditions, does not have as high quality as fuel, so-called “cleaning bark” or “prepared bark”.

It has been 25 years since Moelven personnel operated the boiler themselves and, according to Peter Broberg, they no longer have the expertise internally to run this type of project.

“Adven has a large organization with resources that we do not have ourselves, which they use to make things much better with us. The collaboration has grown over many years, and I am very happy where we are now.”

97 percent supply availability

The collaboration between Adven and Moelven is characterized by close and open communication, especially regarding fuel before the winter. Monthly meetings ensure that both the sawmill and the district heating network have enough fuel to run the operations smoothly.

“We plan fuel issues carefully, not only for our own operations but also for the residents of Torsby,” explains Stefan Berglund, Operations Manager at Moelven.

Adven and Moelven are literally tied together and changes or interruptions happening one one side always affect the other. This requires close contact between Stefan Berglund and Eddie Henriksson, acting operations and maintenance manager at Adven’s plant in Torsby.

“If problems arise and we cannot supply energy, Eddie has direct contact with our drying manager,” explains Stefan Berglund. The dryer consumes almost all the energy at the sawmill and together they solve any problem immediately.
Eddie Henriksson nods in agreement:

“There is good communication in both directions. Both between the dryer and the boiler – and with everyone who is active in the sawmill area.”

The collaboration has yielded results. The plant in Torsby has so far reached an availability of 97 percent in 2024. On top of that, it shows the power of long-term partnerships where both parties contribute to improving efficiency and sustainability. By combining expertise and local resources, the companies have together created a cycle that benefits both businesses – and the residents of Torsby.

“And we can focus fully on what we are supposed to do, producing wood products,” concludes Peter Broberg.

Adven Moelven Notnäs samarbete

From the left: Peter Broberg, CEO of Moelven Notnäs Ransby AB, Jonny Karlsson, Account Manager at Adven, Stefan Berglund, Operations Manager at Moelven Notnäs, and Eddie Henriksson, Acting Operations and Maintenance Manager at Adven.

The collaboration in brief:

  • Adven owns and operates two bio-boilers with a capacity of 15 MW and one oil-fired boiler as a reserve.
  • The fuel used at the plant comes directly from the sawmill and consists of dry chips and bark.
  • 60% of the total energy volume is used for the sawmill and 40% is used for district heating in Torsby.
  • It is mainly the energy from the plant’s flue gas condensation that supplies the district heating network with heat.
  • Adven provides district heating to a total of 183 houses and about 45 businesses in Torsby, one of the largest customers of which is Note AB, which, among other things, manufactures circuit boards.