New Plum Creek “Bug Farm” Protects Air Quality in Montana

Plum Creek’s commitment to protecting the environment set a new standard in September when the company’s medium-density fiberboard (MDF) plant in Columbia Falls, Mont., started up a new air emissions treatment system that is the largest of its kind in the world. The system, known as a biofilter or “bug farm,” uses trillions of microscopic bacteria to clean the air of chemicals released during the manufacturing process.

“When this new, green technology became available, we jumped on the chance to bring it to our Montana facilities,” said Hank Ricklefs, Plum Creek’s vice president of Northern Resources and Manufacturing. “The conventional approach to treating these chemicals in the air is to burn them, which creates its own exhaust gas. The biofilter technology is far more energy-efficient and environmentally sound.”

Design and construction of the biofilter took two years and cost $9.5 million dollars. Its core is a collection of rocks among which live some four trillion single-cell microorganisms. Manufacturing air exhausts are forced through the filter, where the bacteria eat 98 percent of the air-borne chemicals, such as formaldehyde and methanol, and exhale carbon dioxide and water.

The record-breaking biofilter is the company’s third and largest in Montana, where similar but smaller systems are in operation at a second Columbia Falls production line and at Plum Creek’s Evergreen plywood plant in Kalispell, Mont. The Evergreen system, the world’s second largest, also started up this fall. Both recent installations drew praise from community leaders, including U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg, who applauded the company’s commitment.