The Pellet Fuels Institute (PFI) recently announced the addition of two new companies to its pellet fuel standards program. Curran Renewable Energy (Massena, NY) and American Wood Fibers (Circleville, OH and Marion, VA) have officially qualified under the Pellet Fuels Institute pellet fuel standards program. The PFI Standards Program is a third party certification program providing standard specifications for residential and commercial grade fuel.

In its role as the leading authority on the North American pellet industry, PFI established the standards program as a mechanism to ensure consumers and retailers that the fuel consistency and quality matches manufacturer claims found on bags of fuel and other informational materials. “PFI applauds the efforts of Curran Renewable Fuels and American Wood Fibers to qualify for the PFI Standards Program.  It shows their commitment to developing pellets that meet consumers' heating needs,” says PFI’s Executive Director Jennifer Hedrick, “and we’re looking forward to the enrollment of other companies to the program in the next several months.”

Curran and American Wood Fibers (AWF) join New England Wood Pellet, LLC (Jaffrey, NH, Deposit, NY and Schuyler, NY) as the only pellet manufacturers able to display the PFI Quality Mark on their bags. President and CEO of Curran, Patrick J. Curran, sees the qualification as a challenge to ensure they are producing the best product, and as a way to stand out to consumers. “We believe with the PFI certification and a standard that we know we can meet, our quality level will be exceptional and will help us grow to the capacity that we’re looking to be at.”

This qualification is the result of work that Curran and AWF have done in conjunction with PFI, the American Lumber Standard Committee and Timber Products Inspection, Inc. (Conyers, GA). Both AWF and Curran have agreements with Timber Products Inspection for the company to provide auditing and third party laboratory testing services.

“We appreciate all the hard work that went into the development of the PFI program and thank PFI for the support it has shown the industry. We’re very proud to have achieved independent verification that we are producing pellets that are among the best available,” said Rich Whiting, Vice President of Equine, Pet and Pellet Sales and Marketing for AWF.

Pellet Fuels Institute (PFI) Standards Program
www.pelletheat.org

American Wood Fibers (AWF)
www.alsc.org