Chip Energy wins occupancy OK for factory building made from recycled shipping containers
In Illinois, obtaining a certificate of occupancy on a building constructed of 60 Intermodal Shipping Containers is a huge accomplishment for Chip Energy, said company president Paul Wever, president of Chip Energy Inc. These types of containers are built out of at least 5,000 lbs. of steel each, and with 1 million units out of commercial service in the US they represent over five billion pounds of stranded steel. Once they are no longer usable by the original owner they become stacked up eyesores all over the world.
After conducting a lot of research on his own and consulting architects and engineers the company set out to demonstrate the unique design could work using the recycled shipping containers. Wever took advantage of the incredible strength and durability of the containers to make a more efficient biomass conversion facility that will become the pilot plant to demonstrate a cost-effective way to ship biomass around the country using, you guessed it, recycled shipping containers.
“Most of the cost of producing sustainable bioenergy is the cost of getting the biomass to the processing facility,” said Wever. “Using this Biomass Conversion Facility Depot, we will be able to profitably ship biomass, based on the customer’s specifications, to their processing facility at a cost that enables them to make a profit. Because of the way the building is designed, we can take a wide variety of different forms of biomass, convert the biomass into exactly what our customers want and deliver it to them.”
Category: Fuels
