Rentech wood pellets reach U.K.

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After several hiccups in refurbishing its Northern Ontario mills, Rentech has delivered two shipments of industrial wood pellets to Drax Power in the United Kingdom.

The Los Angeles-based nitrogen and wood pellet processor delivered the news in its fourth quarter and year-end statements on March 16.

"We shipped approximately 48,000 tonnes of pellets to Drax in the first quarter of this year, produced from the Wawa and Atikokan plants," said president-CEO Keith Forman in a statement.

Rentech has spent $145 million on conversions to both plants.

The company suffered setbacks during the conversions, including replacing faulty conveyors at Atikokan last year. That facility is expected to reach full capacity at some point this year. Delays in the plant ramp-up forced Rentech to buy pellets on the market in order to fulfil their contract with OPG.

At Rentech's export pellet...