A North American wood pellet race has begun, with its eyes on exports to Europe . Biofuel pellets are made by compressing sawdust and other dried wood waste, such as forest thinnings, into a dense, high-combustion fuel source. Energex Pellet Fuel Inc. currently bills itself as North America’s largest pellet fuel maker, producing 200,000 tons a year from plants in Quebec and Pennsylvania . That output will easily be exceeded by a $100 million plant in Jackson County, Fla. Green Circle Bio Energy, owned by a Swedish company, is building what it calls the largest wood pellet plant in the world, capable of producing 560,000 tons a year. Another venture that’s also calling itself the world’s largest pellet plant, Dixie Pellets LLC, is under way near Selma, Ala. Near Baxley, Ga., Fram Renewable Fuels is building a 145,000-ton- a-year pellet plant, called Appling County Pellets LLC.

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