Wood Pellet Plant & Machinery Solutions

Logs, slabs, offcuts and sawmill residue are received and reduced to chips of a workable size. Chipping first gives the dryer and the mill a feed that behaves consistently.

Chips are screened, with oversize pieces returned for re-chipping, while stones, nails, staples and other tramp metal are taken out and light material is drawn off by air. Contaminants left in the feed damage mill hammers and press dies.

Green wood carries a lot of moisture, so the chips are dried before milling. Wood that is too wet will not hold its shape when pressed, and wood that is too dry does not bind.

Dried chips are milled down to sawdust fine enough to pass through the press die. The milled dust is collected and conveyed to the press in a closed circuit to keep airborne wood dust out of the shed.

The sawdust is conditioned with steam to soften it, then forced through a die under pressure. Heat and pressure release the lignin naturally present in wood, which sets as the pellet leaves the die.

Pellets leave the die hot and soft, and are cooled so they harden. Loose fines are sieved and aspirated off and returned to the press feed rather than going into the bag.

Cooled pellets are weighed into bags, closed and stacked for dispatch. Bagged fuel is easier to store and to sell by weight than loose pellets.