RICHI Machinery Confirms Equipment Order for Combined Building Template (Formwork) and Wood Pellet Line — Vietnam Project

An order has been confirmed for a dual-product pellet production line in northern Vietnam, configured to produce both wood pellets (for fuel) and construction formwork/template pellets — a less common combined-product configuration that the buyer requested based on their access to two distinct raw material streams from different parts of their existing wood processing operation.

The buyer operates a wood products facility that generates both clean sawdust/wood waste (suitable for standard fuel pellet production) and a separate stream of recycled/composite wood material from formwork panel manufacturing (construction template boards, used in concrete formwork applications, which after their service life or from manufacturing offcuts generate a wood-composite waste stream containing some resin/adhesive content from the original panel construction).

These two material streams have different characteristics — the clean wood waste pelletizes similarly to standard sawdust pellet production (discussed in relation to the Finland project), while the formwork waste material, due to its resin content, behaves somewhat differently during pelletizing — the resin can act as an additional binder (potentially improving pellet durability) but also affects the material's behavior in the dryer (resin-containing material can have different drying characteristics, sometimes requiring lower drying temperatures to avoid resin degradation that could affect pellet quality or create unwanted emissions during drying).

The equipment configuration the buyer requested allows for processing either material stream through largely the same core equipment (hammer mill, dryer, ring die wood pellet mill, cooler), but with the dryer's temperature controls adjustable across a range that accommodates both the standard wood waste drying profile and the lower-temperature profile suited to the formwork waste material — essentially, the buyer will run one material stream or the other through the wood pellet production line at different times, rather than blending them, switching based on which raw material stream has more volume available at a given time.

Capacity is rated at 5 t/h for the standard wood waste material; throughput for the formwork waste material is expected to be somewhat lower (the buyer's preliminary estimate, based on smaller-scale trials they conducted separately, suggests perhaps 3.5-4 t/h for that material stream, given the lower-temperature drying requirement extends drying time proportionally) — RICHI's equipment is rated for the higher 5 t/h figure as the primary specification, with the buyer aware that the formwork material stream will run somewhat below that rate.

Order confirmation includes a request for RICHI Machinery to provide guidance documentation on the recommended temperature range adjustments for switching between the two material types — practical operational information the buyer's staff will need once both material streams are in regular alternating production use.

Manufacturing is scheduled to begin shortly, with delivery estimated at approximately 8 weeks.