Industrial Wood Chipper in Colombia

The Background: From Sawlogs to Sustainable Chips

The client is a timber cooperative made up of around 25 small landowners managing pine plantations near Villavicencio. For decades, they focused mainly on selling sawlogs to large mills in Bogotá and Medellín. But tight margins, rising transportation costs, and local community pressure to manage waste more responsibly pushed the cooperative to look for new opportunities.

For years, piles of branches and offcuts were either left to decay — attracting pests — or openly burned, which drew complaints from nearby villages and even fines from local environmental agencies. Meanwhile, pulp mills and new biomass boilers in the region started paying decent prices for clean chips, especially for pine and eucalyptus residues.

After several meetings with buyers and consulting with RICHI’s engineers, the cooperative decided to invest in a single industrial wood chipper to process the leftover plantation material into consistent chips that could supply local pulp and biomass buyers.

They didn’t want to jump straight into pellet production yet. Instead, they wanted a reliable, stand-alone machine they could use on different plots and share between members — a practical first step toward a future wood pellet mill in Colombia if the market justifies it.

Why They Chose the XPJ680×300 Model

Given the size and condition of their typical residues — mostly pine branches and small-diameter eucalyptus logs — RICHI recommended the XPJ680×300 industrial wood chipper. This model is powerful enough for plantation work but compact enough to be moved around different plots as needed.

Key specifications for this industrial wood chipper in Colombia:

• Inlet Size: 680×300 mm
• Max Feed Diameter: φ300 mm
• Feeding Motor Power: 4+3 kW
• Main Motor Power: 90 kW
• Hydraulic Pump Power: 1.1 kW
• Discharge Belt Power: 1.5 kW
• Flying Knives: 2
• Fixed Knives: 1

This industrial wood chipper in Colombia gives the cooperative the versatility to process a variety of feedstocks, including crooked branches, slab wood, and short logs that don’t meet sawmill specs. The 90 kW main motor delivers enough power to handle green wood and soft dry material alike.

The Raw Materials: Colombian Pine and Eucalyptus

Colombia's managed forests are mainly planted with Caribbean pine and fast-growing eucalyptus clones. For this cooperative, the drum wood chipper's workload breaks down like this:

• 60% pine plantation residue: mostly branches, treetops, and irregular logs under 30 cm diameter.
• 40% eucalyptus plantation thinnings: small logs removed during thinning operations to promote better final crop trees.

This mix is practical for the region: pine residues are abundant after clear-cuts and final harvests, while eucalyptus thinnings are a year-round resource from rotation cycles of 6–10 years.

The cooperative plans to deliver the chips mainly to a pulp mill in Meta that demands uniform chip size for fiber quality, plus some smaller local biomass heating projects — schools and small industries that have switched from oil to wood chips.

How the Industrial Wood Chipper Improves the Whole Operation

Before they bought the industrial wood chipper, the cooperative was losing money and goodwill. Open burning meant smoke complaints, random inspections, and lost days paying fines or clearing charred piles. Now, instead of waste, every plantation harvest ends with clean, uniform piles of saleable chips.

The XPJ680×300 industrial wood chipper in Colombia handles up to 8–10 tons of raw residue per hour, which means a typical 30-hectare plantation clear-cut can be processed in a few days. This keeps the forest floor clean, reduces pest risk, and frees up space for replanting sooner.

Plus, the cooperative earns extra revenue for its members. Chips that once had zero value now bring in steady income — money that can be reinvested in better seedlings, silviculture training, or even future equipment like a wood pellet press or dryer.

Beyond Pulp: Other Products and Future Opportunities

While pulp chips are the main product today, the cooperative is exploring other markets. Local chicken farms have shown interest in using wood chips as bedding material. Landscape suppliers are also testing pine chips for mulch, which is popular for decorative gardens in urban areas.

Some members are already pushing for a small-scale wood pellet mill in Colombia. With the right drying and milling equipment, these same chips could feed pellet presses to produce bagged fuel for export or domestic heating markets. Colombia’s growing middle class and its move toward greener energy mean demand is only set to rise.

One Piece of Equipment, Many Benefits

Why did the cooperative choose RICHI? They looked at second-hand European chippers, but most were too big, too old, or too expensive to maintain. Locally made options were cheaper but couldn’t match the performance, energy efficiency, or after-sales support RICHI offered.

For them, the decision came down to:

• Proven track record: RICHI’s machines run in similar tropical conditions all over Southeast Asia and Latin America.
• Easy servicing: Spare parts, knives, and screens are easy to get and affordable.
• Low energy consumption: The XPJ680×300’s balanced power-to-output ratio means they can chip more while paying less per ton.
• Scalability: RICHI helped map out how to add a hammer mill, dryer, and pellet press later — step by step, with no wasted investment.

The cooperative didn't just buy an industrial wood chipper in Colombia. They invested in a cleaner, more profitable future for all their members. In just the first season, they turned over 500 tons of residue into high-value pulp chips — material that used to cost them money to burn or bury. Local kids don’t breathe in smoke, local land stays clear, and forest owners pocket extra income for their families.

It’s a small but real shift: better forest management, better rural livelihoods, and a practical pathway toward full biomass utilization.

Thinking of a Similar Move?

If you manage a forest plot, run a sawmill, or process timber anywhere in Colombia, ask yourself: How much residue do you waste every harvest? How much value do you burn away every time you clear piles for new planting?

A well-chosen industrial wood chipper in Colombia — like the XPJ680×300 — can unlock hidden revenue, open doors to new buyers, and set you up for bigger things, like a full wood pellet production line in the future.

At RICHI Machinery, we know Colombian forests, local realities, and global opportunities. Whether you’re starting with one chipper or dreaming bigger with a complete biomass pellet production line, we’re ready to help you build it step by step.

Contact us today and see how an industrial wood chipper in Colombia could be your next smart move.

RICHI Machinery — Turning Forest Residue Into Profit, One Chip at a Time.