Richi Machinery supply complete wood pellet production line with 1-40t/h production capacity. The raw material to make wood pellets are sawdust, wood chips, wood shavings, etc. The main equipment of wood production is wood pellet machine, wood chipper machine, wood hammer mill, rotary drum dryer, counter-flow cooler, packing machine, conveyors and electrical control equipment, etc. Our wood pellet plant establishments are staffed with qualified sales, engineering and service personnel and are well stocked with dies, parts and accessories. This ensures prompt, efficient processing of all customer service requirements.
Milling, lumber, wood products, and the construction industries produce large volumes of related byproducts that can be easily turned into profits. Richi Machinery works extensively with the wood industries by offering equipment designed to meet your unique needs. Small or large, automatic, semi-automatic or manual, our wood pellet plant machines give you the RICHI advantage with built-to-last reliability.
Biomass wood is organic matter that can be converted into energy. Biomass energy commonly include: wood waste and by-products (both mill residues and noncommercial biomass in the woods), energy crops, food crops (e.g., prairie perennials or switch grass), agricultural residues (e.g., corn stover), and animal manure.
Biomass wood materials used as fuel sources can provide heat, electrical and motive power. Biomass in its original form is difficult to successfully use as a fuel in large-scale applications because it is bulky, wet, and dispersed. Biomass densification (pelleting) is a technology for converting wood residues into wood fuel.
Compacting wood at a very high pressure is pelletizing – the process of producing pellets. They have significantly smaller volumes than the original biomass wood and a larger volumetric energy density which makes them a more compact energy source, easy to transport and store.
Hence, biomass wood pellet fuels are a manufactured biomass wood fuel. They could offer interesting opportunities for development of renewable energy.
1. From customized non-standard models to multi-combination standard configuration models, RICHI is always in accordance with market trends and customer needs, constantly introducing new ones. In Richi Machinery, each wood pellet production line design and wood pellet manufacturing equipment can be customized.
2. Although the wood pellet production technology of different customers is different, we always follow when designing for customers: reasonable configuration, stable performance, convenient operation process, and high economic benefits.
3. This wood pellet processing line is suitable for wood waste and all other biomass waste production of various sizes, various hardness, various lengths and various types.
4. The replacement of wearing parts can be completed quickly, reducing downtime and maintenance time.
5. Reasonable initial wood pellet factory investment cost and low maintenance cost in the later stage.
The biomass wood pellet plant pelletisation process consists of multiple steps, including pre-treatment of raw material, pelletisation, and post-treatment. The figure below presents the schematic of the wood pellet production process.
The first step in the wood pellet manufacturing process is the preparation of the wood waste raw materials, which includes selecting a materials suitable for this process, and its filtration, storage, and protection. The raw materials used are sawdust, wood wastes, agricultural and forestry residues, etc. Filtration is done to remove unwanted materials like stone, metal, etc. The materials is stored in such a manner as to prevent contamination by impurities and moisture.
In cases where there are different types of biomass wood materials, a blending process is used to achieve consistency. The moisture content in biomass wood waste can be considerably high, and hence needs to be reduced to 10 to 15%. Drying increases the efficiency of biomass, and it produces almost no smoke on combustion.
However, the wood materials should not be over-dried, as a small amount of moisture helps in binding the biomass wood particles. The drying process is the most energy-intensive process and accounts for about 70% of the total energy used in the wood pelletisation process.
The wood materials is reduced to small particles of not more than 3 mm before it is fed into the wood pellet mill machine. Size reduction is done by grinding, using a wood hammer mill equipped with a screen of size 3.2 to 6.4 mm. If the wood feedstock is quite large, it is put through a wood chipper machine before grinding.
The next and the most important step is pelletizing where the wood is compressed against a heated metal plate (known as a ring die) using a roller. The die has holes of fixed diameter through which the biomass is passed under high pressure. Due to the high pressure, frictional forces increase, leading to a considerable rise in temperature.
The high temperature causes the lignin and resins present in the biomass to soften, which acts as a binding agent between the biomass wood fibres. In this way, the biomass wood particles fuse to form pellets.
The rate of wood pellets production and the amount of electrical energy used in the pelletization of wood are strongly correlated to the type of raw material used and to the processing conditions such as moisture content and feed size. The average amount of energy required to pelletise biomass is roughly 16 to 49 kWh/t.
During wood pellet line pelleting process, a large fraction of the process energy is used to make the biomass flow into the inlets of the press channels. Binders or lubricants may be added in some cases to produce higher quality pellets. Binders increase pellet density and durability. Wood contains natural resins which act as a binder. Similarly, sawdust contains lignin which holds the pellet together.
However, agricultural residues do not contain much resins or lignin, and so a stabilising agent needs to be added in this case. Distillers dry grains or potato starch are some commonly used binders. The use of natural additives depends on the biomass composition and the mass proportion between cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin, and inorganics.
Excess heat is produced by the friction generated in the die. Thus, the pellets produced are very soft and hot (about 70 to 90℃). They need to be cooled and dried before they are stored or packaged. After they have cooled, they are packaged in bags or stored in bulk. Wood pellets can be stored indefinitely, but they must be kept dry to prevent deterioration.
How to set up a new wood pellet production line?
When developing a wood pellet plant business plan the following things should be considered first:
What biomass raw materials will be used?
How much of biomass raw materials can be obtained at a price point that works within your business model?
What is the incoming moisture content?
What is your target market, residential fuel, industrial grade fuel, animal bedding, feed, etc.?
What is your market area?
Do you intend to sell your end product wholesale or retail?
What is the market volume potential for the end product in your target market area?
What is the value of your end product wholesale and retail in your target market area?
It is our experience that there are two types of pellet plants. At this time we will define them as pellet production lines that needs drying and does not need to be dried.
Wood pellet plant with dying system
A wood pellet plant is a facility that will receive its raw materials with a moisture content higher than 15%. This could be in the form of sawdust, wood chips, or even whole logs. For a pellets factory that pelletizes products other than wood this could be spent grains, ag products, agricultural and forestry waste, alfalfa, lucerne, grass, straw, etc.
This type of wood pellet production plant will require a drying process which can add considerable cost to the initial project as well as added operating cost. When considering a wood pellet processing plant, bear in mind that raw material can be received at a moisture content as high as 50%.
These products must be dried to something below 15% prior to the pelleting process. A typical conversion rate for wood is 2 to 1 therefore for every ton that is delivered to the wood pellet making plant, you will have ½ ton available after drying to produce pellets. If you intend to use wood to fire the burner for the dryer you will consume an additional 25% of the incoming material as fuel.
Cost to build a 300kg/h-40t/h wood pellet manufacturing plant: A good average to consider when building a wood pellet plant from start to finish is approximately 80,000 to 5 million U.S. dollars.
It doesn't take very long to understand that in order to pay for and create profit, a pellet plant doesn't need to produce large volumes (tons per hour) in order to provide the required return on investment. Because the wood pellets industry has a very good prospect, as long as it is operated properly and reasonable wood pellet production technology and wood pellet manufacturing equipment are selected, wood pellet production lines are generally profitable.
Wood pellet plant without dying system
When considering a wood pellet manufacturing plant without dying section, keep in mind that raw material will be received at a moisture content of 15% or less. In this case, no drying is required which substantially reduces the investment on the front end as well as creating a defined raw material cost.
Cost to start a new no-drying wood pellet manufacturing business: 50,000 to 3 million U.S. dollars.
It is our experience that if you can acquire dry raw materials for a cost of $45.00 per ton or less, a plant producing as little as 2 tons per hour can be profitable (assuming you are able to market the finished product for at least $125.00 per ton). A dry pellet plant will have maintenance cost of approximately $5.00 to $7.00 per ton and will have electric cost between $7.00 and $10.00 per ton.(Each country and region is different, please consult the details online directly.)
Richi Machinery complete wood pellet production lines can be combined according to different process requirements and various types of equipment to meet different customers' needs. The following are just a few of the wood pellet plant project designs we have done. They are all customized. Even if your output is the same as the following case, your wood pellet manufacturing process and equipment configuration can still be different. In order to avoid your misunderstanding of the wood pellet production line design, please contact RICHI directly to customize your own pellet production line.
400KG/H small wood pellet plant design and required equipment
Bucket elevator*TDTG40/23, Belt conveyors*PDS650, Buffer bin*2m³, Cyclone*ф1000, Draught fan*9-19-5.6a, Lower level indicator* KF1500, U-screw conveyor*TLSSU32, Anti-caking equipment, MCC Control Center ;Mimic Control Panel, etc.
Vibrating Screener*TQLZ150x200, Belt and sewing machine*DCS-MTB, Storage bin*4m³, Silencer for hammer mill*XY-132Q1, Connection piping system*FWY-350, Cyclone*SK1400, Pulse dust collector*FZMC6*12, etc.
Richi Machinery is a professional manufacturing enterprise integrating scientific
research and
development, manufacturing, sales and service. We have developed and manufactured
multifunctional
pelletizers, grinders, mixers, dryers and more than ten categories and more than 30
models of complete
machine products are widely used in feed, biomass, organic fertilizer, pet supplies,
solid waste
recycling, chemical industry, road construction and other fields. All RICHI products
have passed
ISO9001:2008 international quality system certification, EU CE certification and Customs
Union CU-TR
certification, successfully serving more than 2,000 customers in more than 100 countries
and regions
around the world.
In RICHI, every equipment and every pellet production line business plant can be customized. We will
formulate
multiple sets of pellet production process plans for comparative analysis according to the actual needs
of
customers, select a reasonable plan, and realize private customization. Our services run through all
aspects of
on-site terrain and environment survey, production line process design, raw material testing, cost
requirement
analysis, project investment budget, equipment installation and commissioning.
We adhere to the ISO9001 quality management system, and strictly implement international
standards for
product design and manufacturing processes. In terms of management systems, there are product
quality
accountability systems, product quality accountability systems, and safety production management
systems; in
terms of management tools, QC quality control management, SPC statistical process control,
sampling
inspection and measurement system analysis are used for quality control, to achieve effective
control of the
entire process of equipment production, and never let go of any quality hidden dangers that may
affect
customer operations.
RICHI has always been adhering to the spirit of craftsmanship to make every detail good, especially in
the link
of equipment preparation and delivery, we follow the standardized process: preparation order
check-equipment
factory quality inspection-packing list re-inspection-scientific packaging and transportation, ensure
the safe
and non-destructive delivery of equipment. According to customer needs, RICHI installation engineers
will guide
the construction of site infrastructure, equipment installation and commissioning and trial operation of
the
entire production line throughout the process. When the relevant project indicators reach the design
standards,
the client will carry out the project acceptance.
We have built a team of nearly 100 technical engineers to solve a series of problems in the
project from
consultation, site survey, sample analysis to plan design, installation and commissioning, and
maintenance.
We provide comprehensive and systematic training for the technical staff of each customer to
better serve
the customer's project needs. After the technicians have finished their studies, RICHI will
provide
follow-up technical support services, and the training engineers will follow up the project use
effects in
the later stage to ensure the stable operation of the customer's project.
