2-2.5 T/H Biomass Pellet Plant In South Africa

This 2-2.5 t/h biomass pelletizing plant in South Africa project is very typical: the customer uses various raw materials such as wood chips, wood chips, straw, hay, tree trunks, etc. to process biomass pellets. This is the case for many customers now. Because only one raw material is used, it is impossible to guarantee a long-term sufficient supply of raw materials.

Especially for single processing wood pellets, sufficient wood waste is required. But in practical application, agricultural waste is a larger resource group. Therefore, more and more people are now studying the mixed granulation of various biomass raw materials, and in actual tests, the combustion effect is very good, the calorific value is high, and the environmental protection is also good.

To be precise, this 2-2.5 t/h biomass pellet plant in South Africa project is not just a wood pellet production line project, but a biomass pellet production line project. The biomass pellet fuel produced by this project has high volatile content, easy precipitation, good carbon activity, flammability, less ash content, fast ignition, more fuel saving and lower use cost.

The formed biomass wood pellets are small in size, high in specific gravity, high in density, resistant to combustion, convenient for storage and transportation, and have a calorific value of 3900-4800 kcal. They are ideal new fuels and are widely used in domestic stoves and hot water boilers, industrial boilers and biomass power plants, etc.

Under the background of great prospects for biomass pellet processing, the client of this project invested 160,000 US dollars to build this construction project with an annual output of 6,000 tons of biomass pellets in order to seize market opportunities.

The total land area of the project is 10,000m², and the total construction area is 6,400m², including production workshops (slicing area, crushing area, granulation area), drying workshop, finished product warehouse, raw material warehouse, living and office buildings, etc.

• Production scale: annual output of 6,000 tons of biomass pellets, planned to be put into operation by the end of 2023.
• Construction schedule: The construction period of this 2-2.5 t/h biomass pellet plant in South Africa project is 3 months. The project uses the existing factory building for production, and only needs to build a steel frame factory shed for the drying workshop. The construction period is relatively short, about 3 months.
• Labor quota: 10 project workers, working 300 days a year, 8 hours a day.

The total land area of the 2-2.5 t/h biomass pellet plant in South Africa project is 10,000m², and the total construction area is 6,400m2, including production workshops (slicing area, crushing area, and granulation area), drying workshops, finished product warehouses, raw material warehouses, living and office buildings, etc.

01

Production workshop

Steel structure factory building with a construction area of 500m2:

• Slicing area: mainly for cutting raw and auxiliary materials into flakes;
• Crushing area: mainly crushing the materials cut into flakes;
• Granulation area: the crushed material is granulated into shape

02

Drying workshop

For drying crushed materials, steel structure factory building with a construction area of 2500m2;

03

Raw material warehouse

Used for stacking raw materials, steel structure factory building with a construction area of 500m2;

04

1# finished product warehouse

Finished product warehouse, used to stack finished biomass pellets, steel structure workshop, construction area 1000m2;

05

2# finished product warehouse

Spare finished product warehouse, used for stacking biomass pellet finished products, steel structure workshop, construction area 1000m2;

06

Residential and office space

3F, used for living and office purposes, with a building area of 900m2 and a brick-concrete structure;

07

Power distribution system

Powered by the local power grid;

08

Water supply and drainage system

Water supply from local tap water pipe network;

09

Parking lot

260m2, used for vehicle parking;

10

Roads in the factory area

940m2, used for vehicle traffic and material turnover in the factory area.

Sawdust and waste wood, raw and auxiliary materials of the project, are purchased from nearby wood processing factories, and straw is purchased from local farmers.

1. Slicing:
   The raw material waste wood is sent to the chipper by the conveyor belt, and the waste wood is cut into small pieces of 20mm*20mm by the chipper.
2. Crushing:
   The cut wood chips are fed into the grinder from the hopper, impacted by the blade and the knife seat, the rotating knife and the fixed knife are cut and crushed at the same time, due to the action of the rotating centrifugal force, the material automatically flows out from the outlet.
   
   During the conveying process, the iron filings in the wood chips are magnetically separated and sent to the shredder.
3. Drying:
   After the crushing is completed, determine whether to use drying according to the moisture content of the crushed raw materials. When the moisture content of the raw materials is high, it needs to enter the drying furnace (the combustion method is heat storage type) for drying.
4. Granulation:
   The sawdust pellet press used in this 2-2.5t.h biomass pellet plant in South Africa is ring die pellet mill. The crushed material is sent into the extrusion chamber of the wood pellet mill from the feed hopper, and the crushed material is squeezed into the inner hole of the mold by the pressure roller, and is formed by hot extrusion of the mold.
   
   During the pellet pressing process, the material Friction generates heat, about 40°C, the heat generated dries the moisture in the material, and the extruded material is cut into cylindrical pellets at the outlet of the biomass pellet mill. The whole process is physical extrusion without adding any sticky material.
5. Product packaging:
   Biomass pellets enter the automatic packaging machine through the conveyor belt for packaging, and put them into storage for sale.

01

Wastewater

The 2-2.5 t/h biomass pellet plant in South Africa project does not generate waste water during the production process, and the main waste water is domestic sewage. The project has 10 employees, and the domestic water consumption is about 420m3/a; the displacement is calculated as 80% of the water consumption, so the displacement is 336m3/a.

02

Exhaust gas

The dust generated by the crushing and granulation of the project (3 sets of equipment in total) is processed by the bag filter supporting each equipment and discharged in the workshop; the waste gas generated by the drying furnace (2 sets) is treated by the cyclone dust collector supporting the equipment and then passed 15 meters high exhaust pipe discharge.

03

Solid waste

The solid waste generated during the operation of the project mainly includes domestic garbage, dust collected by the dust collector, iron filings from magnetic separation, and ash generated from biomass combustion in the drying furnace.

• Household garbage: There are 10 employees in this 2-2.5 t/h biomass pellet plant in South Africa project, and the amount of domestic waste generated is calculated as 0.5kg/(d·person), so the calculated amount of domestic waste generated in the project area is 5kg/d, 1.5t/a. Household waste is entrusted to the local sanitation department for disposal.
• Dust collected by the dust collector: It is mainly the crushing and granulation process dust collected by the bag filter and the dust in the drying furnace exhaust gas collected by the cyclone dust collector. The collected dust amount is 6.013t/a. The collected dust is reused in the granulation process.
• The amount of iron filings produced is small, about 0.05t/a, and sold to local waste recycling stations.
• The biomass used in the drying furnace of this project will produce combustion ash after burning, and the ash content is 10%, of which 0.05% is discharged with the combustion exhaust gas, so the ash remaining in the drying furnace is 9.95%, and the annual use of biomass fuel in the furnace is 45t, and the amount of biomass combustion ash produced by the drying furnace is 4.478t/a. The biomass combustion ash of the drying furnace is used to fertilize the surrounding farmland and is not discharged outside.

According to factors such as project terrain, external natural conditions and access and factory roads, the overall layout of the 2-2.5 t/h biomass pellet plant in South Africa is as follows:

• The gate of the factory area is located in the east of the factory area;
• The eastern part of the factory area is arranged as an office building and a parking lot;
• The central part is arranged as a production workshop and finished product warehouse;
• The western part is the drying area and raw material storage yard.

Forestry being a major industrial sector in South Africa, woody biomass suitable for making pellets is readily available in bulk amounts from forests and sawmills. Initiation of multiple environment protection programs is also providing substantial woody biomass for pellets et production. This will create a Lucrative opportunity for market players who want to enter the region.

The South African government is also taking proactive measures to reduce dependency on coal-fired plants. For instance, the government is currently building a 25MW biomass plant as a part of its Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme. As a part of this initiative, the biomass plant will use wood pellets and biomass pellets made from waste material from the surrounding plantations for power generation.

The Benefit of Wood Pellets HUGE POTENTIAL in Terms of Contributing to a More Sustainable and Green Economy. However, The Development of New Wood Pellet or SimiLAR C Lean Energy Value Chains is a Slow Process, Difficult to Implement, and Requires Sustaind between business, government and local communities.

South Africa will be benefiting the most from the current clean energy boom. The country is setting up more wood pellet factories to boost its production rate and exporting them to Europe, in order to make more profit. European countries are importing more biomass Pellets, as more and more countries are switching to wood pellets for domestic heating purposes. Now, over 60% of overall biomass pellet sales currently come from Europe.

Based on the aforementioned factors, the future of the wood pellet market in Africa looks bright and promising over the upcoming decade.