Wood Working Industry

Wood Industry

If you are producing high volumes of wood waste (biomass) from your manufacturing, then you should consider a direct combustion system to convert that waste into usable heat energy. This can then be used to heat your premises and/or for use in the production process. This waste is a valuable form of renewable bio-energy and a direct combustion wood fuel heating system is a sensible alternative to the ever increasing landfill and fossil fuel energy costs.

Our systems are designed as bespoke solutions but utilise tried and tested technology. Our biomass boilers are constructed to the highest standards; and the direct combustion systems can deal with the most exacting wood fuels from pure dry MDF dust to wet (55% OD basis) sawdust and bark fresh from the lumber sawmill.

For our automatic direct combustion systems the wood fuel would need to be in the form of chips, shavings or dust. If you have larger pieces of wood off-cut that you want to use as your fuel then it would need to be granulated down to an appropriate size for the fuel handling system. To achieve this we can supply and install wood chippers and shredders, from a variety of manufacturers, as part of the system.

Wood Waste Disposal

If this is the main driver then the most cost effective option is to install an Industrial Warm Air Heater. Ideally this would be coupled to a heat distribution system for use elsewhere, but it can be configured to pass the warm air directly to atmosphere. Our automatic warm air heaters start at 150kW which can consume 5 tonnes of biomass fuel per week and go up to 1MW which can consume 30 tonnes per week.

Wood Fired Heating

If the aim is to heat the premises / work areas then you have two options:

• Industrial Warm Air Heater
  Our automatic warm air heaters provide very high volumes of warm air that are ideally suited for heating large open spaces.

• Hot Water Boiler
  Our Industrial boilers can provide hot water at low, medium and high temperatures. This method of heating is more suited to areas that require fine temperature control, or if the heating distribution is complex or extending over large distances.

Wood Fired Process Heating

If the aim is to produce heat for a manufacturing process such as:

• Kiln drying
• Paint drying systems
• Spray shop heating
• Laminate presses
• Steam Sterilisation

Then you have three options:

• Hot Water Boiler
  Dependent on the temperatures required for your process our Industrial boilers can provide hot water at low or medium temperatures.

• Steam Boiler
  Dependent on the temperatures required for your process our steam boilers can provide high temperature water (fully flooded boiler), Steam and Super heated steam.

• Thermal Oil Boiler
  Our thermal oil boilers use mineral or synthetic oil as the heat transfer medium and can provide very high temperatures at low pressures when compared to steam.

Wood Fired Power Generation

One of the main challenges of the 21st century will be a sustainable and environmentally sound energy supply. Biomass for energy generation can make an active contribution towards climate protection as a wood fired power generation plant is an environmentally friendly and almost CO2 neutral method of thermal and power generation.

The thermal energy needed to produce electricity is substantial and therefore it will require a large quantity of biomass. It is currently accepted that it is not economically viable to produce less than 500 kWe and to do so would require between 100 and 250 tonnes of processed biomass fuel per week (depending on moisture content).

If the aim is to generate electricity then you have two options:

• Steam Boiler
  Super heated steam would be generated to drive a steam turbine and electrical generator set. This technology provides the best solution for electricity production as the turbine set extracts the maximum amount of energy from the steam. The steam boilers come in Smoke tube and Water tube design depending on the power requirements.
  

• Thermal Oil Boiler
  The thermal oil is used in conjunction with an ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) electrical generation plant of between 400 – 2200 kWe. This technology is best applied where there is requirement for both electricity generation and a further use for heat energy, as the ORC process leaves a substantial amount of heat energy available for other purposes.

If you have substantial amounts of clean biomass and wish to discuss the options available to you for electrical power generation please contact us.

Further documentation is available for download on Steam system schematics or ORC system schematics.