Case Study: SawMill Wood Waste
The Story
“In 2013 I got into the wood pellet industry and all the feedstock I had available was green wood material with 45-55% moisture content. We needed a dryer that was efficient, simple in its concepts, and easy to operate that would produce a product with a 12-15% moisture content.” – “Don”
Eby’s Sawmill processes wood waste from local Forestry Maintenance projects and mill operations, upcycling it into heating pellets. With limited access to natural gas, this beneficial reuse resulted in reduced energy costs, less pollution, and limited the impact on natural resources while providing additional revenue opportunities.
The Challenges
Beyond reducing the moisture content, any solution required an output capacity of 3 tons/hour and needed to incorporate milling into the drying process for Wood Pellet Production.
In addition to the operational challenges was the cost concern. The client needed to meet a specific capital expenditures investment budget which other dryer technology companies had not been able to meet.
The Solution
IEC Thermo’s engineering team identified a drying process designing an attrition flash dryer for their specific needs. This allowed Eby’s Sawmill to begin grinding wood chips to appropriate sizes for pelleting, while drying the wood chips at the same time. IEC Thermo’s solution further enabled them to use a variety of feed inputs. The end result was a quality product that met their output requirements for both moisture content and capacity while staying within their budget constraints.