Mühlböck's largest belt dryer for Moelven’s largest sawmill

The largest belt dryer Mühlböck has ever built is going to Sweden.

Mühlböck is going to deliver a 320m² Type 1003 Premium Belt Dryer to Sweden in 2024, where it will ensure an energy-efficient and safe wood drying process in a new pellet plant at Moelven Group’s largest site. 

One of the largest timber industry companies in Scandinavia, the Moelven Group, commissioned Mühlböck from Upper Austria with the delivery of a 320m² 1003 Premium Belt Dryer for Moelven's largest site in Valåsen. The site will see the erection of a new pellet plant in 2024. The annual capacity of the Mühlböck belt dryer installed there will be approx. 112,000 tons of dried sawmill by-product. The plant is scheduled to be commissioned in late summer of 2024. Mühlböck’s largest belt dryer to date will have a total length of 59 metres and be eight metres tall. The unique plant will be designed specifically for safe and flawless operation of all components in colder regions. Comprehensive noise insulation measures will furthermore meet all requirements and please the people living in the new pellet plant's vicinity.

New energy efficiency level without safety concerns
“At its new pellet plant in Valåsen, Moelven will reach a new level in terms of energy efficiency, and Mühlböck’s 1003 Premium Belt Dryer is the best solution for us in this regard,” says Lars Storslett, CEO of Moelven Pellets AB about his new purchase. In addition to energy efficiency and resource conservation, safety, reliability and system availability, even in very cold climatic conditions, also played a major role in the decision. In order to ensure the reliable and energy efficient drying of sawdust and wood chips, Mühlböck revolutionised belt drying technology with its efficient 1003 Premium heat recovery system. Depending on system design, energy savings of up to 50 % are possible compared to traditional drying systems. Mühlböck utilises the thermal energy contained in the heated final drying zone's exhaust steam, making it available to the pre-drying zone as supply air via an air-to-air heat exchanger and a heat recovery system. Thus equipped, the latter requires no or very little additional heating.

Many belt dryer projects
“Thanks to our willingness to continually improve, we have turned from a new competitor in the belt dryer sector into a technology leader,” says Richard Mühlböck, Managing Director of Mühlböck Holztrocknungsanlagen. "We have set a milestone with our revolutionary heat recovery system, which we have installed in a belt dryer for the first time in the world, as well as many innovations in detailed areas of frame drying." The continuously high performance of this unique dryer system from Mühlböck is very popular due to the high savings potential and the associated rapid amortisation. “The sale of our largest ever belt dryer project is proof of the steep rise in interest in systems of this type,” reports Mühlböck. “With this technology, we have hit the nail on the head.” In Austria alone, numerous new pellet production facilities have been built in recent months, with Mühlböck drying technology ‘inside’: Nawaro Energie in Göpfritz purchased a Mühlböck belt dryer for its brand new pellet plant, as did Cycleenergy in Aschach an der Donau and Frankenmart's Stallinger Holding, whose pellet plant is actually equipped with two brand new 1003 Premium belt dryers. Another Mühlböck belt dryer will be installed in the RZ-Group’s neighbouring pellet plant shortly. This strong demand impressively testifies that Mühlböck technology contributes to the efficiency of this sustainable form of energy generation and provides an important solution for climate protection and the implementation of the energy transition.