Heat recovery for saw dust and wood chip drying

50% less energy consumption

The expertise in drying and the wide ranging experience of energy recovery in the drying process of the Mühlböck company, in Eberschwang, Austria, have been channelled, over recent years, into the development of a new saw dust and wood chip dryer.

A new series of belt dryers have been, or are currently being brought into operation in the German speaking region and Eastern Europe.


The ability of the Eberschwang based Mühlböck, to create perfected plant solutions, can also be clearly seen in the recently commissioned belt dryer projects. An example is the belt dryer that went into operation at the end of May in the newly constructed pellet factory of Cyleenergy, in Gresten (Austria). Further plants are currently being commissioned in Germany and Russia.
The system 1003 with heat recovery is particularly popular with customers, due to the high potential savings and the associated rapid amortisation.

 

50% energy savings with new system
"Conventional belt drying systems have a poor efficiency due to the low accumulation of moisture in the drying air. A large part of the energy input from heating is blown out as unused exhaust air. Steam vapour above the dryers is a familiar sight." explains Mühlböck. Type 1003 uses virtually 100% of this hitherto unused exhaust air, without dissipating any energy in the process. The basic principle of the Mühlböck Drying System Type 1003 can be simply explained: The exhaust steam of a heated drying zone, which remains unused in conventional systems, heats the feed air for another part of the dryer through a process of heat recovery. This pre-drying zone thus obtains the thermal energy required for drying solely from the heat recovery process and does not need any additional energy from the heating system.

 

Reduced energy requirement or larger drying mass
Customers who have to purchase the whole of their heating energy or have restricted heating capacity, in particular, are able to reduce their energy requirements by up to 50%. “There are often bottlenecks in chip drying due to energy shortages, especially during the winter months. It is precisely during this period, that heat recovery combined with the drying system has the most effective impact”, advises Mühlböck. For those customers that have sufficient thermal energy at their disposal, the Belt Dryer Type 1003 offers the advantage of up to 50% increased throughput, compared to conventional belt dryers with the same energy input.

 

New plant or existing plant upgrade
“With the newly developed Mühlböck Wood Shavings and Chip Dryer, Type 1003, we now offer a logical addition to our existing range of sawn timber drying systems”, explains Managing Director Kurt Mühlböck. “We can offer customers either new drying plants or the conversion of existing plants with the new system,” notes Kurt Mühlböck in conclusion.