Wood waste: recycling and biofuels

About the advantages of processing wood waste, the prospects of using pellets and briquettes, as well as the necessary equipment for their production - read in this article.

At each stage of wood processing, waste is generated, and in a significant amount - even the most economical enterprises lose 20% of the original volume of raw materials in the process. In most cases it is about half, and in the Siberian region the useful utilization is limited to only one third of the tree biomass. Every year, about 68-74 million cubic meters of wood waste remains from the activities of timber processing enterprises in Russia, and only 48-58% of it is recycled.

Wood waste utilization as an obligation

Until 2005, 9 out of 10 woodworking enterprises in Russia did not recycle wood waste. For the most part, due to lack of profitability. It was easier and cheaper to burn the waste or take it to the forest. However, over time, environmental control over wood processing enterprises has increased. Illegal dumping and burning of wood waste can now result in a large fine or even a criminal sentence. In addition, in 2023 amendments to the Federal Law “On Production and Consumption Waste” came into force, obliging wood processing companies to recycle their production waste.

Today, woodworking and furniture companies pay a lot of attention to this issue. The reason is not only fines and sanctions, but also the desire to optimize production, reduce costs and get more profit. A way to increase profitability and at the same time get rid of wood waste was found in Europe. The solution was the production of biofuel - pellets and briquettes.

Recycling as a solution

Pavel Kolpashchikov, Director of StankoLes, spoke about the best ways to utilize wood waste. According to the expert, burning and burying waste is often illegal, and transferring it to other companies is a waste of additional profit: "the most profitable and environmentally friendly way is recycling, which allows you to create useful materials for your own production or other purposes. This is an excellent opportunity for additional income for the enterprise“.

Forestry waste can be recycled in different ways, and depending on the method chosen, the end product differs. The simplest and most obvious option is the production of wood chips. It can be sold as a separate product, as a material for heating, mulching, smoking, sold to farms as bedding for animals, etc. The waste can also be used to make wood compost. The waste can also be used to make wood compost, which significantly increases soil fertility. In the early 2000s, Russia began to produce pellets, an environmentally friendly and efficient fuel, from wood waste.

Fuel pellets: advantages and prospects of use

Today, Europe is one of the largest consumers of pellets in the world. By the end of 2022, European countries consumed 24.8 million tons of pellets, which was more than 50% of the global demand. The popularity of pellets and briquettes as a biofuel is due to several reasons, one of them being their advantages over traditional fuels:

• High heat output. Exceeds the index of conventional wood (2500-2700 kcal/kg vs. 4500-4900 kcal/kg for briquettes).
• High efficiency. Reaches 94%.
• Even and longer burning.
• Environmentally friendly product. Burning pellets and briquettes produces less carbon dioxide and smoke emissions, ash content of pellets is much lower.
• Explosion-proof. Unlike diesel and gas.
• Ability of automation. The process of pellet feeding can be fully automated.

However, the prospects for the Russian pellets and briquettes market deteriorated significantly in 2022. Restrictions on pellet imports from Russia were imposed by the EU countries, a key buyer of these products. If in 2021 it accounted for 80% of pellet exports in the amount of 1.95 million tons, then by the end of 2022 supplies have already collapsed by half, to 929 thousand tons. However, despite trade restrictions, pellets and briquettes remain a highly efficient source of fuel. The area of their application is vast - from private boiler houses to large-scale production facilities.

Wood waste processing equipment

In order to turn waste wood from woodworking and furniture production into raw materials suitable for further use, a range of professional equipment is required. The primary shredding of wood waste - hump wood, twigs, bark, etc. is carried out first of all. Crushing machines, wood chippers, mobile and stationary wood shredders are used for this purpose.

The material obtained after shredding can be sent to the next stage, the production of biofuel: pellets, briquettes. From the technical point of view it is not easy to make them, together with wood choppers a whole production line is formed. To make pellets, you can not do without a pelletizer, which presses wood waste under high pressure. Before the raw material is loaded into the pelletizer, it must be dried with drying equipment (drum dryers, aerodynamic dryers, etc.) and pulverized a second time, to fractions of 4-8 mm. Equipment for cooling, packing and moisture-proof warehouse for storage of finished products will be required at the final stage of pellet production.

Sources: Forestcomplex.ru, Whatwood.ru, Eurasia-group.ru, Mordor Intelligence