Wood Pellet Dryer
A wood pellet dryer is a specialized machine used to reduce moisture in biomass materials for efficient pellet production. Its main function is to transport materials with high moisture content into the interior of a drying cylinder. Then, through the uniform contact between hot air and the materials, the moisture is carried away, achieving the drying effect. It is widely used in industrial manufacturing.
It is suitable for biomass and wood pellet production lines with capacities ranging from 1 to 45T. These include forestry waste, agricultural waste, and wood pellet lines. It is widely used for drying fibrous, lumpy, and powdery biomass materials like wood chips, wood powder, and grass. During drying, some customers choose a rotary dryer machine, while others prefer a belt dryer machine based on material type.
Definition of wood pellet dryer
A wood dryer machine is a device specifically designed for drying various wooden materials. Its main function is to reduce the moisture content of wood chip pellets through the principle of heat exchange. Usually, the moisture content of the materials is between 13% and 18%.
The wood drying machine consists of a cylinder body, a hot air system, a driving device, and an exhaust gas treatment module. It uses high-temperature hot air to fully contact the rolling wood pellets inside the rotating cylinder. Through heat conduction and convection, the moisture is efficiently evaporated and then extracted by the wind power.
Wood dryer machines are widely used in many industries such as wood processing, biomass energy, and furniture manufacturing.
The moisture content of wood chip pellets significantly affects their combustion performance and storage stability.Wood pellets with excessively high moisture content not only have low combustion efficiency but are also prone to issues like mildew and decay during storage. However, a wood chip pellet dryer, through scientific drying processes, can precisely control the moisture content of wood pellets, thereby improving their quality and market competitiveness.
Classification and application of wood pellet dryer
In the production process of wood pellets, raw material drying is the key link to ensure the quality of pelleting and the stability of finished products. As a professional pellet equipment manufacturer, RICHI machinery can develop various types of wood pellet dryer according to the production capacity requirements, raw material types and process requirements of different customers. The following will introduce you in detail the two major types of drying equipment we commonly use and their technical characteristics and application advantages.
Rotary Dryer Machine
The rotary dryer machine is one of the most common drying equipment and is widely used in the pretreatment of high-humidity materials such as wood chips, straw, chicken manure, cow dung, coal, organic fertilizer, and feed.
Structure and principle:
The main body is a rotating drum. The raw material rolls continuously in the drum as it rotates, and is fully in contact with the hot air flow to achieve uniform and efficient drying. The internal cleaning is convenient, the drying time can be flexibly adjusted, and it has strong adaptability.
Main features:
- Simple structure, stable operation, easy operation and maintenance
- The moisture content of raw materials can be dried to about 15%
- Applicable to multiple industries such as biomass, chemical industry, building materials, mining, organic fertilizer, etc.
- Low cost, suitable for small and medium-sized wood chip pellet plants
Belt Dryer Machine
Belt dryer machine is an efficient and continuously running drying equipment, especially suitable for production lines with large output and high requirements for drying uniformity.
Structure and advantages:
Made of high-strength stainless steel, it has good wear resistance and high temperature resistance. The whole machine consists of a conveyor belt, hot air system, and control system, with a compact structure and stable operation.
Main features:
- Fast drying speed and low energy consumption
- Fully automatic operation, equipped with intelligent monitoring system to reduce labor costs
- Applicable to multiple fields such as biomass, feed, food, chemical, medicine, wood industry, etc.
- The drying process and time can be flexibly adjusted according to the characteristics of the material to meet diversified production needs
Advantages of RICHI wood pellet dryer
RICHI wood pellet dryer achieves efficient drying results through its special drum-type design, with a thermal efficiency of over 80%. The equipment supports flexible configuration of multiple heat sources, such as natural gas and biomass pellets. It’s equipped with a PLC system that monitors the temperature and adjusts the rotation speed of the drying cylinder to ensure stable drying quality, making it an ideal choice for any wood pellet line requiring consistent moisture control.
High production efficiency
The dryer is equipped with lifting plates inside the drum, which continuously lift up the materials. Coupled with the constant rotation of the drum body, it ensures more uniform turning of the materials and results in better drying performance.
Practical wear resistance
The material import and export of the dryer is sealed with elastic and wear-resistant steel sheets.The drum body adopts a cast steel integrated structure with thickened steel plates for high strength, ensuring stable operation and a long service life.
Reasonable installation
The dryer is placed horizontally and uses wind transportation system to extract materials, ensuring that materials with a moisture content of 15% can be effectively drawn out. For overly long dryers, a splicing method is adopted, equipped with flange devices and bolt connections for easy installation.
Well-planned layout
The lifting plates inside the drum are arranged in a special spiral pattern. Firstly, this can speed up the process of pushing the materials into the drying drum, preventing accumulation. Secondly, it enables thorough mixing of the materials and hot air, with minimal material residue, resulting in excellent drying effects.
Working principle of wood pellet dryer
— Richi Machinery —
wood dryer machine
The wood dryer is mainly used in the drying stage of the wood pellet production line. The main equipment in this section includes the drying bin, feeder, hot air furnace, drum dryer, and control box. The following will introduce the working principle of the drying stage in detail.
- Raw Material Feed Inlet
- Gear/Sprocket Guard
- External Insulation of Dryer Machine
- Riding Ring/Tire
- Raw Material Feed Outlet
- Drive Assembly
- Drive Assembly
brief introduction
Hot air generation
The drying stage is usually equipped with a heat source, such as a hot air furnace or a burner, to generate high-temperature hot air. The hot air furnace is specially designed to prevent flames from escaping into the drying drum. If you use natural gas, you need to have a combustion machine to generate hot air.
Material delivery
Wood pellets are fed into the dryer through a screw conveyor. At the front end of the dryer, there are spiral lifting plates that accelerate the pushing of the materials into the drying drum, preventing any accumulation.
Heat exchange process
In the drying room, due to the continuous rotation and rolling of the dryer body, combined with the action of the lifting plates and the fan, the high-temperature hot air comes into full contact with the wood chip pellets, enabling heat exchange. The heat from the hot air is transferred to the wood chip pellets, causing the moisture inside them to heat up and evaporate.
Waste gas treatment
The evaporated moisture is carried away by the hot air, forming moist hot air. This moisture-laden hot air is discharged through the wind transportation system and usually undergoes purification treatment through a fan-shakron to reduce its environmental impact.
Finished product collection
After the drying material has reached the requirements, it is extracted through the wind transportation system and then discharged through a shakron. The finished wood pellets can be used for various purposes, such as biomass fuel and soil fertilizer.
Control system
The dryer is usually equipped with a PLC system to monitor and adjust parameters such as temperature, humidity, and flow rate during the drying process. The control system can automatically adjust the heat source output, feeding rate, etc., according to preset process requirements to ensure the quality and efficiency of the drying process.
The wood pellet dryer achieves rapid drying of wood pellets through the heat exchange process between hot air and the pellets. In addition to the drying stage, a wood pellet production line also includes stages such as crushing, pelletizing, cooling, and screening. You can freely choose equipment for different stages based on your actual needs. If you want to learn more about the equipment, please click the button below to fill in your requirements, and we’ll arrange professional staff to connect with you.
Cases of wood pellet dryer
The following three videos show the actual application of some wood pellet drying projects of RICHI Machinery in some countries. These cases are all from real customer feedback, covering RDF fuel, biomass heating, wood pellets and other fields, fully demonstrating the stable performance and energy-saving effect of our wood drying equipment under various raw materials and different outputs.
Under the video cases, we also show a series of high-capacity project cases in many countries. These projects not only reflect RICHI’s deep technical strength and rich project experience in the global wood pellet field, but also show the excellent performance of our equipment in continuous operation, low-consumption drying, environmentally friendly emissions and other aspects. RICHI wood dryer has won unanimous praise from global customers with its high efficiency, stability and durability, and has become one of the core equipment trusted by many pellet factories.
Wood Drying machine for sale Germany 2–2.5TPH RDF Pellet Production Line
Wood Drying machine for sale Romania 2TPH Wood Sawdust Pellet Line
Wood Drying machine for sale Czech Republic 3TPH Biomass Pellet Plant
Canada 8 t/h wood dryer project
Customer needs: Hardwood sawdust such as pine, maple, etc. is required to be treated. The moisture content after drying is ≤12%, and it is suitable for the fuel standards of biomass boilers. At the same time, it is necessary to reduce drying energy consumption and reduce dust emissions.
Canada 8 t/h wood dryer project
Austria 10 tons/hour wood dryer project
Customer needs: It is necessary to deal with hardwood waste such as oak. The moisture content of the particles is ≤15% after drying, which is suitable for EU standards, and at the same time, it is necessary to achieve low noise operation.
Austria 10 tons/hour wood dryer project
Netherlands 12 tons/hour wood chip dryer project
Customer needs: It is necessary to deal with fast-growing forest waste such as poplar and willow trees. The moisture content of the particles is ≤12% after drying and the ash content is ≤1.5%.
Netherlands 12 tons/hour wood chip dryer project
USA 15 tons/hour wood dryer project
Customer needs: Designed for large-scale sawmill waste processing. The raw material has inconsistent particle size and high initial moisture (up to 50%). Final moisture must be ≤13% to meet export standards.
USA 15 tons/hour wood dryer project
Finland 18-20 tons/hour wood dryer project
Customer needs: Utilize local birch and spruce residues for biomass pellet production. The drying system must withstand low ambient winter temperatures and guarantee low emissions.
Finland 18-20 tons/hour wood dryer project
South Korea 20 tons/hour wood chip dryer project
Customer needs: Dry wood flour and fiberboard residues from furniture factories to produce clean-burning pellets for household heating. Emphasis on compact design and noise control.
South Korea 20 tons/hour wood chip dryer project
Japan 22 tons/hour wood dryer project
Customer needs: Dry cedar and cypress sawdust for use in high-grade biomass stove pellets. Targeting low moisture (<10%) and high pellet durability.
Japan 22 tons/hour wood dryer project
Italy 25 tons/hour wood dryer project
Customer needs: Process olive wood waste and fruit tree trimmings into pellets for commercial heating. Require low maintenance and high system uptime.
Italy 25 tons/hour wood dryer project
Why Choose RICHI Machinery?
RICHI Machinery has been deeply involved in the pellet manufacturing industry for 30 years. Its customers are spread across Europe, America, Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and other regions, and its sales network covers more than 130 countries and regions. With a wide range of solutions including wood pellet plant for sale, it has successfully completed more than 1,200 complete sets of pellet projects with a high level of professionalism, making it a recognized leader in the industry. You can find us on YouTube.
Efficient and comprehensive after – sales service:
RICHI machinery has a comprehensive and well – established after – sales service system. It has multiple overseas logistics routes to ensure that machine arrives safely and on time. Later on, if there’s any abnormality with the customer’s machine, we’ll provide after – sales staff to offer preliminary solutions right away. And within 48 hours, we’ll send professional technicians to the site (within China) for service, minimizing the customer’s downtime.
Scientific customized services:
We have a diverse and rich product system. With over 200 products, we can meet the needs of various biomass production customers. The company is equipped with a professional R&D and design team. According to your actual situation, whether it is a small feed factory or a large industrial feed factory, we will design personalized solutions for you based on the actual situation.
Excellent equipment quality:
RICHI Machinery has won many international authoritative certifications. The company has passed BV certification, ISO9001 International Quality Management System Certification, European CE Certification, and Swiss SGS Certification, among others, fully demonstrating its strength in manufacturing high-quality equipment such as the wood pellet dryer.
