Wood chips: production, use

Chips are called particles, manufactured by grinding wood raw materials. The production of this material is carried out by both large profile enterprises and small private workshops. The prime cost of wood chips is low, which determines the expediency of using it primarily as an alternative fuel. Also, wood chips can be used in other spheres of the national economy.

Scope of use

Wood chips are used mainly in domestic (and sometimes production) boiler houses. The use of this type of alternative fuel is considered to be the most economically justified in the settlements of remote forest areas of the Urals, Siberia and the European part of Russia. In particular, where timber is widely harvested. Boilers under chips are constructively practically no different from the equipment in which coal is used. And therefore, the transition to heating with this type of fuel does not cause any particular costs. All you need to do in this case is to install a special feed line.

Wood chips can also be used in the production of furniture, as a decorative element for the arrangement of parks and gardens, for smoking products, for making arbolitic blocks, etc. However, its main purpose is still the heating of household and industrial premises.

general description

Wood chips, the application of which is most expedient as a fuel, has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of this material can be attributed in the first place:

• Low production cost;

• Sufficient amount of raw materials used in the manufacture;

• Relatively low ash content;

• Possibility of year-round production.

Disadvantages of chips as a fuel material are:

• Not too high energy value;

• Low density of material;

• High humidity, and consequently, the need for drying;

• Instability to putrefaction;

• Difficulty in storage due to propensity to spontaneous combustion.

Equipment for the production of

Wood chips are produced either on special machines or using modern harvesters. The first type of equipment is usually used by small production workshops. Harvesters produce chips directly in the forest harvesting areas and in much larger quantities. Such equipment is purchased by large profile companies.

For thawing, threshing or chipping machines can be used. The latter are used more often. Threshing equipment is more suitable for manufacturing fuel pellets and small wood fraction for briquettes.

Chipping machines can be used for the production of both fuel and process (intended for chipboard or composite production) chips. In turn, the latter are divided into auger, disk and drum. The first two varieties are usually used for processing whole trunks and lengthy material. Drum machines are more suitable for the production of chips from heterogeneous wood (logging waste). The chipping machines can operate from their own engine or from the power take-off mechanism of a truck or tractor.

In addition to the actual chipping machines, today there are whole complexes, supplemented with feed lines, receiving bins, and sometimes with drying machines. The production of wood chips by decorative means also the use of special equipment intended for coloring.

Combines

This modern technique can perform the following operations:

• Felling of thin-barreled (and sometimes ordinary) forest;

• Feeding it into the chipping hole;

• Fast chopping in chips;

• Feeding the latter into the receiving container along the scraper conveyor.

Types of material

The types of such alternative fuels as wood chips are several. The most popular is the so-called stem chips. Its advantages include, first of all, a small content of bark, high energy value, low ash content.

Less valuable is the chips produced from woodworking and timber processing residues, as well as from logging residues.

Cost

The price of this material depends both on its purpose and the variety, and on what kind of wood was used in the manufacture. The cost of fuel chips can depend on the ash content, the percentage of bark content, particle size, etc. The price for this type of material usually ranges between 300-700 rubles. Per cubic meter. Decorative wood chips are much more expensive. The price for this material is 200-400 rubles per bag. The cost of wood chips, intended for smoking sausages, bacon, etc., is even higher. Apple, pear, alder, cherry, etc. material can be purchased for 100-400 rubles per kilogram.