Chips are particles made by grinding wood raw materials. The production of this material is carried out by both large specialized enterprises and small private workshops. The cost of wood chips is low, which determines the feasibility of its use primarily as an alternative type of fuel. Also, wood chips can be used in other areas 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 the most economically viable in settlements of remote forest regions of the Urals, Siberia and the European part of Russia. Especially where timber is widely harvested. Woodchip boilers are virtually no different from coal-fired equipment. And therefore, the transition to heating with this type of fuel does not cause special costs. All that needs to be done in this case is to install a special supply line.
Wood chips can also be used in the manufacture of furniture, as a decorative element in the arrangement of parks and gardens, during the smoking of products, the manufacture of wood concrete blocks, etc. However, its main purpose is still heating of household and industrial premises.
general description
Wood chips, the use of which is most appropriate as a fuel, has both its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of this material can be attributed primarily:
low cost of production;
a sufficient amount used in the manufacture of raw materials;
relatively low ash content;
the possibility of year-round production.
The disadvantages of wood chips as a fuel material are:
not too high energy value;
low density of material;
high humidity, and therefore the need for drying;
instability to decay;
storage difficulties due to a tendency to spontaneous combustion.
Equipment for the production of
Wood chips are produced either on special machines, or using modern combines. The first type of equipment is usually used by small production workshops. Combines produce wood chips directly in places of logging and in much larger quantities. Such equipment is purchased by large specialized companies.
For the production of wood chips can be used threshing or chipping machines. The latter are used more often. Threshing equipment is more suitable for the manufacture of pellets and fine wood fractions for briquettes.
Chipping machines can be used for the production of both fuel and technological (intended for the manufacture of chipboard or composite) chips. In turn, the latter are divided into screw, disk and drum. The first two varieties are commonly used for processing whole trunks and long material. Drum machines are more suitable for the production of wood chips from heterogeneous wood (logging waste). Chippers can operate from their own engine or from a power take-off mechanism of a truck or tractor.
In addition to the actual chipping machines, today whole complexes are produced, supplemented by feed lines, receiving hoppers, and sometimes drying machines. The production of decorative wood chips also involves the use of special equipment designed for painting.
Harvesters
This modern technique can perform the following operations:
felling of a thin-bore (and sometimes ordinary) forest;
feeding it into the chipper hole;
quick chopping;
feeding the latter to a receiving container via a scraper conveyor.
Types of material
There are several types of alternative fuels such as wood chips. The most popular is the so-called stem chips. Its advantages include, first of all, low bark content, high energy value, low ash content.
Less valuable is wood chips produced from waste wood and timber processing, as well as from chopping residues.
Cost
The price of this material depends both on its purpose and variety, and on which wood was used in the manufacture. The cost of fuel chips can depend on the ash content, percentage of bark content, particle size, etc. The price of this type of material usually ranges from 300-700 rubles. per cubic meter. Decorative wood chips are much more expensive. The price of this material is 200-400 rubles per bag. The cost of wood chips intended for smoking sausages, lard, etc. is even higher. Apple, pear, alder, cherry, etc. material can be purchased for 100-400 rubles per kilogram.