Using biomass products for fuel or as a process feed stock can present significant material handling challenges. Robert White Industries offers pragmatic equipment solutions to those challenges.
Biomass is a broad term that covers a very broad spectrum of plant material from grasses to crop residues and wood chips. Each of these different biomass materials presents their own unique characteristics with resultant handling and processing challenges to be addressed. Historically the majority of biomass utilized for either fuel or feedstock has been some form of wood material with rapidly increasing interest in utilizing grasses and crop residues particularly corn cobs and stover.
Process systems that utilize biomass typically demand uniformity of particle size, moisture content, feed rate, density and other parameters to deliver dependable process system performance. Conversely, biomass as harvested or delivered is any thing but uniform. Typically the biomass received has a wide variation of particle size, moisture content, bulk density and some contamination. Therefore a biomass preparation system that solves each of these challenges plays a crucial role in the performance of plant.
Biomass can be a challenging material to handle, process and store because it will stick, plug, wedge, jam and generally not cooperate under normal operating conditions. In a pile, biomass resists being moved. When it does start to move, it can move in a large mass creating a surge of material causing problems for the receiving and processing equipment. Dry biomass material presents issues with dust control, fire and/or explosion potential. Wet biomass includes these issues plus the potential for freezing and composting. Robert White Industries has the experience and a wide variety of equipment that has been developed and employed to solve the challenges presented in truck receiving/unloading, conveying, metering, screening, size reducing, and storing biomass.
Biomass and Fuel Preparation: Systems and equipment integration for converting biomass and scrap wood into animal bedding, landscape mulch and boiler fuel.
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Truck Unloading/Receiving Hoppers |
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Material Transfer & Metering Equipment |
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Size Separation Equipment |
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Metal Detection & Removal |
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Screening Equipment: for size separation.
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