Profitability of drying wood chips integrated into fuelwood supply

Jyrki Raitila, Veli-Pekka Heiskanen

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference article in proceedingsScientificpeer-review

    Abstract

    Moisture affects the profitability of supplying wood chips and the economy of running a heating plant. Most fuelwood is seasoned outdoors, therefore drying depends on the weather, and the desired moisture level of wood cannot always be achieved. To get rid of weather dependency, wood chips can easily be dried in driers connected to a heating plant. Most of the year small and medium-sized heating plants have significant excess heating capacity that could be used to dry fuelwood. This study aimed to present the possibilities and analyse the profitability of drying wood chips in warm air dryers as part of a fuel supply chain. The investment in and running costs of a dryer determine how feasible such a drying method is as part of the wood fuel supply chain. The profitability of drying increases significantly if the heating enterprise can increase its sales because of a higher boiler output. Thus warm air drying of fuelwood can quite easily be made profitable if there is the potential to expand the heat clientele.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationForest engineering: "Making a positive contribution"
    Subtitle of host publicationAbstracts and Proceedings of the 48th Symposiom on Forest Mechanization, Linz, Austria 2015
    Pages143-147
    ISBN (Electronic)978-3-900932-29-9
    Publication statusPublished - 2015
    MoE publication typeA4 Article in a conference publication
    Event48th International Symposium on Forestry Mechanization, FORMEC 2015 - Linz, Austria
    Duration: 4 Oct 20158 Oct 2015
    Conference number: 48

    Conference

    Conference48th International Symposium on Forestry Mechanization, FORMEC 2015
    Abbreviated titleFORMEC 2015
    Country/TerritoryAustria
    CityLinz
    Period4/10/158/10/15

    Keywords

    • bioenergy
    • drying
    • promotion
    • wood chips
    • heating

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