Profitability of supplying wood chips dried at small or medium scale heating plants

Moisture is the most important quality factor of fuel wood. It affects both the profitability of supplying wood chips and the economy of running a heating plant. Most fuel wood is seasoned outdoors, so drying depends on the weather and the desired moisture level of wood cannot always be reached. To avoid 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 fuel wood. The investment 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 considerably if the heating enterprise can increase its sales because of a higher boiler output. Thus, warm air drying of fuel wood can quite easily be made profitable if there is a potential to enlarge the heat clientele.