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Pellet Mill Producers Worldwide

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Pellet Mill Producers Worldwide BIOMASS Pellet mill producers worldwide The demand for pellet systems is increasing worldwide. The pioneers of biomass pellet production (see Fig. 1) are also some of the biggest manufacturers in the fi eld: Companies off ering pellet mills are well positioned for Amandus Kahl, Germany, California Pellet Mill (CPM), large market growth. The product range leaves no customer Netherlands/USA, and Salmatec, Germany. Particularly surprising are the 2,000 biomass pellet mills which Aman- demands unfulfi lled, as this market overview reveals. dus Kahl claims to already have sold. »For decades we have had more than a 95 % share in grass pellet mills, and we supply the majority of sugar refi neries where sugar beet pulp is pelleted,« off ers Sebastian Wache from the sales division accounting for the high number he biomass sector is faced today – after many un - of system sales reported. The particular design of the Kahl fruitful years – with completely new challeng es. mills, he claims, with their fl at dies and large pressing The demand for biomass fuels is higher than chamber, is what makes the company the market leader the supply – and this is the case worldwide. for light materials such as grass, straw and sugar beet. There are scores of biomass sources available, Looking at the other large pellet mill companies, the shortages only appear at the processing stage. Because situation is quite diff erent. For them, traditional uses T the raw materials – whether wood shavings, bonemeal, such as feed production and waste pelleting remain olive shells or straw – are most eff ectively transported dominant. Salmatec has made the production of pellets and burned as small, compact pellets. This is why pellet and granules its focus since 1972, and in this time has View of the pressing area of a mills are springing up everywhere where useable bio- installed over 1,000 systems. In the biomass sector their CPM system with two rollers, mass energy sources are at hand. The biggest winner total is 160, reports the managing director Christian which press the material into from the high demand for oil alternatives is the ma- Mül ler. Therefore, biomass pelleting has only constitut- the openings of the outer chine industry, which supplies these production systems. ed 15 % of their turnover up till now. The same goes for ring die. The specialist fi rms are smiling after their turnovers in the US fi rm CPM. »A quarter of our turnover comes from Photos (2): Bärbel Epp 2005, which increased by almost 20 % on average from biomass pellet mills,« confi rms Peter Lange, sales man- 2004. The pellet producers predict an average further ager at the European sales centre in Amsterdam, who Product overview of wood growth of 34 % over this year. reports 200 biomass pellet mills in operation. pellet mills. Friedli AG did not These are the results of a market survey conducted The Danish fi rm Andritz Sprout (formerly Sprout-Ma- give any technical details of by S&WE, involving 15 pellet mill manufacturers from tador) did not give any precise details; only that they had their products. six countries (see Fig. 1). The European market is domi- delivered 250 biomass pellet mills to date. Meanwhile, Source: manufacturers‘ instructions nated by companies from Italy (5) and Germany (4). Lars Bloch, application manager for wood and bioful Company Product name of Range of Number of Engine Types of biomass Required Wood pellet Number Dies and rolls Number of opera- Share of wood Web site biomass pellet capacity machines power that can be pellet- moisture diameter of rollers from own tion hours before pellet mills among mill [kg/hour] with diff erent [kW] ised content of the [mm] production changing of dies / biomass mills in capacity biomass [%] rollers [h] 1 2005 / 2006 [%] Amandus Kahl GmbH & Co KG various names 250 to 5,000 8 30 to 320 various 12 to 14 various _ 2 yes n/a 80 / 80 www.akahl.de Andritz Sprout 26LM / OM30 3,000 to 5,000 n/a 280 / 250 wood n/a n/a 3 / 2 yes n/a n/a www.andritz.com Ascot SRL Pelletmatic 535 approx. 1,300 1 132 soft or hard wood 10 to 12 6 2 yes n/a n/a www.ascot-matic.com Bühler AG RWPR-900 3,000 to 6,000 1 250 wood / straw ~ 11 6 / 8 2 yes 2,000 / 2,000 3 n/a www.buhlergroup.com CPM/Europe BV CPM 1,000 to 5,000 5 90 to 500 various 4 n/a n/a 2 yes n/a 80 / 80 www.cpmeurope.nl General Dies SRL General Dies 200 to 4,000 10 15 to 400 various 5 12 6 / 8 / 10 6 2 yes 2, 000 / 1,000 30 / 70 www.generaldies.com La Meccanica SRL di Reff o CLM 80 to 3,000 6 15 to 250 soft or hard wood 8 to 12 6 / 8 2 yes 1,000 / 500 100 / 100 www.lameccanica.it Larus Impianti SRL Sinte 80 to 1,400 3 13 to 120 all 7 8 to 12 6 2 yes n/a 15 / 20 www.pellet.it M.B.Z. Mühlen- und Pelletiertechnik M.B.Z. 200 to 4,000 8 max. 2 x 160 any kind of biomass max. 18 6, 8, 10 or more 2 or 3 yes n/a n/a www.holzpelletpressen.de Münch-Edelstahl GmbH RMP 400 to 5,000 4 60 to 260 all kind 8 8 to 30 3 to 12 2 yes 500 to 3,500 80 / n/a www.muench-gmbh.net Pelleting Technology Nederland Progress up to 4,000 6 max. 2 x 315 9 n/a 10 to 15 6 to 10 2 or 3 no 1,200 to 1,500 n/a www.ptn.nl Promill Stolz SA Evolution / Alliance 3,000 to 5,000 2 250 / 350 10 all kind 10 6 to 12 2 yes n/a 11 20 / 40 www.promill-stolz.fr Salmatec GmbH Maxima 500 to 4,000 4 37 to 264 n/a 12 6 or 8 12 3 yes 2,000 / 500 to 1,200 90 / 90 www.salmatec.de Zepi SRL ZPM 500 to 4,000 4 45 to 315 mixed or one type 12 6 / 8 2 yes 1,200 30 / 50 www.zepi.it 1 life cycle of dies and roller with sawdust of spruce/pine and maximal workload 5 wood, paper, olive husks, poultry manure, straw, forestry waste, farm waste, etc. 2 vertical fl ow of the input material through a fl at die with big rollers 6 other diameters according to request 3 life time indication of roller & dies, roller temperature monitoring 7 straw, hay, grape of stalk, chip of olive, olive husks, brand of maize, cotton, rice peel, apple peel 4 straw, peat, sewage sludge, bonemeal, paper, etc. 8 tested in house 164 Sun & Wind Energy 2/2006 BIOMASS 1946 Amandus Kahl, Germany (> 2,000) 1970 CPM/Europe, Netherlands/USA (200) 1972 Salmatec, Germany (160) 1975 Bühler, Switzerland (60**) 1980 Promill Stolz, France (50) 1981 Andritz Sprout, Denmark (250) 1981 M.B.Z. Mühlen- und Pelletiertechnik, Germany 1992 Larus Impianti, Italy (5) 1995 Münch-Edelstahl, Germany (68) Fig. 1: Firms who took part in 1996 General Dies, Italy* (100) the survey, and their fi rst year 1998 Ascot, Italy (2) of biomass pellet mill sales. 2000 Friedli, Switzerland (10) The total number of biomass 2001 Pelleting Technology Nederland (PTN), pellet mills sold is shown in brackets. Netherlands (17) * Involved in pellet production since 2001 La Meccanica, Italy (26) 1961 2003 Zepi, Italy (10) ** Wood pellet mills sold since 1998 Source: manufacturers‘ instructions Dies and rollers are the speciality of the Italian fi rm General Dies, which has also been supplying com- Italian fi rm Larus Impianti, with an hourly output of 80 plete pellet production systems since 2005. kg, to the large Bühler pelletising plants which chalk up 6,000 kg per hour. For Larus Impianti, who say they have technology, claims to have »a worldwide market share sold 40 systems to date in Italy alone, and are active in of 50 % for pellet mills«, and he seems to include the feed seven other Southern European countries, wood pellet sector in this claim. Indeed, the number of newly instal l - production plays a subordinate role. Four out of fi ve sys- ed pellet mills in 2005 reported by the fi rms in the mar- tems make pellets from other biomass raw materials. ket overview comes to 140 systems (see Fig. 2), which is The Italian fi rm has experience using straw, hay, grape surely more than Andritz Sprout sold in the past year. In stalks, chips of olive, olive husks, maize residues, cotton, its Dutch factory, Andritz produces between 10,000 to rice and apple peel. According to Lena Anna Claudia 20,000 dies every year, says Bloch, demonstrating the from the Commercial Depart- company’s market power. ment, a diff erent kind of die is used depending on the proper- Extensive product range ties of the raw material. »Our customers want to The fi rms asked in the survey off er pellet mills in a wide reach annual pellet quantities Wood range of capacities (see table). This extends from the of at least 100,000 tons,« ex- Since 1883 Pelleting Company Product name of Range of Number of Engine Types of biomass Required Wood pellet Number Dies and rolls Number of opera- Share of wood Web site biomass pellet capacity machines power that can be pellet- moisture diameter of rollers from own tion hours before pellet mills among mill [kg/hour] with diff erent [kW] ised content of the [mm] production changing of dies / biomass mills in capacity biomass [%] rollers [h] 1 2005 / 2006 [%] Amandus Kahl GmbH & Co KG various names 250 to 5,000 8 30 to 320 various 12 to 14 various _ 2 yes n/a 80 / 80 www.akahl.de Andritz Sprout 26LM / OM30 3,000 to 5,000 n/a 280 / 250 wood n/a n/a 3 / 2 yes n/a n/a www.andritz.com Ascot SRL Pelletmatic 535 approx.
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