CFW Projects offers drying systems making use of wood-fired boilers. This can be a cost-effective way of supplying energy requirements where electricity is expensive, or in the wood processing industry, where various kinds of wood residue are available.

A variety of wood residues can be used for dryer furnaces, including wood stumps, sawdust and shavings, collected fines, and panel trim. Wood pellets that have been processed for combustion can also be used. The medium that comes into direct contact with the material being dried may be either hot air or steam.

An additional benefit of wood as a fuel source is that invasive plant species can be cut down and used and that the ash can be utilised. The result is that value is added to every stage of the process.

The use of wood fuel becomes more economically attractive for large processing plants and where the prices of traditional fuels such as oil are high. Lumber, particleboard and plywood veneer are usually the materials to be dried.

Often, these systems are indirect-fired with the combustion gas entering a pipe system that is then used to heat the air in a wood kiln. These systems may have lower operating costs than direct-fired gas heating and, if they are used to generate steam, are also easier to control.

The CFW group provides a number of different products for the wood industry, so that our dryers can be integrated with CFW material handling solutions for better overall functioning of the plant.

When considering wood-fired dryers, it is important to consider the processing costs of the fuel. These costs may be considerable in wet or humid areas where the fuel needs to be dried before use. Using poor-quality wood fuel may result in additional handling and storage difficulties, excessive equipment wear and low combustion efficiency. In addition, wood fuel management may require dust collection systems and particulate control for the wood smoke. It should also be noted that wood-fired boilers tend to have greater maintenance requirements than boilers using fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas.