The aim is to produce premium pellets of the highest quality according to ENplus A1 for the global and especially the European market. The FSC-certified raw material is composed of 100% by-products from the company‘s own production. The first plant at BrasPine went into operation in July 2021 and has a production capacity of 70,000 t/y. The pellet project at Braslumber will have a capacity of 120,000 t/y. Delivery of the machine technology for this is imminent.
Experience and technology for high quality
The 208 m long pipe belt conveyor during assembly in Brazil © Rudnick & Enners
The BrasPine & Braslumber Group is one of the leading wood processing companies in South America and – according to the corporation‘s own information – employs over 2000 people. In order to increase its own value chain, the company decided to invest in the production of premium wood pellets. After several reference visits, the decision was made to order two complete plants from Rudnick & Enners, Alpenrod/DE. "From reference projects in the USA, Chile and Argentina, we know the specific machine and plant requirements of Southern Yellow Pine. This knowledge had to be integrated into a well thought-out plant concept that takes into account both the customer‘s wishes and the technical and climatic requirements of the Brazilian market", explains authorized signatory Sven Rudnick. The FSC-certified raw material for pelletizing is made up of sawdust, wood chips and shavings which are by-products of molding baseboards, door frames or handrails. The residual wood is collected after production and transported to the new pelletizing plant via a more than 200 m long Rudnick & Enners pipe belt conveyor. Due to the local conditions, the pipe belt conveyor had to be designed with only two pylon supports and high cantilever lengths.
Vertical concept – good cooperation
The overlength reducer from Rudnick & Enners © Rudnick & Enners
The pelletizing plant at BrasPine is designed for a capacity of 10 t/h and has two CPM pellet presses. The overall plant from Rudnick & Enners is designed as a vertical concept which ensures a gentle transport of the pellets and a compact installation. A three-fraction screening with subsequent pellet overlength conversion and fines recirculation guarantees high quality and process reliability.
In addition to the pelletizing unit including dry chip grinding, the entire bagging line for 10 to 15 kg-bags as well as the automatic big bag filling station are also supplied by Rudnick & Enners. Furthermore, the entire switchgear as well as the plant visualization including remote maintenance module were supplied by Rudnick & Enners, installed on-site and put into operation. A further production monitoring as well as an integrated connection of process data to the customer‘s ERP system complete the Rudnick & Enners scope of supply.
"BrasPine & Braslumber wanted a total supplier with many years of experience in pellet production – from raw material intake to the finished bagged pellet. We were therefore involved in the concept development and infrastructure planning on site at a very early stage. Despite the current general conditions and travel restrictions in Brazil, we were able to realize the project within the agreed schedule", reports Christian Gebele, Managing Director of BSR Engineering. Within a short period of time, the plant was able to go from commissioning to three-shift operation.
"The cooperation worked very well. We are therefore looking forward to jointly implementing the next project at Braslumber with an annual capacity of 120,000 t on site in 2022", Gebele concludes.
