When Pieper Holz made the investment in its pelleting plant in Olsberg/DE, it was also necessary to invest in a new heating plant, which was built parallel to the construction of the pelleting plant (see article Family company on its way to the future). Rudnick & Enners of Alpenrod/DE was responsible for the automated infeed of the offcuts and bark from the log yard to the heating plant and the shredding of the wood waste. “Due to the limited space around the storage boxes in the log yard, our fuel is shredded near the heating plant. In terms of transport, we want to be able to do without a wheel loader as far as possible,” Pieper Holz’s Managing Director Isabell Pieper explains.
Online transport of offcuts
Particularly powerful: A GSA 1.600 shredder with an infeed width of 1,600 mm and an adjustable counter blade
In order to solve this task, the cut-off disks and bark are transported online from the log yard disposal area to the heating plant. For this purpose, some changes were made to the existing log yard disposal system. Cut-off disks and bark can either be sold unshredded or transported online unshredded. To facilitate that, Rudnick & Enners installed a reinforced trough chain conveyor and an RGFO 1.600 tubular belt conveyor. With a belt width of 1,600 mm, it is currently the largest tubular belt conveyor in Rudnick & Enners’s portfolio, and was specially designed for the transport of bark, cut-off discs and torn-off pieces of logs.
“At our production site, cut-off discs with diameters of up to 70 cm can accumulate,” Kristian Kriegsmann, Pellet Production Manager at Pieper Holz, emphasizes.
Shredder with adjustable counter blade
Rudnick & Enners conveyor units automatically feed the warehouse or the moving floor of the heating plant © Martina Nöstler
First, the tubular belt conveyor transports the wood waste from the log yard into the infeed bunker of the shredder. It is also possible to feed in pallet wood with a wheel loader. Rudnick & Enners installed a GSA 1.600 shredder with an infeed width of 1,600 mm and an adjustable counter blade.
“The machine can shred bark as well as offcuts and pallet wood. The pre-tensioned and split counter blade is adjustable and increases the cutting gap between the rotor and counter blade at higher impulse forces. This makes the machine less sensitive to foreign objects. In order to have the highest possible energy efficiency when handling the different loads that are fed in by the log yard disposal system, the wheel loader and the debarker, the shredder is equipped with a small pony motor and a boost motor. The former keeps the speed at idle, while the boost motor automatically switches on during shredding,” Rudnick & Enners’s Managing Director Sven Rudnick explains.
After the chipping process, iron parts are separated. Then, the processed residual wood is automatically transported into the warehouse or to the push floor of the heating plant.
