Site manager, Mr. Bryan Claughton, and the Eco-Power team, approached Stronga in 2024 urgently looking to improve the efficiency of their briquetting operation. After many years successfully operating a smaller FD30 wood brash dryer, Eco-Power renewed their relationship with Stronga, enquiring about the production of a new larger woodchip dryer to solve their production ‘bottle-neck’.

Having recently added a further briquetting line, they had begun to struggle keeping up with drying capacity. Eco-Power site manager, Mr. Claughton, therefore engaged with Stronga to source a more suitably-scaled solution.

The need to source a higher capacity woodchip dryer arose when Eco-Power’s existing dryer begun falling behind the capacity of their significantly expanded briquetting line. Through close collaboration with Eco-Power, Stronga were able to specify a new FlowDrya to optimise the available energy, delivering 500% more output than their previous dryer. The new FlowDrya overcame their production ‘bottle-neck’, increasing production capacity while significantly reducing expensive labour costs. The dryer has improved the mood on site, alleviating a great deal of pressure on their hard-working operating team.

Stronga’s approach of prioritising high levels of customer service ensure standards are upheld throughout the entire enquiry process, production, commissioning and after sale, something Mr. Claughton and his team were particularly grateful for. The video below shows Eco-Power’s modern briquetting operation using their new, high output FD60 FlowDrya.

Investing in the new FlowDrya enabled Eco-Power to boost briquette production by 5X in significantly fewer working hours, allowing them to transform residual brash biomass into high-calorific briquettes which are either sold or used on-site as fuel for the production of solid recycled fuel (SRF) pellets. SRF pellets are especially useful in intensive energy industries, such as cement works, looking for alternative energy options available for purchase.

In the case of Eco-Power, FlowDrya directly increases the value of woody biomass by reducing the moisture content of pre-seasoned brash material from 38% down to 10%, removing 28% moisture to the level ideal for briquetting. In total, FlowDrya increases calorific value by 60% while optimising processing in the briquette production line. With a more efficient production process and a higher quality briquette output, the new FlowDrya directly increased Eco-Power’s briquette sale revenue.

At Eco-Power Wood Fuels, the FlowDrya system is absolutely central to the waste-to-energy mission using waste wood brash collected from local forestry commission woodlands. While burning briquettes does create some CO₂, the briquette (in this case) is used for producing alternative fuels, regarded as an offset to fossil fuels.

Speaking to Stronga following the installation of the new dryer, the Eco-Power team reported that the new high capacity FlowDrya has delivered a surplus of consistently-stable, optimally-dried material which has removed moisture-related malfunctions in the briquetting line; avoiding blockages or agglomeration and compaction disturbances.

Drying is widely considered by experts as the most important process in the production of high-calorific, dense, stable briquettes to facilitate a value stream for waste wood brash.

Respected academic journals, ‘Biomass and Bioenergy’ and ‘Sustainability’, describe how low moisture content biomass facilitates high temperature briquette compaction for more durable and dense briquettes. Dryer biomass also corresponds to an increase in briquette quality and calorific value, limiting power consumption during briquette formation. Additional benefits of dryer biomass include a more homogenous structure and optimised briquette line throughput. The graph below has been adapted from this research. As moisture content decreases, calorific value and durability both increase significantly.

At Stronga, we place people at the heart of our business life. We are proud of the products we produce and believe that, like our machines, our customer-centric relationships will stand the test of time. We believe in strong collaborative engagements with customers, from the offset, and focus on positive business outcomes for each individual requirement.

Buying a dryer is not an everyday purchase. Customers often approach us missing key project parameters; part of our role is to help clients define the crucial elements to enable optimal outcomes for their drying project. If you’d like to speak to Eco-Power about their particular project, please contact Stronga and we will endeavour to arrange a demonstration.

- Unique stop-start system = lower working hours + increased service life. The FlowDrya stop-start system reduces operating hours by circa 5X per hour and therefore lowers component wear, compared to full-time running belt dryers.
- Significantly reduced electrical energy use and electric bills, when compared to expensive belt dryers.
- Simple, strong, well-developed and well-proven construction with elegant simplicity of operation.
- And more. Speak to Stronga to learn more about the unique features of FlowDrya.

At Stronga, we were proud to supply the Eco-Power Wood Fuels team with a new higher-output woodchip dryer which has successfully resolved the production bottleneck caused by an expansion of their operations. We are pleased to be part of a highly successful project, enabling Eco-Power to offer the highest quality briquettes to their partners and customers, allowing them to fulfil their vision of a more renewable future.

Why not speak to Stronga today to discuss your woodchip drying project?
0044 (0)1992 519000 or info@stronga.co.uk

Bibliography
Abdel Aal, A.M.K.; Ibrahim, O.H.M.; Al-Farga, A.; El Saeidy, E.A. ‘Impact of Biomass Moisture Content on the Physical Properties of Briquettes Produced from Recycled Ficus nitida Pruning Residuals’. Sustainability 2023, 15, 11762. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511762

Nurek, Tomasz, Gendek , Arkadiusz, Roman, Kamil, Dąbrowska, Magdalena, ‘The effect of temperature and moisture on the chosen parameters of briquettes made of shredded logging residues’, Biomass and Bioenergy Volume 130. 2019. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0961953419303174