Wood Chip Dryer Machine
Wood Chip Dryer Machine
Overview
The wood chip dryer machine is a drum drying machine designed to reduce moisture content of loose fibrous materials, including wood shavings, sawdust, wood flakes, bamboo dust, wood chips and straw powder. Wet materials go into the tilted rotating drum. Lifting plates keep tossing the materials. Hot air from the hot stove takes away moisture. An induced draft fan discharges hot humid waste gas, and dry material continuously comes out from the other end. It is widely used for raw material pretreatment before wood pellet and charcoal production, supplies raw materials with qualified moisture (around 10%) for particleboard and fiberboard manufacturing, and also dries raw materials for animal bedding.
We offer both single-drum and triple-drum wood chip dryers. The triple-drum design offers higher thermal efficiency and a smaller footprint, though it comes at a higher price.
Technical Features
When drying loose raw materials—such as sawdust, wood shavings, bamboo chips, or straw powder—to a target moisture content, the dryer’s stability, energy efficiency, and safety are paramount. This rotary wood chip dryer has been refined through extensive practical application, incorporating various design features to ensure long-term, trouble-free operation. Its key characteristics are as follows.
High-precision Body and Stable Transmission
The drying drum is made of thick rolled and welded steel plates. Riding rings, support rollers and gears are precisely processed before assembly. The machine runs steadily and hardly deforms even after long working hours. Rotation speed can be adjusted from 2 to 12 rpm for different raw materials.
Custom Lifting Plates, Lower Energy Cost
We specially design the position and angle of lifting plates. They keep lifting and scattering materials to fully contact hot air. With co-current or counter-current drying mode, proper drum size and rotation speed, moisture escapes quickly. It saves heat and power for the same output.
Adjustable Temperature with Safety Interlock
The dryer can be equipped with PLC smart control system. Inlet air temperature, air flow and drum speed adjust automatically to fit raw materials of different moisture levels. When temperature gets too high, the furnace shuts down and cuts heat automatically. It ensures good drying result and avoids material fire inside the drum.
Multiple Heat Source Options & Heat Recycling
You can pick different heat sources: biomass, gas or coal hot air stoves to match local fuel prices. A waste heat recovery unit is optional to reuse heat from exhaust gas and cut operating costs.
Negative Pressure Ventilation & Two-stage Dust Removal
The induced draft fan pulls humid waste gas out steadily. Slight negative pressure inside the drum stops dust leakage and hot air escape. Two-stage dust removal (cyclone + bag filter) keeps workshop dust within environmental standards for dust and explosion protection.
Fire & Explosion Protection for Safe Production
Wood dust is flammable. Our dryer installs a full spark detection and fire extinguishing set, including spark detector, sound-light alarm, controller and water spray device. This independent system triggers alarm and puts out fire automatically once sparks are found. It greatly reduces fire risks and keeps your production line running safely.
On-site video footage
Wood Chip Dryer for Sale Indonesia
The client is a manufacturer of biomass pellets, with a stable supply of waste materials from local sawmills, furniture factories, and palm plantations. However, the freshly collected sawdust has a moisture content as high as 50%–70%, making storage difficult and resulting in poor-quality pellets that are loose and prone to cracking.
To address this, the client selected a wood chips dryer machine to precisely reduce the raw material’s moisture content to the optimal range for pelletizing. A boiler room was also constructed on-site to ensure a continuous and stable heat supply for the dryer.
Wood Chip Drying Equipment in Romania
The client processes beech wood offcuts from sawmills and wood processing plants into pellets. As the raw material’s moisture content fluctuates between 20% and 40%, the client purchased a Φ1.8m rotary dryer to ensure stable production capacity and consistent pellet quality.
Since the facility lacks an auxiliary boiler room, we designed a custom direct-drying solution featuring a biomass hot-air furnace, a burner, and a rotary dryer. The system directly utilizes screened waste from the production line as fuel, effectively reducing the heat source cost to near zero.
Wood Chip Dryer for Sale South Africa
The client’s raw material consists of wood chips and sawdust generated from wood processing, containing small amounts of wood fragments and bark. The initial moisture content ranges from 45% to 55%—increasing further during the rainy season—while the client requires the final dried product to have a moisture content of 12% to 15%.
The drying system comprises a single-drum wood drying machine, a cyclone dust collector, and a belt conveyor. The hot-blast stove is to be constructed by the client and can be fueled by either coal or biomass. High-temperature flue gas from the stove passes through an air heat exchanger to generate clean hot air, which is then fed into the dryer; this process eliminates the risk of dust ignition or explosion.
Wood Chip Dryer Machine for Sale Worldwide
Regardless of your industry, our wood chip drying equipment can meet your material drying needs. Our client base includes biomass pellet plants, wood-based panel (particleboard and MDF) factories, carbonization facilities, animal bedding processing plants, and sawdust traders. Below, we showcase real-world project examples from various countries for your reference. Please feel free to contact us for detailed information on processes and equipment configurations. we can design customized wood chip drying systems tailored to your specific raw materials and production capacity requirements.
Rotary Wood Chip Dryer for Latvia’s Biomass Pellet Plant
Application：Drying mixed wood chips and wood powder for processing into molded biomass fuel pellets
Initial moisture content：40%–50%
Target moisture content：10%–12%
Pre-processing crushing equipment：Required. As the raw material consists of wood blocks and chips of varying sizes, it must first be crushed to 3–5 mm by a wood crusher before entering the dryer to ensure uniform drying.
Heat source：Biomass burner
Wood Chip Drying Equipment for Singapore’s Carbonization Plant
Application：Pre-drying treatment for the carbonization process of charcoal, bamboo charcoal, and machine-made charcoal to reduce raw material moisture content and shorten carbonization time.
Initial raw material moisture：50%–55% (stored outdoors).
Target moisture content：12%–15%.
Pre-processing crushing equipment：Required. Raw materials consist of irregular wood chips, offcuts, and wooden pallets; a wood chipper and a wood crusher are required.
Heat source：Biomass hot-air furnace.
Wood Chips Dryer Machine for Côte d’Ivoire’s Wood Fuel Pellet Manufacturer
Application：Drying wet wood chips to produce wood pellets for export, ensuring the required calorific value for combustion.
Initial raw material moisture：55%
Target moisture content: 12%–15%
Pre-processing crushing equipment：The raw material consists of small wood chips, which can be dried directly. However, since subsequent pelletizing is required, a hammer mill must still be used to pulverize the material into wood powder.
Heat source：The client constructs the hot blast stove independently.
Rotary Dryer for Wood Chips in Korea’s Wood-Based Panel Factory
Application：Supplying dried, high-quality wood chips and wood fiber raw materials for the production of particleboard and MDF, ensuring the quality of the board’s pressing and lamination.
Initial raw material moisture：30%–40%
Target moisture content: 8%–10%
Pre-processing crushing equipment： No. The raw materials consist of finished wood shavings and finely shredded wood fibers. The particle size is uniform and free of large chunks, allowing for direct feeding into the dryer.
Heat source：Natural gas hot-air furnace.
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Technical Specification
| Model | φ0.6*6 | φ0.8*8 | φ1.2*12 | φ1.5*15 | φ1.8*18 | φ1.8*20 | φ1.8*36 | φ1.8*12*3C | φ1.8*24*3C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diameter（m） | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Length（m) | 6 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 36 | 12 | 24 |
| Number of Layers | 1 | 3 | |||||||
| Drum Speed（rpm） | 3~12 | ||||||||
| Inlet Air Temperature（℃） | 400~500 | ||||||||
| Outlet Air Temperature （℃） | 70~80 | ||||||||
Because RICHI’s technology is constantly being updated and iterated, we will continuously upgrade and innovate our equipment. Therefore, the specific equipment parameters are subject to the actual quotation. We will provide more professional customized design and production services for each customer.
additional pretreatment equipment
The ability of a wood chip dryer machine to operate stably and continuously depends largely on the quality of the initial raw material pretreatment. Feeding large pieces of wood directly into the rotary dryer significantly reduces drying efficiency and accelerates wear on the inner drum walls. Therefore, when designing a drying solution for you, we assess the need for additional pretreatment equipment based on the specific type of raw material and your requirements for the finished product.
FAQ
What moisture content can a wood chip dryer achieve?
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Typically, the moisture content of wood raw materials can be reduced to approximately 8%–15%, with the specific final moisture content depending on the raw material type, initial moisture content, heat source, and drying time. Customization is also available upon request for special applications.
How much does a wood chip drying machine cost?
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The price of a dryer depends on factors such as processing capacity, equipment model, heat source, raw material moisture content, level of automation, and auxiliary equipment. Therefore, price quotations must be based on specific project parameters rather than a standardized price.
How much energy does a wood dryer consume?
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Energy consumption is mainly affected by the initial moisture content of raw materials, target moisture content, ambient temperature, processing capacity and heat source type. By rationally selecting heat sources, optimizing hot air circulation and drying processes, energy consumption per unit of output can be reduced.
What heat sources can be used for wood drying?
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Wood chip dryers can be configured with various heat sources—such as biomass fuel, natural gas, diesel, steam, or others—based on local energy availability. If the timber processing plant generates waste materials like wood chips or bark, utilizing these as fuel is also an option.
How long does it take to dry wood?
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There is no fixed value for drying time. It generally depends on the wood species, particle size, initial moisture content, target moisture content, and hot air temperature. Small-sized materials, such as wood chips and sawdust, typically lose moisture more rapidly than large pieces of wood.
Can the wood drying machine be customized for my project?
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Yes. RICHI can design tailored wood drying solutions based on the client’s raw material type, initial and target moisture content, processing capacity, facility conditions, and local energy availability; we also provide turnkey services, including equipment manufacturing, transportation, installation and commissioning, and operational training.
What is your warranty service like?
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We provide a one-year warranty on the entire machine, as well as installation guidance, operational training, a supply of wear parts, and support via remote guidance or on-site repair. (view our YouTube)
