Pellets from Russia; Pellets

Implementing the strategy of production technology development at the sawmill implied increasing volume of production wastes, while traditional deliveries of the sawmill wastes (chips) to pulp mills came to nothing. Today one can say that the direction chosen was absolutely correct. According to the results of the two last years, the pellet plant of “DoK “Enisey” is the largest pellet producer in Russia – an optimized production consisting of 3 lines (hourly capacity 3.5 ton each). Pellets are exported from Russia, consumers being very much satisfied with the quality of Siberian pellets.

Well begun is half done

In 2006 “DoK “Enisey” was one of the first companies that launched pellet production and to some extent it was a kind of a lottery, says Alexander Zhevlakov, technical director of the company. “We even didn’t take any clue when we took the decision on equipment supply. From technical point of view we simply could not formulate all the details of the way we wanted the production process to be organized. It is only now that we have a great experience behind, we easily understand cons and pros of every technical solution offered… Everything was otherwise 3 years ago”.

That is why the cooperation between the sawmill and the supplier played such an important role in successful project realization. It was AS Hekotek (Estonia) that became a primary engineering contractor – to carry out engineering and completing the production line, as well as delivery of all the equipment for the pellet plant. All the main decisions were taken together by the customer and the supplier to ensure the optimum efficiency of the future plant.

Festina lente

The process of conciliation and signing of the agreement on machinery supply could not be fast. A quickly signed agreement not always leads to the best results. “It is not the speed that is vital but readiness of customer and supplier to clearly understand what is needed, to foresee all the slightest details, as everything that is missed in the beginning must be reworked later”, – marked Mr. Zhevlakov.

Success based on trust

Of course, in such a situation it was all about a very high level of trust put by the customer in the equipment supplier – the trust that had formed within the long years of cooperation started many years before the first deliveries of pellet plant machinery. Starting from year 2003 Hekotek supplied “DoK “Enisey” with a log sorting line, all supporting equipment for R250 HewSaw sawing machine and an aspiration system.

“Hekotek is a company having a huge working experience in Russia, offering optimal solutions in terms of the equipment price and quality ratio, as well as excellent service, – says Alexander Zhevlakov. – A great advantage of cooperation with Hekotek is, first of all, absence of language barrier. Qualified and mobile staff of the company efficiently solve all the issues and speak fluent Russian.

Further development

Initially pellet production at “DoK “Enisey” consisted of two lines. Starting from June 2009 the production process involves 3 pellet presses by Andritz (capacity of each 3.5 ton/h) and 3 drum driers for sawdust drying by Hekotek. The drums are run by heat produced by three burners for biofuel (up to 55% moisture content allowed). The launch of the third line (analogous to the previous two) speaks about customer’s positive evaluation of both technical solution applied and the work performed by Hekotek as a general contractor. The new line will allow increasing capacity of the pellet plant up to 65 thousand ton.

Development of wooden pellet production seems to be very promising direction at the moment. However, according to Mr. Zhevlakov, so far it is too early to talk about further development – only 3 months have past after the launch of the new line. “Probably, in 12-18 months we can consider further decisions in the field of pellet production development, but we shall not be in a hurry with that”.

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Issued by:  RUNA

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Issue date: October 27, 2009

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