A small timber processing plant needed to reduce energy costs.  Sawdust, which was a site waste product, was available as a free source of fuel. If this could be burned to heat hot water, it would displace Natural Gas, and reduce the site’s energy costs. 

The hot water was needed to heat timber kilns and the quantity of heat required was relatively small (around 2 MW). The only “off the shelf” hot water heaters available were either gas or oil fired. A bespoke design purpose-built sawdust fired heater was the only practical option available.

Design Boiler designed an integrated sawdust fired cyclonic combustor and a small hot water boiler to generate the required hot water for the kilns. The design included sawdust fuel storage and handling, sawdust fuel firing and a draught plant. The boiler controls were designed to enable the plant to operate unmanned. The plant was fabricated and installed with minimum interruption to the overall timber processing facility. It has operated successfully for many years and has repaid its initial capital investment many times over, providing its owner with an additional income stream in the form of sustainable energy credits.