woodchips - 100 % solar

Get a better burning quality and avoid mould with the help of SolarAir drying

In order to receive a high quality and ecologically correct fuel for wood firing, fresh woodchips and shredded waste wood should be freed from undesired mould. For health reasons the development of fungus-spores and mould in the warehouse has to be stopped. For this purpose a solar ventilation drying which doesn't pollute the ecobalance of the fuel is ideal.

 The company Mendler Holzverarbeitung (wood processing) from Heidenheim in Germany realized this solution when building their new hall for wood chips. In each of three silo fields 1.000 m³ (35314.6 cft) of wood chips are getting dryed by under-floor drying. On the metal roof there have been installed 75 m³
(2648.6 cft) of air collectors by the company Grammer Solar. These air collectors heat the incoming air up to 40°C (104°F) depending on the incident solar radiation. Already a low solar radiation can be used for heating the air. The heated air is blown over all sides of the damp bulk material and absorbs this way gradually all moisture. The ventilation system operates throughout the whole year and uses meanwhile per year approx. 45.000 kWh energy by the sun.

The SolarAir technique is especially suitable for drying processes. Due to direct heating of the ventilation air inside the collector heat loss during the transmission is avoided and so high efficiency is achieved. Even very huge collector dimensions are easy to realize without getting technical difficulties. Air collectors don't freeze, leak or ablate. So an undisturbed operation even after a period of stoppage and under extreme conditions is assured. Tough materials guarantee that the collectors work perfectly even after decades and that they reliably harvest from the sun. Apart from the filter changing once a year SolarAir installations are completely maintenance free.