Wood flour manufacturing by means of a vortex layer device

Wood flour is a powder obtained by regrinding the sawdust, wood chips, wood shavings, small residues and other waste from the wood processing industry. Sometimes, it is also made of straw, stems, waste cardboard, nut shells, and other products. Wood flour manufacturing means grinding the raw stuff to a size of hundreds of micrometers. Sometimes, coarser grinding is allowed — within a millimeter. And in some cases, flour is ground down to tens or even ones of microns.

The moisture content of finished product shall not exceed 8%. However, for example, more dried flour is used in wood-polymer composites. It is a clean and environmentally friendly product that is actively used in dozens of industries. In general, the wood flour market is promising and growing. Furthermore, in order to obtain a product, it is sufficient to use a special mill for grinding the wood processing industry waste.

Where is wood flour used?

Wood flour is a versatile product mainly used in the manufacture of construction materials. Sometimes, it is also used as an additive in the agricultural sector, in the food industry, and for other purposes. In different cases, flour of a certain grade is used. They differ in a number of criteria, including the size fraction, the mass fraction of deciduous wood, the percentage of acids, oils, resins, colored admixtures, and ash. Moisture content is considered to be an important criterion as well.

Wood dust is useful in the process of baking the stoneware and bricks. It is used in the manufacture of porous abrasive products. It is a good filler for mastic compounds, sealants, and roofing materials. Wood powder is used to clean leather and fur. It is added as a substrate in mushroom cultivation. The product is also used in smoke houses for fish and meat smoking.

Such a wide scope of use makes wood dust a highly demanded product. Therefore, even at a small wood processing facility, it is reasonable to establish a waste wood processing line.

Wood flour manufacturing — conventional technologies

Conventional wood flour manufacturing means mechanical grinding of raw stuff without the use of chemicals. The process involves sorting machines, dryers, wood flour mills, raw stuff storage bins, and finished product containers. Manufacturing stages:

• preparation of raw stuff, sorting, elimination of large particles and impurities;
• preliminary grinding to obtain a homogeneous mass;
• drying the prepared product;
• final grinding to the sizes of hundreds of micrometers;
• sorting and packing.

Wood is a fairly soft material pliable for processing; thus, it allows using different types of mills. The equipment of continuous and batch-type operation is used. Some of them are responsible for several stages at once — they grind and sort the raw stuff. The quality of the final product, the cost thereof, the manufacturing rate, and the powder uniformity mainly depend on the type of mill.

Drum and disc crushers are conventionally used in wood flour manufacturing. The equipment grinds the waste wood to the desired fraction. However, at the same time, the equipment is quite noisy, energy-consuming, and the technologies require high-quality and thorough preparation, as well as drying of raw stuff.

A vortex layer device (AVS) will help in solving the problems of conventional methods for wood flour manufacturing, increasing the line capacity, and reducing the energy input for raw stuff grinding. This is a versatile mill from GlobeCore operating on the basis of an electromagnetic field under the influence of which a vortex layer of ferromagnetic particles is generated. The compact unit will form the basis for a simple and efficient line for regrinding the wood processing industry waste. Suitable for use at sawmills, workshops, factories, timber logging facilities, etc.

How is wood flour manufactured by means of a vortex layer device?

An electromagnetic wood flour mill is equipment with a non-magnetic operating chamber inside of which the product is ground and mixed. The technological process is carried out with the participation of ferromagnetic particles and an electromagnetic field created by an inductor.

When the unit is turned on, the ferromagnetic needles move intensively through the chamber, rotate, collide with one another, with the operating chamber walls, and with particles of processed material. A vortex layer is generated. Wood flour manufacturing in this kind of medium takes a few minutes only.

Thus, after just three minutes of grinding the sawdust by means of AVS, we achieve grinding down to 160 micrometers. The content of such particles or smaller ones in the total mass is 96%. If we submit this flour to additional processing in AVS for another three minutes, we will obtain a mass with the particles of approximately 25 micrometers and less. It is almost impossible to achieve such indicators using conventional equipment with the same time and energy consumption.

Moreover, AVS can produce wood flour of any size fraction. The grinding fineness can be adjusted merely by changing the raw stuff processing time.

The vortex layer device shows a high capacity due to the fact that the processed material is affected by dispersion, mixing, high local pressure, electromagnetic processing, acoustic vibrations, as well as electrolysis in a liquid medium. A high efficiency rate is achieved with minimum electricity input. GlobeCore electromagnetic wood flour mills consume 4.5 to 9.5 kW of electricity per hour. The power depends on the model.

And the technological line is simplified owing to the ability of the device to handle wet and liquid media. After preliminary grinding, the raw stuff does not require additional drying and thorough preparation which are necessary to do, for example, when using hammer crushers. The capacity of the latter largely depends on the drying degree of processed material.

Advantages of wood flour manufacturing by means of a vortex layer device

AVS is considered to be the best option for grinding the sawdust into flour for the following reasons:

• High cost-effectiveness

Electricity consumption is several times lower than in conventional equipment. Moreover, the material is processed faster, and manufacturing becomes continuous; therefore, the time required for raw stuff grinding is reduced.

•   Ease of use

GlobeCore AVS-100 and AVS-150 models are distinguished by their compact size, elementary design, and intuitive control. They require no pedestal or additional structures. The dimensions in width and length are slightly greater than a meter. And the unit height is a little more than 160 cm. The equipment can be integrated into the existing line without any problems.

•   High grinding efficiency

AVS becomes indispensable in cases where it is necessary to obtain the grinding fineness of tens and even ones of micrometers. In order to obtain the same indicators in conventional mills, you will have to spend an unreasonable amount of time and energy.

•   Versatility

The device can handle wood of any moisture content. Furthermore, wood shavings, sawdust, shredded wood, or any other fine waste from the wood processing industry are used as raw stuff. It is possible to grind the product in a dry or moist medium.

Thus, wood flour manufacturing by means of a vortex layer device is a simple, cost-effective, and fast process. This kind of manufacturing can be established both at a large-scale enterprise and in a small workshop. By processing wood, you can increase the productivity of the enterprise, make it waste-free, and recycle wood shavings, sawdust, and other products into a useful and marketable material — wood flour.

In order to get advice or place an order for AVS-100, AVS-150 vortex layer devices, please contact GlobeCore sale representatives. We will also help you in selecting a model with optimum capacity for your enterprise.