An innovative mill that crushes wood using shock waves

Expobiomasa, the international bioenergy fair promoted by the Spanish Association for Energy Valorization of Biomass (Avebiom), has awarded the 2019 Innovation Award to the German company Pallmann for its EcoPulser project, an innovative mill that crushes wood using waves shock'.

Likewise, the jury - which valued the innovative nature, originality and efficiency of the 32 finalist projects - awarded two second prizes: one to the Valencian multinational Innergy, for its new Bio-Bloc generator; and another, to the Finnish Saalasti, for the innovation presented by its latest generation press, the 'Press 1803 Hippo' model.

Savings, efficiency and quality
Pallmann's new wood chipper, EcoPulser, can grind around five tons of wood per hour, with only two motors of 22 kW each, generating energy cost savings of 80% in relation to those of conventional 'mills'.

As it is a plowing model not supported by the physical contact of its parts, it reduces maintenance costs by a third. Furthermore, it does not produce wood dust during shredding, which prevents the formation of ATEX (flammable gases or vapors) and the aspiration system consumes between 10% and 20% less energy. EcoPulser is a device intended for producers of pellets, briquettes, chips and generation plants, as well as wood recyclers.

As for the innovative Bio-Bloc from the Innergy group, which will make its world premiere at Expobiomasa, it is a new thermal energy generator using hot air turbine technology from biomass and waste. With a compact and transportable design, it allows eliminating the boiler or pressure equipment, as well as water or oil as a heat transfer fluid to move the turbine.

The second prize granted to the Finnish Saalasti responds to the innovation of her latest generation press 'Press 1803 Hippo', which is 35 times more efficient than the previous ones in the mechanical drying of biomass for energy purposes, since it allows to dry a ton with about 25kwh. Its use can be an annual savings of millions of eur, also avoiding the issuance of thousands of tons of co₂.