Wood processing - Switzerland

Swiss sawmill expands into bioenergy production with Bruks technology

The family-owned sawmill, Sägerei Bucher, based in Ruswil, Switzerland, was looking to diversify and enter the biofuel market, feeding a new gasifier with waste wood residues to generate renewable electricity. Bruks technology ensures that its wood chipping line perfectly matches the gasifier’s raw material requirements. 

Customer need

Founded in 1845, the Swiss Sägerei Bucher sawmill started by being powered by a 6m-diameter paddle watermill. Over the decades, it has expanded capacity and capabilities. The wood residues from its sawline are a sustainable and renewable source of energy. So that they could be used even more effectively to generate electricity, which could then be fed into the local grid, the latest residual wood-processing technology was required. 
 
Sägerei Bucher needed an advanced chipping line, equipped with a drum chipper, which could provide 60mm-long wood chips to meet the very specific requirements of the operator’s newly-installed wood gas generator; a gasification unit that converts the chips into wood gas, which can then generate renewable electricity.

The system also had to be flexible enough to meet a potential future requirement of being able to produce fuel from beetle wood and low-quality logs for the wood gas generator.

Any equipment had to be delivered just-in-time, as the installation work was on a tight schedule to minimize any production downtime. It also had to meet the challenge of fitting into an existing building, requiring detailed planning and project implementation.

Our solution

Bruks Siwertell has the knowledge and equipment to fulfil very specific customer needs. In 2020, Bruks Klöckner, part of Bruks Siwertell Group, delivered a drum chipper, type DH 240 x 650, powered by a 110 kW motor, with a SF 2.5/2 gyratory screen to Sägerei Bucher 

This particular chipper size was chosen for its ability to consistently produce the 60mm wood chip length required to enable the wood gasification system to run smoothly, and because it can handle beetle wood and low-quality forestry logs at a later stage if needed. 

Bruks Siwertell offered the whole package including the transport of equipment, mechanical and electrical installation, commissioning and training.  
It is now in place beneath the existing sawline, meeting the expectations of its owners, and its capacity and product consistency requirements. 

Sägerei Bucher, a new customer for Bruks Siwertell, is very happy with the system, and was particularly impressed with the on-time delivery and effective assembly, as well as the resulting wood chip quality.

As a special thanks, the installation supervisor was awarded with an original, customized-design swiss pocketknife.

The entire order was met in ongoing good co-operation with Balz Maschinen, the Swiss representative of Bruks technology.

If you would like to read the text in German, please click here.