Bruks Siwertell has secured an order for a Bruks mobile chipper from J.D. Irving, Limited's Irving Woodlands division, one of the largest forestry land holders in Canada. It will process forest residues into mini chips for pellet production at J.D. Irving, Limited's Grand River Pellet plant in Saint Leonard, New Brunswick, Canada. It can also process forestry waste into biofuel chips for the plant's boilers.

Irving Woodlands will benefit from the ability to turn existing slash piles, tops, branches, and forest residuals into mini chips for wood pellet production or into boiler fuel chips, generating energy from forest materials that would typically have been left in the forest to decompose.

"An added benefit of in-woods chipping is enhancing fire abatement by removing tinder from the forest floor, which is an ongoing crucial concern for urban communities in Canada surrounded by forests. This chipper is a win-win," says Joanne Turnell, Sales Representative Canada, Bruks Siwertell.

"The new Bruks chipper allows for forest-based chipping, which works exceptionally well with selective logging where trees are placed in a pile and the chipper can access them," Turnell explains.

"This will be a new wood-processing technology approach for the company," Turnell continues. "In the past, it has left the forest residues in place, and has used a terminal grinder for processing the plant's raw materials. This grinding has had some drawbacks, predominantly due to contamination from stones and other debris, which negatively impacts the pellet production process down the line.

"The chipper ensures a higher quality of small wood chips, between 2.5 and 3.8cm, which are debris-free," Turnell adds. "This smaller-than-average pulp mill chip works well with the pelleting process."

J.D. Irving, Limited is an existing customer and Bruks wood-processing equipment features in several of its sawmills. "For this new installation, J.D. Irving, Limited makes use of a Bruks 805.2 STC Chipper that was on hand in the USA as a demonstration model. After running successful tests on chip quality for the pellet mill, the decision was made to purchase it," she explains.

The chipper features a side infeed and high-dumping chip bin and can be installed on forwarders, trucks, or other types of vehicles. It has two types of chipping knives, which enables the production of mini chips for the pellet plant and, with a simple drum change, biofuel chips for the boiler.

It is characterized by consistent, high-capacity chip discharge and processes hardwood and softwood logs up to about 50 cm in diameter with ease. It will enter operations later this year.