Cork Waste and Wood Chip Combined Pellet Line — Equipment Configuration Finalized for Portugal Project

Equipment configuration has been finalized for a 4.5 t/h pellet production line in Portugal designed to process a combination of cork waste and wood chips — a feedstock combination that’s relatively unusual but makes practical sense given Portugal’s position as a major global cork producer, generating substantial cork processing waste alongside more conventional wood residue streams.

Cork waste (granules and dust from cork stopper and flooring production) has interesting properties for pelletizing — it’s naturally low density, has some inherent water-resistant characteristics due to cork’s cellular structure, and burns with a distinctive but acceptable profile for biomass fuel applications, though pure cork pellets aren’t common — blending with wood chips is the more typical approach, which is what this buyer is doing.

The buyer’s blend ratio is approximately 30% cork waste to 70% wood chips by volume, though this can be adjusted seasonally depending on cork waste availability from the buyer’s own cork processing operations (which generate the cork waste as a byproduct) versus wood chip supply from regional sawmills.

Equipment includes a chip/material receiving and proportioning system (allowing the blend ratio to be adjusted by the operator), hammer mill, drum dryer, ring die pellet mill, and cooler — fairly standard configuration overall, though the proportioning system at the front end is a feature not all biomass lines include, added specifically because of the blend-ratio flexibility the buyer wanted.

Pellet target is 6mm, for the residential and small commercial heating market in Portugal and potentially for export to neighboring Spain, where biomass heating demand has also been growing.

During the configuration finalization process, the buyer requested confirmation that the dryer’s burner could run on a portion of the buyer’s own wood waste as fuel for the drying process itself (rather than relying solely on purchased fuel for the dryer) — RICHI confirmed the dryer’s burner configuration is compatible with wood waste fuel, a fairly common setup that helps offset the dryer’s operating costs, though the buyer will need to manage their own wood waste fuel supply separately from the cork/wood chip feedstock for pelletizing.

Manufacturing is set to begin shortly, with delivery estimated at 7-8 weeks.