300–500 KG/H Wood Pellet Plant in Kenya

RICHI MACHINERY

Wet Sawdust Made the Dryer the First Capacity Check

The project began with a straightforward supply opportunity: several sawmills around Thika generated clean sawdust, but much of it was stored outside and arrived wet. The customer had experience trading solid fuels but had not operated a pellet line. Instead of treating that as a reason to oversimplify the plant, the engineering review focused on the moisture profile first.

The existing warehouse offered enough room for a compact one-line process, but the customer’s capital ceiling meant every machine had to solve a real bottleneck. A second pellet mill, large automated warehouse or high-capacity bagging line would have raised investment without matching the available annual feedstock.

The key question became whether low-cost wet sawdust could still support a commercially usable Kenya wood pellet production line once the cost and material loss of drying were included.

The answer was yes, but only with a smaller saleable output than the wet input tonnage suggests. Drying removes water that cannot appear in the final product. That mass balance was used to size the furnace, the pellet mill and the amount of finished pellets that can reasonably be reserved as process fuel.

The completed line therefore uses one dryer, one MZLH350 pellet mill and a short conveying/packing route. It is intentionally a 300–500 KG/H small wood pellet plant in Kenya rather than a nominal 1 T/H system working far below its installed capacity.

RICHI MACHINERY

Drying Economics Only Work When the Water Balance Is Counted

Many mini biomass pellet plants buy sawdust already close to the 10–15% pelleting range. This project uses a different purchasing strategy. Wet material can be cheaper at the gate, but the customer must pay for the heat, electricity, handling time and dry-matter loss required to make that material usable.

The comparison is therefore based on delivered moisture, not only the quoted price per wet ton:

• Wet sawdust: around US$12/ton delivered, typically 35–45% moisture
• Drier sawdust: around US$28/ton delivered, typically 12–15% moisture

The annual wet-feedstock plan is approximately 912 tons. On an as-received basis, that figure contains a large amount of water, so it cannot be compared directly with dry-sawdust purchasing or finished-pellet tonnage.

At roughly 38–40% average incoming moisture, 912 tons of wet material contains only about 550–565 tons of dry solids. After drying to the 10–12% range, the same solids support roughly 610–630 tons of pellet-grade material before routine screening and startup losses. This is the correct basis for the project’s annual production plan.

The biomass furnace uses a controlled share of finished pellets. Depending on incoming moisture and dryer efficiency, about 50–70 tons per year can be reserved for process heat. That internal consumption is deducted before the saleable output is stated; it is not counted a second time as customer product.

The economic advantage of wet sawdust therefore depends on local delivered prices and actual evaporation load. It should be checked from measured moisture and current energy cost rather than from a fixed savings figure that may not survive changes in season or supplier.

For this project, the customer accepted the dryer because the wet material supply was consistent enough to justify the added equipment and operating attention.

The drying system accounts for about US$8,000 of the equipment package. Its value is operational: it gives the plant access to a feedstock that would otherwise be outside the pelleting window. Payback depends on the real difference between wet and dry sawdust costs, so no fixed nine-month return is presented as a guaranteed project result.

The dryer is therefore treated as feedstock-enabling equipment, not as a marketing add-on.

RICHI MACHINERY

One Feedstock Still Needs Strict Receiving Control

The collected material is a mix of cypress, pine and eucalyptus residues from mechanical wood processing. Loads with paint, glue, treated timber, excessive bark or visible contamination are rejected. Moisture is checked at receiving because two trucks with the same weight can contain very different quantities of dry wood fiber.

The annual mass balance is set from dry matter: approximately 912 tons of wet feedstock becomes about 600–630 tons of gross pellet output after water removal and normal process loss. This range is more consistent with the stated incoming moisture than an 800-ton finished-product claim.

After allowing roughly 50–70 tons of pellets for the biomass-fired dryer, saleable production is typically about 540–570 T/Y. The exact figure moves with rainy-season moisture, startup loss and how much heat the furnace requires.

RICHI MACHINERY

The MZLH350 Matches the Small Annual Dry-Ton Balance

Imported equipment package (EXW Qingdao): approximately US$42,000

The customer sourced the crusher locally in Kenya for about US$1,500, while the pellet mill, drying system, screen, bagging components and dust-control equipment came with the main package. This split keeps common serviceable items local without compromising the process-critical equipment.

RICHI MACHINERY

The Warehouse Works Only With Fast Material Turnover

The project reuses an existing 1,200 m² steel-frame warehouse. About 700 m² is assigned to production and 300 m² to combined raw-material and finished-product storage, leaving the remaining area for office, waste handling and circulation. Because wet sawdust is bulky, the storage plan depends on frequent collections rather than several months of inventory.

The 6 m eave height is workable for a compact line. The dryer and its hot-gas equipment are kept away from finished-product storage, while the dust collector sits outside the main production space. Raw sawdust piles are limited in size and checked for heating, especially when high-moisture material has been stored for several days.

RICHI MACHINERY

Seven Steps Protect a Small Line From Wet-Feedstock Instability

The Kenya wood pellet plant is short enough for a small team to operate, but every stage has a clear role because the feedstock starts far outside the normal pelleting moisture range.

Step 1 – Raw material receiving
Wet sawdust is unloaded into the storage zone and tested for moisture and contamination. The plant keeps only a short production buffer so the material is not left in a deep, compacted pile for long periods. Loader access and pile inspection are treated as part of fire and housekeeping control.

Step 2 – Crushing and screening
The local crusher handles occasional lumps and compacted pieces rather than regrinding every fine particle. A vibrating screen removes oversize wood and foreign material before the dryer. Suitable fines move forward without unnecessary extra size reduction.

Step 3 – Drying
The biomass-fired dryer reduces wet feedstock toward about 10–12% moisture. Furnace load is adjusted from measured inlet moisture instead of one fixed temperature. The dryer is sized for the small MZLH350 line, so a very wet rainy-season load may require lower feed rate rather than forcing wet material through at the nominal pellet-mill capacity.

The dryer is one of the most important investments in this 300–500 KG/H wood pellet plant in Kenya. Without it, the customer would need to buy a different, drier raw material and the project economics would become a different business model.

Step 4 – Pelleting
Dried sawdust enters one MZLH350 biomass pellet mill with a 37 kW main motor. Installed capacity is about 0.3–0.5 T/H depending on wood species, particle size and moisture. The standard industrial product uses an 8 mm die. No routine chemical binder is required when clean wood fiber and moisture are within the working window.

The binding mechanism is physical: pressure and friction heat soften the natural lignin in the wood. Operators monitor motor load and die behavior rather than trying to maximize temperature, because overdried fine sawdust can increase die friction and reduce stable throughput.

Step 5 – Cooling
At this small output, pellets are held on an extended transfer and cooling section before bagging. Product is not sealed while hot. Packing starts only after temperature has fallen close enough to ambient to avoid condensation inside storage bags.

Step 6 – Bagging
The packing station handles mainly 25 kg woven bags, with bulk or larger-bag supply possible for industrial users when the order justifies it. Finished bags are kept away from the wet-feedstock side of the warehouse.

Step 7 – Dust collection
The cyclone and baghouse capture dust from screening, local size reduction and pelleting. Recoverable clean fines are returned in controlled quantities. Dust is not treated as a second finished-product stream, so it is not double-counted in the annual output balance.

RICHI MACHINERY

Operating Data Matter More Than a Projected Profit Table

For this wood pellet manufacturing plant, the useful operating figures are moisture, dry-ton yield, electricity demand, labor and furnace-fuel use. Selling price and net profit depend on customer contracts and energy-market conditions, so they are not presented as guaranteed project results.

Annual production is tracked as a material balance rather than as projected revenue:

This output range is consistent with the wet-feedstock dry-matter balance and the MZLH350 installed capacity. It replaces unsupported profit projections with figures a buyer can actually use for dryer sizing, raw-material contracting and production planning.

RICHI MACHINERY

Startup Problems Were Mostly Moisture-Control Problems

Commissioning attention was concentrated on dryer stability, pellet-mill feeding and finished-pellet length. These are typical control points when a small line works with very wet sawdust.

Dryer control:
High hot-air temperature can scorch fine sawdust and create a fire risk. The furnace-air controller and dryer-temperature feedback were therefore treated as standard operating controls, with the operator reducing feed rate when inlet moisture rose sharply.

Temperature control is tied to outlet moisture rather than a fixed high set point. The objective is to reach the pellet-mill moisture window without overheating the fiber or sending smoldering material downstream.

Die loading:
Very dry, fine sawdust can increase die friction and make feeding unstable. The solution is controlled moisture conditioning and steady feeder rate, not simply adding water by guesswork.

A moisture meter is used before pelleting so any correction is small and repeatable. This protects die life and reduces the risk of alternating brittle and soft pellets.

Pellet length:
Knife position and sharpness directly affect the 8 mm product appearance and bagging behavior. The cutting system is checked during routine maintenance instead of waiting for large length variation to reach customers.

The knife on the wood granulator machine is kept close enough to the die face to hold finished length around the selected 20–30 mm range without creating excessive broken fines.

RICHI MACHINERY

Kenya Gives the Project a Residue Supply Base Not a Guaranteed Pellet Market

Kenya has an established mechanical wood-processing sector, which makes sawmill residues a realistic feedstock for small wood pellet plants. The stronger commercial question is demand: pellets still compete with charcoal, firewood, LPG, electricity and other biomass fuels, so a new producer should secure compatible heat users before expanding capacity.

• Sawmills and furniture workshops can provide clean sawdust and shavings when supplier quality is controlled
• Wet storage is common enough that moisture control can determine whether a low-cost residue is actually usable
• Industrial and institutional heat users are more suitable early targets than assuming immediate mass household adoption

The Kenya wood pellet market should therefore be treated as developing rather than automatic. The plant’s small scale is an advantage at this stage because the customer can build repeat sales without carrying the feedstock and working-capital requirements of a multi-ton-per-hour factory.

Practical buyer groups for the project include:

• Poultry farms using compatible biomass heaters or brooders
• Small factories using solid biomass for process heat
• Schools and institutional kitchens with approved pellet-compatible stoves
• Local distributors serving commercial or household users that already own suitable appliances

Future expansion should only follow confirmed feedstock and sales growth. A second wood pellet press would also require a larger dryer, more cooling capacity, electrical headroom and additional covered storage; adding the press alone would not double the plant’s real output.

RICHI MACHINERY

RICHI Scope Centered on Drying and Operator Control

For this 300–500 KG/H mini wood pellet factory in Kenya, the supply scope focused on the steps a first-time producer needed to control wet sawdust safely and consistently.

• Process design – Dryer sizing, wet-feedstock receiving, bypass logic for suitable fines and dust-control routing.
• Equipment package – MZLH350 pellet mill, screen, drying system, packing components and dust collection.
• Installation supervision – Site guidance for dryer/furnace separation, machine alignment, ducting and electrical interfaces.
• Operator training – Moisture measurement, furnace control, die inspection, safe startup and shutdown.
• Spare parts kit – Pellet-mill die and roller wear parts, screen parts, bearings, belts and filter bags.

A handheld moisture meter and dryer-temperature controller were also included in the operating package because the line cannot be managed reliably from visual inspection of wet sawdust alone.

RICHI MACHINERY

Size a Kenya Mini Pellet Plant From Dry Tons Not Wet Tons

If a 300–500 KG/H wood pellet plant in Kenya is being considered, the first calculation should convert wet residue into dry matter. The installed pellet-mill capacity only becomes meaningful after the water that must be evaporated is separated from the wood fiber that can become product.

• Measure moisture before buying the dryer. A 35% load and a 45% load require very different evaporation duty even when both trucks weigh the same.
• Count dryer fuel as internal consumption. Pellets burned for process heat must be deducted from saleable output instead of being counted twice.
• Build demand at the same scale as the line. One or two repeat industrial or farm users can be more valuable than an unsupported assumption of broad retail demand.
• Keep critical wear parts on site. A spare die, roller parts, bearings and filter bags protect a small plant from long import-related downtime.

The project is suitable when the customer has cheap wet sawdust, covered space, disciplined moisture control and enough local heat demand to absorb roughly 540–570 T/Y of saleable pellets. Without those conditions, a dry-sawdust line or a different capacity may be more economical.

For a similar biomass pellet project, send the annual wet feedstock tonnage, moisture range, species mix, working hours and building dimensions. Those inputs allow drying, MZLH pellet capacity, fuel consumption and storage to be sized from the actual dry-ton balance.