Subsidiaries - Amandus Kahl Group

amandus kahl
»KAHL REINVENTS THE WHEEL – THE PAN GRINDER MILL!«
our competitors say that the energy consumption of our pel-
leting presses is higher as cylindrical pan grinder rollers run
on a circular path and the resulting shearing effect makes our
machine an energy guzzler. For decades we have been proving
every day that this is not true. partly, we have eliminated this ef-
fect by using conical rollers, mainly in order to achieve a further
temperature reduction for example during hop pelleting.
meanwhile we have acted on our competitors' suggestions and
remembered what pan grinder rollers originally have been used
for: for crushing various products, mainly grain. Even when driv-
en by muscle power pan grinder rollers have been a well-proven
technology for centuries. But joking aside – also in the recent
past kahl pelleting presses have always had the edge on other
processes when it comes to pelleting fibrous products such as
straw, grass or dried beet pulp. Thanks to the much-maligned
shearing effect, the machine can process also coarse particles
without any problem. The fact that it is used for crushing waste
tyres impressively proves the efficiency of the kahl pelleting
press. nowadays, wood pelleting has gained worldwide acceptance.
Wood pellets are trading goods and in their quality as a
fuel they definitely compete with oil and gas. as the demand for
pellets increases, the demand for saw dust and wood shavings
increases as well. as an alternative, wood chips can be processed
which, however, have to be crushed in wet condition before drying.
Traditional methods such as knife ring flakers or hammer
mills can be used, yet they have several disadvantages. In fast
running mills there is a tendency to product clogging if the input
product is too wet. Wood chips may have a water content of up
to 50 % and hammer mills have to be aspirated, the exhaust air
being discharged through a filter.
Fast running mills produce sound emissions which are far beyond
the limit of 85 dba. knife ring flakers, well-proven machines
in the chipboard industry, require regular maintenance
at short intervals. The match-like structures of the product may
cause problems in conveying elements and the downstream pelleting
plant. Questions often generate ideas: What happens to
wet wood chips in a kahl pelleting press? answer: due to the
high moisture content the pellets will disintegrate. so what? If
the pellets disintegrate, this means that the particles are small
enough to have fitted through the die holes before! Intriguing,
isn't it? of course, it is not as easy as that. But this questionand-answer
game led to first trials in the pilot plant and later in
practice – successful tests which raised new questions:
• Which throughput is reached at which moisture content?
• Which influence do the input particle sizes G 30 or G 50 have?
• Which are the optimum perforations of the die?
• How can the output product be dried?
• Can we even do without wet grinding?
• What shall we call this new technology?
• How will the markets react to this new technology?
View into the pan grinder mill
This new idea aroused immense enthusiasm in our technical
and sales departments so that numerous measurements were
carried out in various fields of application and the majority of
all open questions could be answered rapidly. The markets' re-
action to this new technology has been more than positive. A
customer in Poland bought the first »pan grinder mill« before
the machine had been officially released for sale. Today, this
pan grinder mill type 37-850 processes 6 – 7 t/h of G30 wood
chips. The crushed wood chips are dried to a residual mois-
ture content of approx. 10 % in a drum drier and subsequently
they are directly pelleted. Thus, the answer to the question if
dry grinding can be dispensed with is yes. Later, this was confirmed
in our plant at HoWee at Eberswalde. Our live demonstrations
of the pan grinder mill at trade fairs in Stuttgart and
Hanover were a complete success and Kahl was awarded an
innovation prize for the pan grinder mill in Stuttgart.
Which advantages does the pan grinder mill have when used for
crushing wood chips? The following arguments are convincing:
• No aspiration is required.
• The sound emissions are below 75 dbA
• Drying of the defibered wood is more economic.
• The fibres produced by the pan grinder mill
ensure an improved pellet quality.
• Dry grinding can be dispensed with if the
die perforation is 6 mm
• High moisture contents do not cause problems but
reduce the specific energy consumption
06/07
nothing now can stop a rapid market relaunch of the pan
grinder mill. This »new« machine has been used successfully
as a pelleting press all over the world and has been optimised
throughout decades. The wide-ranging type series covers every
capacity requirement. After a demonstration at a trade fair, a
large German sawmill cancelled the hammer mill that had already
been ordered and ordered a pan grinder mill for about
20 t/h wood chips G30 instead.
We receive inquiries for the new technology from the woodprocessing
industry almost every day. new complete plants
are equipped now with Kahl technology including wet grinding
lines of wood chips, the belt drier and pelleting lines.
Amandus Kahl is the only manufacturer to cover such a wide
range of processes in a modern wood pelleting plant with their
own machines.
The capacity of the pan grinder mill is up to 40 t/h