Overview


SOREA is a group of former municipal electricity utilities in the Maurienne Valley ( Alps mountains, southeastern France).

It is developing areas of the business including electricity distribution and renewable energy production.

SOREA commissioned setec  to design a wood pellet production unit.

This unit produces 10,000 tons of pellets annually. The facility includes a low-temperature belt dryer using hot water provided by a biomass condensing boiler, and an automatic bagging machine/palletizer.

Since the project involved rehabilitating an industrial plant, setec considered the constraints of the existing buildings and the required upgrades to meet needs and minimize costs.

 

Assignment


Sawdust drying, a key step in the production of wood pellets, impacts the humidity and the quality of the final pellets.

A low-temperature belt dryer addressed this issue, while enabling heat to be recovered heat from the boiler flue gas condenser.

With this design, setec  offered fuel savings of approximately 30% compared to flue gas condensation solutions.

Owner

SOREA SOCIETE DES REGIES DE L'ARC

Key figures

Period of services

January 2014 - December 2016

Key challenges

fully design the wood pellet production unit:

- Project study: design, flow chart, layout and site study.

- Assistance with building contracting.