Evaluation of novel drum chipper technology: pilot-scale production of short wood chips

Impregnation of wood chips with acidic pulping liquors is improved when using short chip lengths. If the average wood chip length is too short, conventional chipping technology will generate excess small material, such as pin chips and fines. The possibility of using newly developed drum chipping technology to produce shortlength wood chips was evaluated with a pilot drum chipper operating at different drum velocities and in-feed angles. With a drum velocity of 30 m/s, the average wood chip lengths and the combined fractions of pin chips and fines were 24 mm and 3.3%, 22 mm and 4.2%, and 17 mm and 8.5%. The highest fractions of total accept chips (large and small accepts), 89% to 90% without screening, were observed for drum velocities of 30–34 m/s and average wood chips lengths of 21–22 mm. The results indicate the potential of drum chipping technology for producing short wood chips with relatively high fractions of accept chips and tolerable fractions of pin chips and fines.