With typically tight margins, wood pellet producers are in constant pursuit of means to maximize efficiency, minimize costs and maximize profits. Increasingly, that’s coming in the form of automation. &nbsp;For Big Tech, the automation race is largely focused on artificial intelligence (AI). AI is currently sticking its metaphorical hand into a vast array of cookie jars, and while promising outcomes are on the horizon, some level of fear when it comes to replacing jobs isn’t unwarranted.What AI can’t replicate, however, is the indomitable human spirit, complete with the determination to make the world a better, safer place. In this industry, that starts with putting people first through equipment efficiency and safety at the lowest possible cost, without cutting any corners. In an age where AI automation raises concerns about the impact on the planet and the seemingly unyielding rise in energy costs, CPM Holdings Inc. and Biomass Engineering and Equipment are doing their part to automate on their terms.Making More with Less&nbsp; For CPM, the No. 1 priority has always been to move toward a sustainable future while ensuring utmost productivity. Founded in 1883 and later credited with introducing the first commercially successful pellet mill in 1931, CPM is a vendor veteran to the pellet industry. Since its inception, CPM has acquired several automation, engineering and technology companies, including that of CPM’s Direct Drive Pellet Mills in its larger acquisition of German company Innovative Pelleting Solutions GmbH in June 2024.Direct Drive technology, developed by Graf Equipment GmbH in 2017, is exclusive to CPM. “It’s a biomass-driven technology,” says CPM President of Industrial Solutions, Alvaro Timotheo. “It’s a technology where the motor is directly coupled to the die itself, thus eliminating the need for a gearbox or any other moving parts in a conventional pellet mill.”&nbsp;While the technology itself was made with the intent of use for pellet mills exclusively, Timotheo explains that Direct Drive boasts the ability to process several alternative fuel feedstocks, including agricultural residues and woody biomass. “We are working into making sure we can adapt this technology to other fields,” he mentions.At first glance, the removal of crucial parts from a pellet mill may seem less efficient, but the opposite is true for both cost and product. Direct Drive mills offer a smaller operational footprint; without a gearbox, they also require no oil and a smaller cement base. &nbsp;“It’s a simple machine,” says Timotheo. “It’s a simple design. Because you have no belts [and] no gearbox, you have less maintenance and less downtime.”Without a gearbox or V-belt, the Direct Drive mills utilize a torque motor with high availability, requiring 20% less energy and producing more efficient pellets. “With the CPM Direct Drive Pellet Mill, the pellets are much higher quality, require considerably less energy use and offer simple operation. The pellet mill can run stepless die speeds up to 6.5 meters per second (m/s). Since the machine generates full torque at very low speeds, it is possible to fine-tune the process, thus pushing the material through the die effortlessly. This results in a high pellet durability index while requiring the lowest energy consumption,” Timotheo explains.“Because you have high torque availability, you certainly are able to process all sorts of materials—difficult materials, easy materials, uneven-size distribution materials. It’s really a more forgiving machine because of the high torque,” he continues. “It’s a machine that was designed for alternative fuels because of the power that it has and the throughput that it can give the customers in a more consistent manner ... This machine’s going to be [on a] pretty even keel.”Modular die sizes and torque capacity similarly lend themselves to the Direct Drive’s success. “It’s important for customers to understand that it’s not one-size-fits-all,” Timotheo says. CPM’s Direct Drive Pellet Mills come in three models: PM660-108DD, or Direct Drive 660; PM900-138DD, or Direct Drive 900; and PM1200-200DD, or Direct Drive 1200. Direct Drive 660’s name comes from its die internal diameter of 660 millimeters (mm) and die width of 108 mm. Similarly, Direct Drives 900 and 1200 have die internal diameters of 900 and 1,200 mm and die widths of 138 and 200 mm, respectively. The torque increases with model size, with Direct Drives 600, 900 and 1200 having a torque of 18, 29 and 60 Newton meters, or approximately 0.738 pounds per foot, respectively.“The feeder, conditioner, nothing changes there. It’s just like every pellet mill today,” Timotheo says. “It’s got a hoisting mechanism that all machines have, and any peripherals to the machine, like the motor; we’ve got a chiller, there’s a VFD. All that stuff that most plants already have and know how to maintain.”&nbsp;While the Direct Drive’s prolonged lifespan stems from the quality of materials used—there are currently six Direct Drives in operation and another 10 on the way—Timotheo explains that, for CPM, it means much more. “We’re there for the entire relationship until the machine dies 60 years from now. Taking care of the customer’s needs is just as important. We go in there and say, ‘Look, we can replace all five of these [pellet mills] with just two new ones. And this is where it needs to go, this is what you need to buy ahead of time, this is what you need to modify here,’” Timotheo states.&nbsp;“We are the full solution provider. As a group and as a company, we’re not selling a boat or a machine. We’re selling a solution.”BE&amp;E: A SMART Solution&nbsp; President and CEO Dane Floyd developed Biomass Engineering and Equipment in 2011 as a branch of his larger holding group, Floyd Holdings, with the intent to diversify the company’s reach. But for Floyd, the dedication to quality products goes back to his early work. “My background is forest products and, from logging to engineering, I’ve always been around wood. I never leave it. It’s what I love.”&nbsp;It was this love that brought him to the realization that he had found his calling. “I was involved in building ... and reworking facilities around the world, and I always struggled in that process to find efficient, reliable and durable material handling,” he explains. “The single biggest cause of unscheduled downtime in most mills is conveyor problems—material transfer and handling problems.” &nbsp;To Floyd, investing in quality conveyor systems just makes sense. “You can have the best core technology [and] machines in the world, but if you can’t feed the material or get the material from them, they’re not going to pay for themselves,” he says. And in 2014, BE&amp;E’s SMART Conveyors entered the market.&nbsp;What truly sets SMART Conveyors apart from traditional conveyors is their completely enclosed, dust-tight design, according to Floyd, but they’re far from the only beneficial qualities. “We even drive the conveyor with shaft-mounted direct drives so that there’s no chains, pulleys or sprockets exposed. There’re no guards that can be left off,” Floyd explains. “The next thing we did was we made sure that the chain inside the conveyor is not exposed to the material, or is limited in exposure.“Many of the materials we deal with are highly corrosive or abrasive,” he continues. “Our chains are outside the conveyor path in a track, and that track is linked with UHMW plastic, which is very low friction.” This low friction contributes to the SMART Conveyors’ low energy requirement of as little as half of the horsepower of other mechanical drag systems.&nbsp;The SMART Conveyor is built to be completely modular via its five-foot sections. “The modular approach allows incredible flexibility in the field when either building a new plant or reconfiguring ... or reworking an older plant,” Floyd says. “We’ve had a customer completely pick up a facility, move it 20 miles down the road, [and] was able to reuse all of our conveyors. Of course, after running it for some years, he clearly figured out some things he wanted to do differently the second time. So, he drew it out and decided what additional pieces he needed from us. He ordered them, bolted them together ... I think that just gave him a lot of freedom of thought.“What we truly find is if people are just moderately proactive with preventative maintenance with our systems, they’re just incredibly reliable,” Floyd says. And, to him, this leads to BE&amp;E’s greatest form of quality assurance. “The best case study I can tell you ... is the incredible number of repeat orders we get ... it’s incredible and it’s humbling.”Floyd says the focus for BE&amp;E is on lowering long-term spending. Offering services like 3D Lidar scanning, in which a full 3D scan of the area for the proposed facility is completed, the customer’s plans are inserted, and the requested BE&amp;E machinery is layered digitally to ensure accuracy within a quarter of an inch, ensures lowest-possible costs.“We used to go out with a tape measure and take a lot of photos and documents and do a lot of sketches … 10 pages of them, and then try to come back to the computer and document it all in 3D. &nbsp;Yeah, it worked, but it was a lot of work,” Floyd recalls. “The payback [with 3D Lidar scanning] and reduced engineering hours and increased accuracy is phenomenal. I wouldn’t do it any other way today.”Alongside its 3D scanning, BE&amp;E offers complete material handling services, including turn-key engineering, plant modeling, reclamation and storage. This broad array of services extends to BE&amp;E’s expertise with a variety of woody biomass. Built to last long-term, the technology is not only forgiving but durable.Should plant owners consider BE&amp;E’s conveyors, Floyd calls on the greats for advice. “If I might borrow from ancient history and the medical field, I would quote the Hippocratic Oath: please, do no harm,” he says, pointing to decision-making based on up-front CapEx rather than long-term OpEx. “The whole thing at some point must be looked at as a system ... let people like us look at your layouts and ask hard questions...[and] see the same vision we have.”To Floyd, however messy, the future holds immense promise. “I hear the naysaying about, ‘well, the domestic pellet market isn’t growing and the international market is so up and down and disruptive...’ This is short-term noise,” Floyd states. “The future is bright because there are so many possible streams ... It’s the chicken and the egg. We had to develop the core of production of pellets before all of these other industries could look at it and say ‘hey, there’s a steady supply now.’&nbsp;“Now they’re doing that, and it’s only a matter of time. I only wish I had another 100 years to watch where it goes.” Author: Caitlin Scheresky&nbsp; caitlin.scheresky@bbiinternational.com

2025-08-13 - Optimizing Automation (Biomass Magazine)

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In an increasingly automated age, even companies in the bioenergy space are evolving their machines and technologies.

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