How to significantly reduce electricity bills at sawmills?

The sawmill industry is an electricity-intensive business, where the drying of sawn timber accounts for the greatest need for electricity. The price of electricity is also today more than 2-5 times higher than three years ago, which puts pressure on the sawmill companies financially. At the same time, the quality requirements for delivered timber are increasing with the CLT trend, increased use of beech, oak, and other hard woods. The effects of increased inflation and other events in the world also increase the pressure on sawmills' competitiveness. The solution is switching to a dynamic drying process and thus 25-60% less electricity costs, 2-10% reduced heating, 5-20% shorter drying time and, not least, significantly higher quality. If you convert the effects into money, it can mean €200,000 per year, as in this typical example for three 230 m3 drying kilns.

“Due to rising electricity prices, we have decided to invest in a more environmentally friendly control of our drying process for solid oak. With the patented dynamic drying process from Alent Dynamic, we have reduced electricity consumption on average by 50-55%. At the same time, we now have a faster drying process, which in turn increases production capacity. With all these advantages, we can count on a quick return on investment” says Waldemar Kleniewski, Owner of KLENIEWSKI TARTAK, Poland.

The approach of the patented dynamic drying process is to add heat and running fans in intervals, which saves a lot of electricity. The drying cycles of the drying kilns can also be synchronized with each other to avoid electricity consumption peaks, which lowers the electricity cost even further.

According to many observers, the electricity price will continue to be at a high level in the coming years. It is the price of electricity that is the decisive factor that makes more and more sawmills switch to dynamic drying process right now. Already after a few months with the new drying process, they notice a significantly better quality of the dried wood. Fewer cracks, less deformation and discoloration further increase their competitiveness.

“After the implementation of the dynamic drying process from Alent Dynamic in 5 drying kilns at one of our sawmills, we could immediately see the promised benefits. End cracks are no longer a problem for us and twists and discoloration have also improved significantly. We notice considerable electricity savings and are happy about a more environmentally friendly drying process. The transition was very simple and quick in all chambers” says Ueli Lädrach, head of operations and production at OLWO AG, Worb, Schweiz.

OLWO has currently introduced a dynamic drying process at two more sawmills.

“Changing the wood drying process is usually very simple. We have implemented our patented dynamic process for more than 40 different drying kiln models from 15 different brands, from new to as old as 40 years. Today, there are also four drying kiln manufacturers that supply new kilns with our patented dynamic drying process. The experience of introducing new drying processes in many drying chambers over several decades has given us valuable knowledge about automatic dynamic drying process against customer demands. Our analysis service for investigating the effects of changing to a dynamic drying process for a certain sawmill, with its conditions and end customer requirements, might be that specific sawmill's best investment right now” says Peder Björkman, CEO at Alent Dynamic.


For more information, please contact

Peder Björkman, CEO Alent Dynamic
peder.bjorkman@alentdynamic.se
+46 70 544 1248

Can you prove sustainability in your business?

Social responsibility is today very much in focus. With every right, we all need to contribute to a more sustainable world.

We are all familiar with the Agenda 2030. Time flies and it’s only 8 years to go. We talk a lot about it, but how much do we act on it?

By using Alent Dynamic® control system you have made a big step to meet some of the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGS) and Agenda 2030.

Using Alent Dynamic® control system will give you the possibility to see how much Electrical Energy (kWh) you save per batch.

As a result of decrease in electricity used, you are also able to get a calculation on the saving done in CO2-emissions.

Contact us and see what we can do for you.

Dynamic drying process from Alent Dynamic used for Oak drying

“Due to increasing prices for electrical energy, we have decided to invest in a more environmental friendly control for our drying process of solid oak. With the patented Alent Dynamic method of “interval drying” we have reduced the electrical consumption in average by 50-55%. At the same time, we have now a faster drying process, which in turns, increases production capacity. With all these benefits we can count on a return-on-investment in the short term.”
— Mr. Waldemar Kleniewski, owner KLENIEWSKI TARTAK, Poland

Technology leap in wood drying has saved hundreds of millions of kWh

More than 10 years have passed since Alent Dynamic introduced the Alent pump as a technological leap in wood drying. The new drying method has now saved over 400 million kilowatt hours of electricity at the sawmills and it will increase at a faster pace as Alent gets more and more new customers and existing customers buy more systems. Alent had a sales record during the first half of 2021 and now pump drying has increased sharply also for hardwood (Oak, beech, etc.).