EQUIPMENT FOCUS high COMPRESSION B Y B R I A N TAY L O R REWmag.com H ow to best prepare fuel products made from dis- carded materials can vary greatly, with two of the biggest variables being the residual material being used and the method of consumption. In almost all cases, however, pro- ducers of refuse-derived fuel (RDF), specified recovered fuel (SRF), fuel cubes and other engineered fuels made from residuals seek to create a product that is uniform and dense. The uniformity is tied into prod- uct quality issues, while the den- sity (which likewise can be a sign of quality in most fuel consumption applications) also can make a prod- uct shippable over longer distances. PINING FOR PELLETS Cube and briquette production is a common fuel preparation method in some sectors, but many other pro- cesses work best when pellet mills are the production machinery of choice. Vecoplan LLC, High Point, N.C., refers to pellet mills as “the heart of every system” in the biomass produc- tion processes it installs and notes on its website that its own pellet mills feature “belt-driven dual drives for increased performance and lower maintenance costs.” The company says it offers “com- plete pellet production systems, from processing the raw material to bag- ging the finished pellets. Equipment in a typical line includes size reduc- May/June 2013 Renewable Energy from Waste © Mikael Damkier | Dreamstime.com Density and uniformity are the qualities sought by those in the fuel pellet and briquette markets. 43