UK-based wood pellet company Midland Bio Energy invests £20,000 in new handling, screening equipment that will boost wood pellet quality, efficiency of their operating systems

Allison Oesterle

NUNEATON, Warwickshire, England , May 30, 2014 (press release) – Warwickshire wood pellet firm, Midland Bio Energy Limited has invested in new equipment to improve product quality and operating systems. The new machinery will make loading delivery vehicles faster and further improve pellet quality.

Midland Bio Energy was formed in 2007 by Andy Brindley who is now Managing Director.

Andy founded the Midlands based wood pellets company after becoming aware of the growing interest in alternative energy sources.

“Back in 2007 energy companies first began to increase their prices and that is when I began looking at other ways of producing heat and light. I particularly liked the look of Biomass fuels and spent many months studying the pros and cons,” explained Andrew.

“At the time the UK government were offering attractive financial incentives to businesses (and house holders) that started to use renewable energy. These incentives meant that growth in this sector was considerable and made the idea of starting a wood pellets business even more exciting,” he added.

Andy’s original intention was to both manufacture and supply Biomass wood pellets which could be used for heating or pellet bedding for horses.

After extensive research in to the manufacturing process Andrew decided to focus on the retail side of the business as competing with larger more established manufacturers wasn't financially viable (due to cost and space).

Mr. Brindley’s company is based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire and supplies many local businesses.

One of Midland’s specialities is delivering wood pellets in bulk which are loaded directly in to the customer’s fuel store.

Smaller orders are sold in bags and are available to buy over the phone, at the depot or from the website http://www.woodpelletsforfuel.co.uk.

Midland has invested £20,000 in the new machinery which was installed and commissioned on the 22nd of May.

“The installation of our new pellet screening and handling equipment now means that our loading and loading system will be greatly improved. We now have a new telescopic elevator which will enable us to fill our yard up more effectively and efficiently making use of all the available space from the floor to the roof,” explained Andy.

He added “A better estimate of the full capacity of the yard can be made, and we could in theory store up to 1,000 tonnes of wood pellets. The surplus space will be used for yet more handling equipment and allow us to stock more related products.”

“The new screen will mean that we will be loading our bulk vehicles straight from the screen which will clean the pellets, extracting any fines before loading. This will improve the quality of the pellets being delivered through our bulk pneumatic delivery system,” said Mr. Brindley.

“Our new premises are certainly taking shape and improvements are being made all the time. Although we are only just coming out of the extremely busy heating season, I am expecting a very busy summer preparing and getting things ready for next season,” Andy added.

The screening equipment comprises of a five tonne hopper feeding a belt and bucket five metre elevator which in turn feeds the rotary screen.

The equipment chosen was refurbished and installed by Kidderminster based Biomass specialist engineers, Millson Engineering and will enable to handle up to 40 tonnes per hour.

“We are also planning on improving our bagging system with a new bagging line which should improve speed and handling of our bagging process,” said Andrew.

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