Multi-fuel biomass burners — pellets, briquettes and crop residue
Sustainable heat generation for industrial processing.
A multi-fuel biomass burner produces process heat from solid biomass without being tied to a single fuel. SahelDry burners are rated 200,000 to 900,000 kcal/h, run under PLC-controlled staged combustion, and accept wood pellets, commercial biomass pellets, 90 × 90 mm agricultural briquettes and loose cashew shell without mechanical change.
Where conventional industrial burners tie you to diesel, LPG or grid electricity, ours run on material your operation already generates — and currently pays to dispose of.
Indicative price, Ex-Works (EXW): USD 1,050–12,750
Shipping, customs clearance and local duties are extra. The final price depends on the configuration and is fixed in the written quotation.
Capacity range
Burners are supplied across a continuous range from 200,000 to 900,000 kcal/h. The figures below are indicative reference points, not a fixed catalogue — final capacity is specified against your thermal load, batch size and cycle time.
| Capacity | Typical application |
|---|---|
| 200,000 kcal/h | Small-scale & cooperative processing; typically one to two tunnel chambers or a batch unit. |
| 400,000 kcal/h | Mid-sized commercial operations; typically three to four chambers. |
| 600,000 kcal/h | Large-scale facilities; the configuration specified for the six-chamber Banfora scenario at 4,968 kg fresh per batch. |
| 900,000 kcal/h | High-intensity industrial operations and multi-line plants. |
Combustion control
The burner operates on a pyrolysis principle. Biomass is fed into an oxygen-limited chamber where thermal decomposition converts the solid fuel into combustible gas. That gas is then ignited, producing a robust, sustained flame rather than the uneven, smoky burn characteristic of direct solid-fuel combustion.
Staged pyrolysis in a refractory-lined chamber, in four overlapping zones:
- 55–200 °C — free moisture driven off.
- 200–270 °C — CNSL and volatile release.
- 270–450 °C — devolatilisation.
- 450–900 °C — char burnout.
A variable-speed metering screw with hardfaced flights sets the fuel rate; the PLC trims screw speed and air dampers together to hold air-to-fuel ratio as load swings. A choked surge hopper acts as a gas seal, so the chamber cannot breathe backwards up the feed line.
- Complete combustion — combustion efficiency above 85%, extracting maximum energy from each kilogram of fuel.
- Reduced emissions — controlled two-stage burning produces substantially less particulate and smoke than open or direct-fired methods.
- Consistent heat output — steady flame temperature, which is what makes tight downstream temperature control possible.
- Multi-fuel capability — the same chamber accommodates several biomass types with feed-rate adjustment.
- Manageable ash — a dedicated collection chamber with straightforward removal access.
Intelligent control systems
Every burner is supplied with a PLC common panel that monitors and adjusts operating parameters in real time.
- Delta DVP-14SS2 PLC — programmable logic control of the full firing sequence.
- Delta DOP-103BQ HMI — operator interface for parameter setting and status monitoring.
- Delta MS300 VFD — variable-frequency drive control of the main blower, matching air supply to fuel feed.
- Delta DTB9696 temperature controller — closed-loop temperature regulation.
- Selec RPS60-24-CE SMPS & XT246 timer — control power supply and sequence timing.
- Siemens 3TF contactors & 5SL MCBs — motor switching and circuit protection at 415 V.
- Safety interlocks — over-temperature protection, airflow monitoring, and emergency shutdown.
Fuel compatibility
Primary fuel: cashew shells. Validated alternatives are briquetted at 90 × 90 mm:
| Fuel | Calorific value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cashew shell | Primary | High CV, abundant across the cashew belt |
| Groundnut shell | 4,500 kcal/kg | < 8% moisture · < 4% ash — strongest alternative |
| Dried mango peel | 4,200 kcal/kg | < 10% moisture · < 4% ash — closes your own loop |
| Corn cob | 4,100 kcal/kg | < 10% moisture · < 3% ash — lowest ash |
| Cotton stalk | 3,900 kcal/kg | < 12% moisture · < 5% ash |
| Rice stalk | 3,800 kcal/kg | < 12% moisture · < 6% ash — most ash management |
A practical note on fuel switching: calorific values differ by up to 18% across this range, so feed rate must be adjusted when changing fuel to hold the same thermal output. The control system accommodates this, but operators need to know it.
Why cashew shell is the hard case
Cashew shell carries 15–25 % CNSL — cashew nut shell liquid — an acidic, phenolic, highly energetic fraction with a pH of 4.5–5.2. Burned carelessly it corrodes refractory, fouls tubes and smokes.
Our combustion design is built around this fact: staged pyrolysis decomposes the corrosive fraction, the clean pyrolysis gas is burned for heat, and the carbon-rich char is recovered. A burner engineered for cashew shell handles cleaner fuels comfortably.
See the cashew shell burner for the specialised variant.
Key components
- Vibro feeder with hopper — consistent, metered fuel delivery from bulk storage.
- Wide screw feed — transports fuel from hopper to burning chamber at a controlled rate.
- Air-cooled combustion chamber — jacket cooling extends refractory and shell life.
- Special steel furnace grill — sized for shell and briquette fuel.
- Fire-cement furnace lining — rated to 2000 °C.
- Air heat exchanger — indirect transfer, keeping combustion products entirely separate from product-contact air.
- Drive package — 3 HP main motor, 0.5 HP blower, sub-blower, throw fan and screw, scaled to capacity.
Explore the burner range
Specification
These are the platform figures every configuration on this page is built from. The values specific to your product and volume are fixed at the sizing stage.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Biomass burner | 200,000–900,000 kcal/h, PLC-controlled staged combustion |
| Accepted fuels | Pellets, 90 × 90 mm briquettes, cashew shell, crop residue |
| Hot air generator | Double chamber, three-pass, 2,500–3,000 m³/h |
| Delivered air temperature | 50–150 °C, controlled |
| Heat transfer | Indirect — combustion gases never touch the product |
| Drying chamber | 40–100 °C, 2.0–3.0 m/s, 1,500 kg per batch |
| Construction | 100 mm rockwool-core sandwich panel, 120-minute fire rating |
| Trays and wagons | SS304 stainless steel |
| Control | Delta PLC with recipe management, HMI, VFDs |
| Warranty | 12 months from date of shipment |
| Manufacturing lead time | 10–18 weeks from confirmed order and receipt of advance payment |
In prose: the burner runs from 200,000 to 900,000 kcal/h under PLC-controlled staged combustion, firing pellets, 90 × 90 mm briquettes, cashew shell or crop residue. The three-pass double-chamber generator moves 2,500 to 3,000 m³/h and delivers air between 50 and 150 °C, transferred indirectly so combustion gases never touch the product. Drying chambers hold 40 to 100 °C at 2.0 to 3.0 m/s with 1,500 kg per batch, built from 100 mm rockwool-core sandwich panel to a 120-minute fire rating, with SS304 trays and wagons. Manufacturing takes 10 to 18 weeks from confirmed order and receipt of advance payment, and the warranty runs 12 months from date of shipment.
Where this equipment is used
The same equipment is specified across several product classes. These are the ones it is configured for most often:
industrial mango drying system, fruit and vegetable drying and tea, coffee and cocoa drying.
Each of those pages carries the drying parameters, cycle times and quality targets for that product class.
One system has been commissioned so far: a 900,000 kcal/h cashew shell burner firing a steam boiler at Premium Cashew Commodities Limited in The Gambia, on the factory’s own empty shell. It is a boiler application — no drying line has been built anywhere yet, so every drying figure on this site remains an engineered design target. The configuration is published in full, and the measured performance deliberately is not, on the page for the PCCL installation in The Gambia.
Frequently asked questions
Can one burner run on more than one fuel?
Yes — that is the point of the design. It will fire pellets, briquettes and loose shell without mechanical change. What does change between fuels is feed rate, ash volume and cleaning frequency, so the burner is sized against the fuel you will actually run most of the time, anywhere across the 200,000 to 900,000 kcal/h range.
What size burner do I need?
It follows from heat demand, which follows from your product, throughput and target moisture. As indicative orientation only, a six-chamber container line at 828 kg per chamber — 4,968 kg fresh per batch — sits around 600,000 kcal/h. Six 1,500 kg tunnel chambers need substantially more. Proper sizing needs your fresh input in kg/day, starting and target moisture, and site ambient conditions.
How much ash does it produce, and who removes it?
Ash volume depends on fuel — rice stalk produces substantially more than wood pellets. Removal is a scheduled operator task, daily on most fuels. Rice stalk at 3,800 kcal/kg produces substantially more ash than wood pellets for the same delivered heat. Disciplined ash removal and heat-exchanger cleaning are the two habits that determine whether the plant holds its rated output.
Does it need three-phase power?
Yes. Designs assume 400 V / 230 V, 3-phase, 50 Hz. Connected load is configuration dependent; as a reference point, a six-tunnel example configuration draws 75.5 HP (56.323 kW) in total. The grid is assumed to be interruptible, so size any standby generator against that figure rather than against the burner rating alone.
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Twelve-month warranty from shipment, with critical spares dispatched alongside the machines.
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