Wood Handling

For all pulp production processes wood handling is largely the same. The wood arrives at the mill either in the form of roundwood or, in the form of chips, if it comes from a sawmill. Roundwood must be debarked in large, slightly sloping and rotating drums called barking drums. The drums can be 4-6 metres and up to 60 metres in length. When the logs are rubbed against one another and against the walls of the barking drum the bark is separated from the logs and is then used as fuel in the steam boilers at the mill. In a chipper the debarked wood is made into chips. It is extremely important in the production process that the chips are of uniform size. For this reason the chips are screened and any pieces that are too large big are chipped and returned to the process upstream of the screen. The chips stored in piles and are fed through a system of screws and conveyors to the digester house.