UNTHA eyes wood recycling applications

A new electric-drive shredder designed and engineered by Austria-based UNTHA is capable of increasing the capacity, profitability and safety levels of the wood recycling and biomass markets, according to the company.

The UNTHA XR shredder, available in both stationary and mobile platforms, “can now be configured to suit numerous biomass and wood recycling specifications,” the company says in a news release.

The XR is “purposefully designed to achieve high throughputs, low operating costs, energy efficiency, low noise, foreign object protection and ease of maintenance in an array of alternative fuel production environments [and] delivers a number of additional benefits of particular value when shredding waste wood and green waste/root stock,” says UNTHA.

The slow-speed, high-torque drive means the XR can consistently process up to 40 metric tons of wood per hour, “with utmost consideration for safety,” says the company. “Dust levels are significantly minimized and the potential for a spark is also reduced, which drastically lessens the risk of fire when compared to competitor machines. For added protection, UV, infrared and spark detectors can be installed alongside extinguishing nozzles,” adds the firm.

UNTHA’s product manager Christoph Lahnsteiner says, “We put all new shredders through their paces in our own testing center in Salzburg, Austria. But trials with real customers allow us to make ongoing refinements that ensure the technology really performs in the environments they’re designed for.”

Adds Lahnsteiner, “We’ve configured a screen setup specifically to meet the ISO 17225 P63 wood chip fuel specification, for example, which, during trials, achieved impressive throughputs of 30-to-35 metric tons per hour without compromising the safety, homogenous product quality and energy efficiency benefits we set out to deliver. And, it’s important to add that we did all of this in a single pass, even when shredding bulky products such as boards.”

Regarding the two platforms, Lahnsteiner says, “Because this shredder was designed to be flexible, it’s important that we offer clients the option to move the kit around their production facility, should they need to. It can also process other material streams such as C&I (commercial and industrial) waste, bulky waste or production materials, which maximizes the return for operators who may not always have enough wood to shred.”

Lahnsteiner also touts the energy efficiency of the XR, saying, “This emission-free technology also consumes drastically less power than diesel-electric or diesel-hydraulic equivalents which saves on energy costs and is kinder to the environment too.”