Delitimbers, HRV and ANDRITZ: Teamed-up for Portugal's renewable energy revolution

In 2020, DELITIMBERS – a start-up set to produce industrial wood pellets in Portugal – partnered with HRV. Together, HRV and ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel are leading suppliers of complete plant solutions to the booming Portuguese biofuel market, and HRV, a trusted ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel agent for over 35 years, has successfully designed and implemented many biomass solutions in the region. 

Comparing country size with output, Portugal is one of the leading providers of biomass pellets in Europe, accelerating the transition to a more sustainable energy mix. Thanks to the longstanding partnership with Pedro Verissimo‘s HRV, ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel has supplied over 50 pelleting mills and the same number of dry and wet grinders over the last 39 years. The biofuel sector in the country relies largely on raw materials such as pine and eucalyptus woods, as well as furniture and paper waste. 

From the outset, DELITIMBERS aimed to differentiate itself in the highly competitive Portuguese biomass market by investing in the very latest production equipment – flexible in terms of raw materials used, reliable and efficient. Local support was paramount for the DELITIMBERS team entering a new market without prior knowledge. Together, HRV and ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel provided the right service and expertise to ensure peace of mind and confidence in the high-quality end-product and seamless production processes. 

“There is substantial support from the Portuguese government and the EU to boost the country’s transition to renewable energy sources,” commented Francisco Silva Gomes at DELITIMBERS. “We are excited to be at the forefront of this transition and grateful for the outstanding support provided by HRV and ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel. They are true partners that we can trust to deliver the highest quality services and equipment today and in the future.”

Supported by government and EU grants towards sustainable initiatives, DELITIMBERS invested €15m in the project overall. The goal was to achieve an installed capacity of 120,000 tons per annum, and as such HRV and ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel integrated 3 x Optimill 900 wet grinders, 4 x Multimill 1000 dry grinders and 4 x PM30 pellet presses, in addition to the conditioning equipment and filter systems. Auxiliary equipment was supplied via third parties through HRV and then handled by the HRV / ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel project team in terms of integration. The plant is fully operational since 2022.

As a start-up business, the core benefit for DELITIMBERS selecting HRV and ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel was, and is, the partnerships’ ability to support the project from conception to completion and beyond. From the initial discussion phase, through to design, build, commissioning and ongoing maintenance support, every area of the project is covered by experts in-country. 

One of the key challenges came from the variety of raw materials used. While pine wood is soft, eucalyptus is hard, necessitating adjustments to the production equipment and processes for optimal uptime and high-quality wood pellets. Together, HRV and ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel designed a complete plant solution to meet DELITIMBERS’s exact requirements at the lowest possible total cost of ownership – leveraging the extensive processing expertise of both companies.

“Working with HRV and ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel has been a wonderful experience for the entire team,” adds Francisco Silva Gomes at DELITIMBERS.  “The vast knowledge provided by both teams is rooted in decades in the industry and is unmatched in our region. Despite the global pandemic and associated challenges, the support we received allowed us to launch the plant within just 18 months.” 

The partnership with DELITIMBERS certainly does not end with the purchase or installation of equipment; it extends to ongoing maintenance, service, and support provided by the HRV and ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel teams. It is this longstanding partnership between HRV and ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel that allows for unrivalled reliability, production results and happy customers such as DELITIMBERS.

For example, to ensure the lowest possible capital investment, HRV receives ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel equipment disassembled and puts it together on-site, saving on excessive shipping costs associated with heavy machinery. The in-depth technical knowledge and experience gained across nearly four decades of working with ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel make this possible.

Furthermore, HRV’s aftermarket support is second to none, and the company holds between 50-80 dies in stock, as well as rollers, critical wear parts and spare parts. HRV guarantees a 2-hour response time, and with engineers on call with access to everything they require locally, the company takes all of the pressure away from the biomass operator.

Pedro Verissimo, CEO at HRV concludes: “We are proud to have built such a trusted, longstanding relationship with ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel. The professionalism of its people, the reliability of its equipment and the commitment the company has to delivering only the highest quality results for its customers are entirely in line with our own ethos. These shared values are what make this partnership such a winning combination for our customers, and the DELITIMBERS plant solution project is a perfect real-world example of this. We look forward to continuing to deliver together for many years to come.”