As Japan strives to meet ambitious renewable energy goals while dealing with mounting waste and limited land resources, horizontal grinders have become essential machinery in its expanding biomass energy sector. At the centre of this shift is Vermeer, a company that has been instrumental in bringing high-performance grinders to Japan’s power plants, recycling operators, and disaster recovery zones.
With more than 30 years in the grinding business, Tadahiro Hongo, senior advisor at Vermeer Asia Pacific, has seen firsthand how grinding technology has evolved to meet Japan’s unique needs.
“We have delivered many Vermeer grinders here in Japan, since our initial units in the early 1990s,” he said. “We see the grinder biomass power plant projects as an important industry which Vermeer will support for many years to come here in Japan.”
Japan’s biomass industry has grown steadily in the past decade, with a shift from using only logs to incorporating branches, leaves, and timber waste. This shift is driven in part by necessity – there’s simply not enough prime timber to meet feedstock demand. The biomass plants, often fuelled by chipped wood waste, require consistent sized chips in high volumes to function efficiently.
A typical 5.7-megawatt biomass power plant in Japan consumes between 200 and 250 tonnes of feedstock per day, according to Hongo. That equates to about 70,000 tonnes annually. The raw material is sourced within a 100-kilometre radius and ranges from logs to construction debris. But handling such volumes requires powerful and reliable machinery.
Vermeer’s electric horizontal grinders, like the HG6000E, are particularly suited to this task.
“It is electric and is powered by two electric motors producing a combined 700 horsepower It’s very powerful,” Hongo said.
“These machines can process trunks with diameters of up to 60 centimetres and lengths of up to five metres. The chipping is very smooth and very strong. From start to finish, one run through takes about 70 seconds.”
Vermeer grinders have the option of a series 3 duplex drum or a chip drum that can be swapped out.
For the powerplants in Japan, Vermeer horizontal grinders equipped with a chipper drum are used for producing consistent chip sizes required in biomass applications with volumes exceeding what is required for powerplants. This configuration is specifically designed to balance throughput with the chip quality needed for efficient fuel handling in biomass power plants.
Compared to traditional chippers, Vermeer grinders offer superior versatility and reduced downtime. Knives used in grinders typically last less than 10 hours before needing to be either rotated to use the alternate sharp edge or re-sharpened. However, each edge can usually endure multiple sharpenings, and the total usable life of one edge – across all sharpening cycles – may reach up to 100 hours, depending on the material being processed,” according to Hongo.
Consistency is key for biomass power plants, especially when feeding fuel into boilers that convert heat to energy. Vermeer grinders ensure uniformity in chip size. Vermeer grinders with chipper drum setups can be configured to produce a range of uniform chip sizes, tailored to meet the specific requirements of different boiler systems. A consistent chip size not only improves combustion efficiency but also reduces the likelihood of boiler issues.
“If the chips are too wet, moisture content is high; they will put in some dryer, then put on the boiler,” Hongo said.
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Grinders handle a range of materials with less wear and tear, making them suitable for biomass operations that must process everything from whole logs to mixed timber waste.
Vermeer grinders with traditional mill, hammer and screen set ups also play a role in disaster response. During natural disasters like typhoons and earthquakes, which are not uncommon in Japan, enormous volumes of organic debris must be quickly cleared. After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northern Japan and crippled the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Vermeer grinders were deployed to process wood waste from more than 150,000 damaged houses.
Fueling a cleaner future
Japan aims to increase the share of electricity generated from biomass from 2.9 per cent in 2022 to 5 per cent by 2030. Government support is strong, with 103 municipalities earmarked for new biomass power plants. However, growth is constrained by labour shortages and regulatory hurdles.
“Now we have another problem – how do we get manpower?” said Hongo. “Nowadays, anywhere in the world, younger people don’t want to be involved in those forestry industries. The average age of workers in Japanese forestry and agriculture is rising, and mechanisation has become essential to fill the gap.”
This is where gear like that produced by Vermeer comes into play. Electric grinders also offer another advantage; they produce no exhaust emissions, making them easier to deploy near residential areas. Cost considerations can also play a role in biomass plant operations. Feedstock costs vary depending on the source – recycled timber is more affordable than timber from thinning operations, while construction waste is the cheapest but also the most contaminated and less desirable.
According to Hongo, for a typical biomass plant, feedstock accounts for around 64 per cent of total operating costs. Labour makes up 9-10 per cent, while maintenance and depreciation each represent about 10 per cent.
With such tight margins, efficiency and uptime are essential, and this is where Vermeer’s grinders can help.
With consistent performance, low maintenance requirements, and high output, these machines help ensure that biomass plants meet their daily input targets without unnecessary downtime or energy waste.
Looking ahead
Vermeer’s horizontal grinders have become a backbone of Japan’s growing biomass infrastructure. As Japan pushes forward to meet its renewable energy targets, technologies that enable efficient and sustainable waste processing – especially those that reduce emissions and operational overhead, will be critical.
With Vermeer grinders continuing to evolve, especially in electric models, the company is well positioned to support a country’s energy transition, one wood chip at
a time.