Dust Control Systems has commissioned a new dust extraction plant as part of a woodwaste-to-energy system for Scottish timber kit house manufacturer GM Timber Systems Ltd. The installation is at the company's new workshops near Banchory in Royal Deeside - one of the most beautiful locations in Scotland.

GM Timber Systems design and construct timber kit houses, and other buildings, for customers throughout Scotland and have been particularly successful in winning contracts to supply house kits to the Western Isles and Orkney. GM Timber Systems was established seven years ago as an off-shoot of Gordon Mitchell Contractors, which has operated as a general building contracting company for 18 years and is owned and managed by Gordon Mitchell. From modest beginnings, in converted farm buildings, Mr Mitchell has overseen genuine growth. Today, the combined workforce of both operations numbers more than 60 and the company has recently moved into a new purpose-built facility situated on the banks of the River Dee, Scotland's most famous salmon river.

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"We had outgrown our existing workshop and the new facility gives us the opportunity to accommodate further growth," said Gordon Mitchell.

"We have invested in a full range of modern woodworking machinery, equipping us to both increase output and manufacture to extremely high standards of quality. It was also important that we had a healthy and comfortable environment for our workers. To this end, we decided that we would invest in a complete recycling system comprising a modern dust extraction system, a wood chipper and a woodwaste burning boiler that would heat the factory."

Melvyn Bathgate of DCS said: "At the site, the access and possible location for an externally located recycling system was extremely restricted. We worked in close co-operation with the companies who installed the heating system, and supplied the chipper, to provide a layout that would fit into a very limited space between the back of the building and a steep banking."

DCS installed a four-section modular chain filter that incorporates a drag-chain conveyor which transfers woodwaste to a rotary valve. The woodwaste is then discharged onto a closed 'flight and chain' elevating conveyor, which transfers the material into the burner storage silo.

"An air volume of 38,400m3/hr is required to extract from a total of 29 machines with two high-performance moulders and a CNC router generating the majority of the waste. Three low-noise fansets have been installed with ductwork runs in galvanised clip-together ducting designed to provide the correct extraction and waste conveying velocities.

Mr Mitchell adds: "Everyone has felt the benefit of the heating system through the coldest months of the year and the complete system is operating extremely efficiently. Whilst we have funded the whole expansion programme, we were able to take advantage of an interest free loan from the Carbon Trust against the cost of the heating system."