INDUSTRIES SERVED

TSI builds a lot of custom equipment and therefore is not limited to a few industries. For instance, some of the finishing link work we do for Oriented Strand Board (OSB) can also be applied to other wood based or composite panel production lines. And, our dryers for wood chips can also be used for agricultural residues and have applications in cellulosic biofuels.

However, most of our work is in three industries.
ORIENTED STRAND BOARD
This is a wood-based panel mainly used as a structural substrate in buildings. OSB is made from long thin strands of wood and resin pressed together to make a flat structural panel. It started life as an alternative to plywood and this is still the mainstay for OSB. There are over1,000,000 housing starts per year in the US and most of these use a lot of OSB.OSB also continues to find new applications or iterations of itself and is becoming the basis of value-added structural products and in related formats such as OSL(oriented strand lumber). There is also a growing realization about the carbon benefits of using wood-based products for construction being a direct avenue for carbon sequestration and displacing other fossil fuel reliant building products. With the advent of Mass Lumber Construction for commercial buildings and a growing acceptance overseas for use in structural applications, the market for strand based products is likely to continue to grow in the longterm. TSI Dryers are widely used throughout the OSB industry to gently dry the loose strands before they are processed into a structural product. The dryers can be paired with TSI Heat Energy systems and PollutionControl equipment. And, TSI Finishing lines take the freshly pressed panel and convert them into size, grade and package them ready for market.
PARTICLE BOARD
Another wood-based panel but with different applications. Particle board is made from small wood chips and resin pressed together to form a panel. It is the preferred substrate in many furniture applications and is often finished with veneers of decorative laminates to give it an attractive appearance. Many of todays kitchen cabinets, knock-down furniture, and even high-end office furniture all utilize Particle board. The applications for TSI equipment in the particle board industry are the same as in the OSB industry albeit with some technical differences to account for the difference in chip/strand format and the different requirements for the end product.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
The primary application of TSI technology is for the drying of wood chips to make Industrial Wood Pellets. In this industry TSI builds many complete Dryer Island Systems (see products page) that include a turn-key process island complete with Heat Energy, Drying and Pollution Control. Industrial Wood Pellets are a renewable fuel used in Utility Power Stations instead of coal. Whereas coal emits CO2 into the atmosphere with no reciprocal absorption or other mitigation, wood pellets come from trees that absorb CO2 as they grow before releasing it as they are burnt. It is therefore a renewable cycle when based on sustainable forestry practices. If combined with Carbon Capture and Storage technology it becomes a carbon negative pathway to energy generation. TSI torrefaction technology is a next generation technology for the same industry that can create a more carbon dense product with applications not only in power generation but also biofuels, plastics, steelmaking, and even soil conditioning.          
INFO@TSI-INC.NET
TEL: +1 (425) 771-1190