In dry debarking, process water is consumed only for log washing and de-icing and is reused effectively with little generation of waste water and water pollutants. Although the process may increase the energy consumption, it results in better energy balance for the mill due to reduced water content of the barks, which are used for energy recovery. Effluent amounts and COD and BOD load is substantially reduced compared to wet barking – and this is often the main driver for installing dry debarking.

Dry debarking can be applied in both new and existing mills and for most debarking purposes (softwoods, hardwoods) and for all pulping processes (mechanical pulping, chemical pulping etc). However, owing to quality reasons wet debarking may be necessary when producing high brigthness TCF bleached sulphite pulps (BREF, 2010., p. 94).