Patent ID: 6079647
Filing Date: 2000-06-27
Classification: D01B

Abstract:
A system for processing plant material, the system comprising:a plurality of plant material processing sections to which the plant material is subjected for separating woody portions from fibers of the plant material and for reducing the size of the separated woody portions, the processing sections including:(a) a stripping section which exerts a pulling action on the plant material to strip woody portions of the plant material from the plant fibers to minimize damage to and shortening of the fibers;(b) a cleaning section for separating the majority of the remaining of the associated woody portions from the plant fibers by scraping of the plant material to minimize damage to and shortening of the fibers; and(c) a downstream grinding section which receives woody portions that have been separated from the plant fibers and which rapidly beats and grinds the woody portions to a predetermined substantially smaller size when compared to the separated woody portions received from the stripping and cleaning sections.