Archive for the ‘Environmental’ Category

Wood Pellets – How They Are Made

Friday, January 22nd, 2010
Jef Grace asked:


Nowadays, individuals who are concerned about the effect that they are giving on the environment are turning more and more frequent to the clean burning and fuel efficient biomass stoves, which burn fuel such as wood pellets using extreme heat. This will allow a small stove to heat a place very well.

Wood pellets are small, look like a gel capsule type of pill. They are shiny, which contributes to the pill illusion and makes them appear like tiny, varnished pieces of wood. In reality, wood pellets are not single pieces of wood, but instead several pieces that have been compacted together to make the small pellets that you see when you get wood pellets for your biomass stove at home. Wood pellets are made of recycled materials. They use sawdust that is left over from saw milling process and other wood production procedures.

The sawdust gathered in this way is compacted into a dense pellet, but not until the wood material has been done. This is prepared by sending the wood material by a hammer mill. This equipment creates a similar mass that is like a dough-like, and the wood is then fed through to a press.

The press compresses the wood pellets through a die, which is made with a particular sized hole. The extreme pressure of the press squeezes the wood and allows the temperature of the wood goes up as well. Such temperature rise causes the lignin of the wood to shape like natural glue that holds the pellets together as the wood cools down.

The rules on wood pellets specify that they should have less than 10% water content to burn efficiently and that they must be have similar density. For the most part, wood pellets must be dense enough to avoid from floating when put in a water rather than sink to the bottom. The pellets must be of good quality and not break easily, and they must have low ash content.

Even if various types of woods are used for things like planks or furniture, the processing in the hammer mill causes a distinctive effect. The hammer mill breaks down the fibers of the wood to look similar with the rest. The breaking down process shows that the finished pellets look very similar and do not have much difference even if different kind of wood is used.

Now that you have the basic idea, you can now start your pellet business. If you are looking for wood pellet machinery, can give you great suggestions. They have top of the line pellet equipment.

Wood Pellet Stove And Boiler Guide