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The manufacture of biomass pellet fuel is an area of growing interest, though there is little quality information available on how the process actually works. At first the pellet manufacture process may appear basic and even straightforward. The fact is this couldn’t be further from the truth, by the fact that to manufacture quality pellets from any raw material requires the raw material to have exact qualities along with the right apparatus. In a sentence, pellet production is the compression of a loose material into a compressed pellet form by way of a uniform size, shape along with density. On the other hand to achieve a pellet of suitable quality will necessitate a deeper understanding of the process of what the raw material requires to create a quality pellet. Firstly one of the key criteria for biomass pellet manufacture, or any pellet pellet manufacture is the removal of moisture from the raw material. There are two reasons for this, firstly as a fuel, moisture reduces burning efficiency, temperature generation as well as increases ash content. Secondly it is not possible to compress moisture, therefore for the pellet to hold its shape, a low moisture content is vital. Yet a certain percentage of moisture is required for the pellet to form. The percentage of moisture required depends on each raw matter in addition to gear used. For instance if steam conditioning is used in the manufacture process, a raw matter moisture content as low as 10% can be used. However steam conditioning is generally only used on a large scale owing to the expensive along with risk control required. Therefore where steam conditioning is not used, a raw matter closer to 15% is required. Too much or too little moisture can outcome wear of the rollers along with die plus also the energy consumption of the pellet mill. Therefore is is generally recommend to experiment by means of the moisture content of the raw material to achieve best pellet quality and lowest energy usage.

Learn more about Wood Pellet Production

Pellet construction can be carried out on either a small or large scale. Yet as with steam conditioning, the tools in addition to processes used does vary. In terms of drying equipment, there are preferences for small and large scale production based on accessible space, fee, and process control. For small scale construction, smokestack flash dryers are commonly used as they are fairly basic, plus the charge to manufacturer are fairly low. Chimney dryers yet are not ideally suited to dry raw materials with a high moisture content around 50%, for case in point virgin wood. The raw matter may call for more than a few passes to remove ample moisture. For large scale wood pellet production rotary dryers are used, these are larger in addition to more expensive, however the drying time can be controlled to dry in a single pass.

Read more about Wood Pellet Mills

There are also differences in the types of pellet mill used in small plus large scale production. The most basic design of pellet mill is the flat die pellet mill. This design is commonly used for small scale construction, owing to lower production costs and cheaper consumables. For large scale production sphere die pellet mills are more commonly used as they are generally regarded as being more fuel efficient. All pellet mill designs share similar principles of operation. These include a roller plus die configuration. The design of the pellet mill may either have the die or roller shell rotating, the rotation speed required changes.

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