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The last decade has seen biomass pellets emerge as a serious contributor to the heating fuels market, particularly in Europe as well as the US. Sweden was the first country to really move forward by way of biomass pellets in a major way. The government put serious investment into establishing wood pellet plants around the country taking advantage of the huge volumes of sawdust from one of the major industry in Sweden, timber processing. From Sweden’s case, supplementary European countries followed, along with the US. The true payback of pellet plants to bring economic development are still not fully realised, as smaller more localized plants manufacture more economic sense. As wood pellet fuel is now reaching a wide ample appeal, more small scale pellet plants will be set-up to meet local market demand. One of the biggest obstacles to proficient pellet construction while maintaining a profit margin is transport, both in the sense of raw material plus the finished product. More localized small scale pellet plants can help generate local jobs along with cheap fuel.

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The reason haulage plays such a crucial role in pellet fuel manufacture as it effects the costs of manufacture, possible profits as well as also the credibility of pellet energy as a green energy. Due to fuels such as bio-ethanol and bio-diesel are now used, most haulage still relies on standard, in addition to expensive gasoline. The high price of this energy means haulage costs can be very high. Therefore having large pellet plants which have to have large quantities of raw material transported to the works is very costly. Large pellet plants as wood pellet fuel is still a relatively small market, then have to search further a field to find customers. To then transportation the finished pellet to a customer over a long distance also costs a significant amount of money. If all of this cost is passed onto the consumer, it will be difficult to be charge competitive by means of pellet plants closer to the customer. Finally as transportation still relies on fossil fuels, increased shipping means increased carbon emissions. This therefore increases the carbon footprint of the wood pellet manufacture process.

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Pellet plants manufacture different grades of pellet energy for diverse consumer markets. One grade is focused more on the residential market, by means of supplementary pellets focused more on industrial wood combustion systems. Presently the residential market is predominately interested in pellet fuels which can offer them similar levels of convenience that their previous gas or oil based heating system offered them. The lower ash percentage of premium grade pellet energy, on the other hand more expensive, serves the majority of the residential market. Industrial customers are more interested in the higher ash but cheaper fuel pellets. Depending on the type of biomass matter that is to be processed at pellet plants, this will dictate the appropriate pellet mill for the application. For diverse materials the pellet mill may need to operate one more speeds. For case for softer material the pellet mill can operate at higher rotation speeds.

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Along by way of the necessitate to better utilize alternative along with alternative fuel sources, making better use of the fuel source plus efficiency are also areas that necessitate more attention. To create better use of a biomass energy source, cogeneration is an area of potential. Cogeneration in term of wood for heating along with electrical generation. Many believe the future of the electrical network is less towards large scale power plants plus more towards small scale electrical generators feeding the grid. By way of generating both warmth and electricity can dramatically amplify the efficiency of the amount of energy captured from the wood. There are two main ways in which both warmth plus electricity can be generated for cogeneration. One of them being modern closed loop steam engines. These units are far more efficient than previous steam systems, in addition to recycle the hot water, so only a small amount of fuel is required to turn that hot water back into steam to move the pistons, which in tern mover the generator to manufacture electricity. Using modern alloys these engines use deionised water as both the lubricant along with working fluid. Pared up to a small pellet stove or boiler, residual warmth energy from the vent for instance could be used to generate electricity. This electricity could then be used to power the property, as well as it not required sent into the grid.

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Gasification is the other renewable to the closed loop steam engines. Gasification is the process of breaking down wood into its core workings into a gaseous fuel called syngas. This syngas if properly filtered burns very cleanly. To generate warmth the gas can be burnt directly, or to generate warmth and electricity can be used in an standard internal burning engine to generate both electricity as well as heat. With a one to one ratio of syngas to air, the gas can be used to power the engine. The waste heat coming from the engine in addition to exhaust gases can be used to heat the property. Gasification is also gaining ground as a reliable form of clean fuel construction, which again can use the current infrastructure of internal burning engine but with low carbon.

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On the other hand for gasification cogeneration systems to work efficiently and reliably, the units prefer a standardized fuel source. Biomass in its raw form is anything but consistent. Changes range from size, density along with moisture content. All of these factors outcome the gasification process. Therefore to help the gasifier work efficiently, compressing the wood into pellets can create a significant difference. Pellets have a much higher density, plus low moisture content. As the pellets also have a consistent size they flow well due to the gasifier reactor, reducing bridging issues. Pellet making required several processes. Initially the biomass must be reduced in size comparable to a dust. Then depending on the chosen wood this dust may require drying. A moisture content of around 15% is required to form a high density pellet as well as reach the required compression temperatures. Once the material is sufficiently dried, it is then metered into the pellet mill where final pellet compression takes place.

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Our current forms of abode as well as business heating ideas are no longer sustainable, affordable plus are damaging the nature. Being so dependant on foreign oil along with gas is also damaging our economy at a time of recession. By moving onto greener, lower carbon forms of energy can manufacture more affordable energy which supports the economy in addition to the natural world. In terms of heating, biomass pellet fuel is gaining a significant percentage of market share in Europe in addition to the US. Biomass pellet energy is a highly compressed form of biomass sawdust, the majority of which is sourced from timber processing. When the tree’s are processed into timber, there is a significant volume of sawdust collected, which is then processed into wood pellet energy. Previously, many timber processors regarded this sawdust as a waste, as well as had to pay for it to be removed. Now, as many timber processors have seen the value of biomass pellet energy, they have setups their own biomass pellet construction faculties next to their current timber processing plants. The advantage of this is reduced transportation of the loose low density sawdust, which can be very expensive to haulage.

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In terms of a heating energy, the biomass pellet has several reward over supplementary forms of wood. For case in point using energy to process a log into pellets may seem pointless, though the net gain in efficiency more than justifies the fuel used to process the logs into pellets. For case, logs generally contain around 30% moisture, when they are regarded as dry. Though pellets have a moisture content below 10%. This means the pellets generate more heat from the sale volume of energy plus less smoke. Smoke reduction is very important, particulates generated from incineration wet wood is responsible for breathing conditions. The current generation of wood pellet energy is a vast improvement over biomass logs, though there are improvements which can be made. The next generation of wood pellet fuel is the torrefied biomass pellet. A torrefied biomass pellet generates no smoke or smell, more warmth plus lights within seconds. Torrefied biomass pellet fuel also repels water, and can even be stored outside, this makes storage less of an issue.

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Finding a good plus local wood pellet supplier can be worth its weight in gold. Biomass pellet fuel is sold frequently across the internet, on the other hand the quality as well as grade of these energy pellets is very unclear, therefore its very hard to compare pellets in terms of value for money, as well as some pellets may generate more ash than others. Therefore when ordering pellets online, before making a large order it is always worth getting a sample of the pellets to try in your wood pellet stove. Biomass pellet fuel manufacture can be a complicated process, however by means of a good understanding of the apparatus in addition to raw material, there are no issues which are insurmountable. Firstly you raw material must be free from contaminates such as stones plus bits of metal, as these can easily damage the equipment. Pellet compression requires the right moisture content.

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Wood is very general term to describe a wide range of organic resources which can processed and used for fuel manufacture. Biomass products include the fuels, and the systems in which these fuels can be used in. So for example, wood energy products include pellets, briquettes, along with liquid in addition to gaseous fuels. The additional wood products are the combustion systems in which the wood energy products are used. Therefore for pellets this includes pellet stoves along with boilers. For briquettes this can be basic log stove and open fires or more advanced log based burning systems. The wood liquid along with gaseous products can be used internal burning engines for shipping fuels in addition to to run generators to make electricity. Therefore it is clear that there is a wide variety of biomass products which can meet much of our fuel demands. One of the biomass products mentioned, are wood pellets, one of the most accepted been wood pellet fuels. Biomass pellet fuels have actually existed since the 1970′s, however it is only within the last decade or so that biomass pellet energy products have been taken seriously as a practical energy renewable to oil plus gas based heating systems. Wood pellet fuels are currently manufactured for the waste from timber processing. After the tree has been processed into beams, the sawdust is then collected along with processed into pellet fuel. As the timber is devoid of bark plus generally from only certain types of trees, the pellets produced have a very low ash content. Therefore these fuel pellet products are referred to as premium pellet fuels.

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The supplementary side of biomass products are the burning systems in which the biomass fuel products are used. There are a mixture of diverse forms of wood furnaces. These collection from log stoves plus boilers, to woodchip systems along with even straw bale burners. These systems though in general lack the modern efficiencies required along with are also quite high maintenance. Here is where biomass pellet boilers are products which can install well within the modern behavior of a low maintenance but highly efficient heating unit.
Biomass pellet energy stoves plus boilers come in selection of sizes plus heat outputs. Even a small pellet stove can generate a substantial amount of warmth to heat quite a few rooms within the property. Generally pellet stoves just generate hot air, along with can be used to warmth the entire property by a good ventilation system. Though some pellet stove products also have a built in back boiler. This means that the stove can provide warmth to the main living space along with also connect up the existing central heating system to providing heating to the rest of the property via existing radiators.

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The products of wood plus wood pellet fuel products is a growing industry, plus one that can bring substantial jobs to the local community. Jobs can be shaped in the selection of local wood as well as biomass resources. Jobs can then also be created in upgrading the biomass into high quality energy pellets. Finally jobs can be produced in distributing the finished fuel pellets.

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There are many dissimilar forms of alternative along with renewable fuel sources, from solar and wind to wood. One of the most popular forms of biomass energy is the wood pellet. Wood pellets have actually been produced since the 1970′s, plus gained a small market share during the oil crisis. At a time when oil prices were skyrocketing, the appeal of biomass pellet heating was clear, however the environmental benefits at the time were not clear. However, as the fee of oil began to lower, the price advantage of wood pellet heating was no longer apparent, as well as biomass pellet heating went into obscurity. During the 1990′s in Europe, certain countries, specifically Sweden started to look again at biomass pellet heating. Sweden has a huge resource of timber processing, and thus a huge resource of sawdust. At the time, this sawdust was simply seen as waste, in addition to timber processing companies were paying to have the sawdust sent to landfill. By way of compressing this sawdust into energy pellets, not only turned a costly waste into a valuable income, it also meant Sweden could become more energy independent in addition to support the Swedish economy. At this point in the 90′s, the concerns over carbon emission along with climate change were only just been taken seriously. Therefore the only real driving factor of the biomass pellet market in Europe was fee, for instance taxation on oil in Italy increased significantly. This meant Italy also took a more active look at biomass in addition to biomass pellet heating. At the beginning of the 21st century was when the necessitate to move away from fossil fuels became more clear. Again prices began to rise through conflicts in the middle east, plus stronger evidence was been presented on the effects of fossil fuels on enlarge the global temperature.

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Wood is considered a carbon neutral form of energy, as biomass is already component of the current carbon cycle, no additional carbon dioxide is sent into the air during biomass incineration. There is a huge range of biomass resources, not only including wood ranging from agricultural residues, straws, grasses and fuel crops. All of these wood resources can be processing into biomass pellet fuels for pellet stoves.

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Because of the uniform size as well as shape of pellet energy, they are ideal for automatically fed hoppers on pellet burners such as pellet stoves and boilers. These highly advanced solid fuel incineration systems manufacture combustion pellets very little work, while producing efficiencies in the assortment of 95% and more. Compare this to basic log stoves which only archive around 60% efficiency. Because of the growing success of pellet fuels, more people are interested in producing pellets, even on a small scale. Producing pellets is a true skill, as each matter is unique plus may call for changes to make the best quality pellet at the greatest productivity. Balancing pellet quality with productivity is crucial as pellet quality impacts on burning efficiency, and productivity impacts on energy consumption during manufacture which is also very important.

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Making biomass pellets is a process which can be achieved on both a large along with small scale. As by way of most industries, the development of large scale biomass pellet plants at present dominates the biomass pellet manufacture market. Yet, there is a rising number of wood pellet machines available for even small abode owners to use to create there own pellet fuel. Though there is very little information obtainable on which wood pellet making machinery is suitable to process unlike wood materials for fuel pellets.

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The pellet machine has been an industrial tool for over a hundred years. The first intended use of the pellet appliance was to make a superior animal feed. The idea was to process the grasses, straws, vitamins in addition to minerals into pellet form. The advantages of such were that it would be much cheaper to haulage the feed, much easier to get the animals to take the required mineral in addition to vitamins plus eat the correct amount of food to achieve the top price to profit ratio. Pellet machines were very successful in the animal feed industry along with today, pelleted animal feed in the market leader as a way to control feed to stock animals.
Yet, the type in addition to design of pellet machinery used form making animal feed, is not the same type of pellet appliance that can be used for making a biomass pellet. Biomass as a raw material is very dissimilar to straws as well as grasses. Biomass has a much higher density and stronger fibres. These differences mean wood performs very differently in the pellet machine. To compress a material into a pellet requires ample temperature along with pressure to melt the materials untreated lignin. Owing to the increased density of wood, means that wood has to reach a higher heat than grasses along with straws to form a pellet. Also, due to the increased density of the biomass, more power is needed to compress the wood due to the die template in the pellet appliance. This generally means the pellet machine needs to be geared down to provide more torque. There are a range of supplementary changes in design of the pellet machinery to compress biomass into pellet form.

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Not all biomass pellets are the same, depending on the type of wood residue used to create the pellets the ash content of the pellets can change. For case, to create a pellet by as little ash as potential, practically all bark must be removed from the pellets. In many cases on the other hand, this is not practical, in addition to also bark contains a lot of fuel. However the pellets shaped will have a higher ash content, in addition to this may limit the number of pellet stoves as well as boilers the pellets can be burnt in successfully. Generally pellet stoves plus boiler which have a drop down design will not be able to burn the pellets. Therefore it is much better form consumers to avoid this design of pellet burner. When making a wood pellet, before placing the matter into the appliance, it is very important to monitor the moisture content in addition to make sure it is dry adequate but still have adequate moisture to melt the untreated lignin to help bind the wood pellet together.

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It is clear, that our fuel future is moving away from a reliance on fossil energy energy such as oil along with gas, plus more towards more alternative along with alternative sources of energy such as biomass. Well known forms of renewable in addition to alternative fuel sources include wind plus solar. Both of these resources capture fuel, though cannot provide fuel on demand as they are dependant on whether conditions. Here is where the compensation of wood become clear. Wood is any form of natural material which can be used as a fuel source. In essence wood is captured in addition to stored solar energy. Through incineration as well as extra chemical reactions we can use biomass energy on demand to generate liquid fuels, gaseous fuels, as well as advanced solid fuels such as pellets in addition to briquettes.

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To capture as much fuel from incineration biomass as probable, it makes sense where likely to achieve cogeneration owing to biomass CHP units. CHP or combined heat plus power units generate both warmth along with electrical power for the property. This process can be achieve because of either advanced closed loop steam engines or owing to gasification. There have been important improvements in modern steam engine designs which recycle more of the fuel to amplify efficiencies. Also the units recycle the way, as well as need very little maintenance. The closed loop steam engine will capture residual fuel from the biomass combustion process, plus turn a generate to create electricity. The other possible wood CHP unit is a gasification system. Here the wood in processed into syngas, this gas can then be used in an internal combustion engine to power a generator. The internal combustion engine will generate a significant amount of heat, yet if more heat is required the gas can also be burnt directly in a stove or boiler. The reward of a biomass CHP unit are that the electrical energy created can be sold back into the national grid. Therefore a residual income can be shaped, in addition to it also encourages the user to lower electrical consumption to generate more revenue. Many people believe a network of small scale electrical generators feeding the national grid is the future not the large scale electrical power plants.

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Supplementary advantages of biomass over fossil fuel fuel, is that biomass is a renewable energy source. This means we can replace the wood we use quickly. This makes biomass fuel sustainable. The facts are that we currently generate huge volumes of wood plus regard it as waste to be sent to landfill. Utilizing the current wood we generate for fuel would meet a substantial percentage of our energy needs. It would also lower the fee of other goods, as it would decrease costs and amplify profits margins turning a waste into a valuable asset. This in tern would benefit the economy, generating more local jobs. The best way to use biomass is to compress biomass into pellets. This has more than a few advantages, as well as is achieve due to using a pellet mill. In the pellet mill the biomass is compressed at high temperatures.

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Capturing warmth from wood has been a practice mankind has been carrying out for thousands of years. The easy log fire is a from of wood heat, used for heat plus for cookery. Using wood for heat in the 20th century never really evolved, as fossil fuel alternatives took control of the market. Fossil fuel heating solutions were low maintenance, highly efficient in addition to at the time affordable. Other than the obvious complications by fossil fuels as well as there carbon emissions, there are other issues by means of our faith on these resources to warmth our homes along with cook our food. The first issue is resource. Fossil fuels in the form of oil plus gas are not widely distributed. A few areas of land in addition to sea, hold the majority of the resources which we are practically able to reach. Within the free market, a product or service is worth what ever someone is willing to pay for it. Therefore it is very easy for the oil industry to initiate charge rises. The extra key issue is there simply isn’t sufficient of these resources to meet rising global demand. We have known this fact for many years, yet it is an issue many seem to be happy to ignore.

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To manufacture biomass a more practical and appealing heat choice, requires the raw biomass fuel source to be compressed into pellets. Owing to compression plus moisture reduction the wood is converted into a more proficient fuel in addition to a energy which is easier to deal by. Also, as all biomass fuel pellets are the same shape as well as size, the same pellet burner depending on the burn pot design can use a wide selection of biomass resources automatically. This is important, because we cannot simply rely on one biomass resource for our fuel needs. Woody wood is part of the solution, but many of the woody biomass resources simply grow too slowly to replace the resources at the rate of consumption. This has therefore led into a great deal of research on energy crops such a miscanthus, reed as well as hemp plus faster growing woody biomass species such as short rotation coppice willow.

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Biomass log incineration wood boilers in addition to stoves have been used a extra warmth source for some abode owners, yet very rarely relied on a the main warmth source. The easy reason is work load and poor efficiency. Loading the fire at an acceptable rate with logs would just take up too much time. Pellet burners can feed them selves automatically with energy pellets, by one full hopper load lasting at least a day. To make quality pellet fuels, requires the correct gear along with the correct raw materials. The three key pieces of gear are the hammer mill, dryer in addition to pellet mill. Through this equipment the key processes are size reduction, moisture reduction and particle compression into pellet form. To produce a quality pellet from any raw material requires the correct particle size, correct moisture content plus correct heat. Heat is often a very over looked are, yet is crucial. If the heat is not ample the organic binding abilities of the lignin will not work, plus temperatures which are too high will changes the raw matter in addition to create equipment issues.

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Pellet fuel consumers have several options to choose from when ordering biomass pellets for sale. What grade of energy pellets do they choose, as well as where to they order the biomass pellets from? So the first choice is the type of pellet energy to purchase, on the other hand your option here could potentially be very limited based on the capabilities of your biomass pellet stove or wood pellet boiler. For case in point most pellet stoves as well as boiler have burning zone known as a drop down burn pot. The reason for this is the pellets are fed from the hopper, as well as then drop down into the burn pot. Ash removal is with the incineration air feeding the fire, plus hence here is the problem. The pellet burner will be set-up so adequate, but not too much air is fed into the fire to maintain incineration efficiency while not impacting on energy economy. The amount of air movement is enough to remove ample ash from the burn pot from burning very low ash content fuels, for instance premium biomass pellets. Though, in trying to burn any additional grade of pellet fuel, the movement of the burning air will be insufficient, as well as the ash will built up in the burn pot eventually causing combustion to operate inefficiently along with then stop altogether.

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So before choosing what type of pellet fuel you wish to use, it makes sense to fully investigate the capabilities of your pellet stove or boiler. The variety of biomass pellets for sale will collection from premium grade biomass pellets down to lower grade wood pellets which will create an ash content around 3%. This type of biomass pellet will be referred to as a standard grade pellet. In the future it will be much more common to see biomass pellets shaped from much faster mounting biomass species such as coppiced willow. Willow pellets generally make an ash content around 3%, however as the crops yields will be substantially higher, significant savings will be made when buying these pellets. However, as mentioned above, even an ash content as low as 3% can generate issues for some pellet stoves plus boilers. A different rising form of biomass fuel is Hemp. Hemp can be used to manufacture food, clothes, paper, plastics and even production materials. For example a hemp construction is half the weight of concrete by means of double the strength and has a very high thermal value. The residual waste from hemp processing can be used to create some very good quality fuel pellets. In terms of crops yields, very few wood resources can compete. Hemp fuel pellets will be more common.

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Once you are aware of which grade of pellet your pellet burner can use, as well as have decided which pellets to burn, you final option is where to source the pellets from. As by many purchases today, the internet is the first stop. Looking for biomass pellet fuel online can be an excellent way to compare pellet prices. However, never pressure the finest deal will be online. Transport is the biggest barrier to the pellet industry, transporting pellets over long distances is uneconomical in many cases unless the pellets were formed in developing countries for a very low price. Excessive haulage is bad for the environment, in addition to also defeats one of the key selling points of pellet fuel. Pellets offer us the ability to move away from being energy dependant on foreign countries.

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There is not uncomplicated one grade of wood pellet energy, there are multiple quality grades based mainly on the percentage of ash the biomass pellets generate post incineration. For case in point the highest grade of biomass pellet fuel are known as premium biomass pellet energy. This grade of wood pellet produces an ash content below 1%, generally normally around the 0.5% mark. Now, this ultra low ash content is only achieve by way of using very selective biomass resources, by means of no bark, as bark will increase the ash content of the pellets. Premium wood pellets demand the highest charge point, not only as they produce the lowest ash content of any pellet energy, but also because those same biomass resources are in high demand. Particle board manufactures plus quite a few extra industries also used the same raw matter. This therefore increased the fee of the raw matter owing to increased competition. Now presently the pellet energy market is relatively small, as well as the volume of sawdust shaped from timber processing is enough generally to support the needs of pellet fuel manufacturers.

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Yet, within recent years issues have arose by enough sawdust supply. For case in point, when the US housing market crashed, housing manufacture stopped along with so did the demand for construction timber. As no timber was being processed, this also meant there was no waste sawdust formed which is the raw matter supply for practically all premium wood pellet manufactures. This meant the value of sawdust went due to the roof, along with also there simply wasn’t ample to support the pellet market. This meant two things, firstly the price of premium wood pellets sky rocked, in addition to secondly resource issues were common. Many US pellet suppliers were sending what little supplies they had over to Europe, as they could demand higher prices. Yet this further escalated the problem in the US. That issue is no longer present as the housing market is now in rival, in addition to the same circumstances are unlikely to happen again. Yet, important lessons necessitate to be learnt from this scenario. Another issue which also contributed to the high demand plus high pellet prices, is that most pellet consumers cannot use any additional grade of pellet fuel other than premium pellets. This is because most pellet stoves are designed by means of restrictions. Consumers by way of more pellet energy variable stoves could choose extra grades of biomass pellets when the fee of premium pellets is very high. In the future it will be more common to use additional grades of wood pellets. For instance, here at PelHeat we use predominantly wheat grass pellets which help support local farmers.

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The future of the wood pellet fuel market cannot simply depend on premium wood pellets. If so pellet reserve problems will become common, prices will be high along with by means of will devalue the reputation of the pellet industry. Other forms of biomass can be used to produce fuel pellets, for case in point willow. Willow in the form of short rotation coppice can be grown very quickly plus generate some very high yields. The pellets due produce a a little higher ash content that premium pellets, however the prices would be far more responsible. Wood will play a more significant role.

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