What Can A Biomass Pellet Mill Actually Process?

We must first start with addressing what biomass is. Biomass is any living organic material which can be used to produce energy from. In this case we are compressing biomass to produce fuel pellets for stoves and boilers. However biomass electricity generation is a growing industry. The biomass pellets are burnt along with coal in an attempt to reduce the carbon emissions of the power plants to meet European guidelines. Biomass pellets can be used in some pellet stoves and boilers, but not all of them. The reasons for this are due higher levels of ash, and possible clinker formations. The benefit however is that some biomass materials will have a higher productivity in the pellet mill than others.

There are various makes and models of pellet mills on sale. The majority of small pellet mills are made from basic iron castings which are produced in China. While you maybe able to process some biomass materials with this design on pellet mill there have been many reports of serious quality issues and the castings breaking. Therefore while these pellet mills appear a good cheap option they often require more effort than its worth. Biomass bioenergy includes pellets, liquid and gaseous fuels. However to process biomass the raw material has to be transported to the factory. Therefore even if liquid or gaseous fuels are the main object the a biomass pellet mill is required to compress the material to reduce transportation costs. Three phase power is generally required to operate the pellet mill, so this should be put under consideration. There are some small pellet mills that can operate on single phase.