The Desire To Make Wood Pellets On A Small Scale

As with most industries wood pellet production is currently dominated by a majority of large scale production operations. Though large scale pellet production does have its place, producing wood pellets on a more local scale has many more advantages.

There is general perception that to make wood pellets on a small scale is not practical, as the production costs per ton of pellets are higher. Where in some cases this is true it is not in others. The biggest positive locally making wood pellets has is reduced raw material and pellet transportation costs. Many large scale pellet production plants do have issues sourcing sufficient volumes of raw material to run the plant, and having to transport the finished pellets. Some large scale pellet plants have had to close as they failed to develop a sufficient local market for the volume of production. This meant they had to find customers further from the plant. Here, due to higher transportation costs profit margins are thin and unsustainable in the long run. Producing pellets on a small scale means that the material and finished pellets are both transported less. This makes it possible for a small operation to be profitable even though per ton costs of production are higher. It is also a more practical means to develop the pellet fuels market, and once there is sufficient demand a large scale plant can be constructed for the local market.

Wood Pellets Fuel and Biomass Pellets

So what type of wood pellets and biomass pellets should you make? Well, this depends specifically on two factors, what local biomass resources are available and what type of pellet burners are available in the local area. Premium fuel pellets for example, which is what is required for many small stoves and some boilers can only be produced from high quality pine, spruce and oak residue. The sawdust must contain no bark to produce a wood pellet with close to 0.5% ash content. However, other grades of pellets can be produced from other wood residue. For example local tree surgeons develop large quantities of local wood waste. This material can be processed into fuel pellets. However, not all pellet stoves and boilers will be able to burn these pellets without complications due to the increased ash content of the pellets.

Choosing Wood Pellets For Pellet Stove

As, stated there are different grades of wood pellets, with only some pellet stoves able to burn all types of wood pellets. Specifically pellet stoves and boilers with drop down burn pots are the ones which will have the most issues burning higher ash content fuels. The reasons for this is this design of burn pot does not have a suitable system to remove sufficient volumes of ash from the combustion zone. Please click below to learn more about how to make wood pellets for fuel.

The Wood Pellet Production Guide © PelHeat Ltd - The Desire To Make Wood Pellets On A Small Scale