Pellet Plants

The last decade has seen wood pellets emerge as a serious contributor to the heating fuels market, particularly in Europe and the US. Sweden was the first country to really move forward with wood 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 example, other European countries followed, along with the US. The true benefits of pellet plants to bring economic development are still not fully realised, as smaller more localized plants make more economic sense. As wood pellet fuel is now reaching a wide enough appeal, more small scale pellet plants will be set-up to meet local market demand. One of the biggest obstacles to efficient pellet production while maintaining a profit margin is transportation, both in the sense of raw material and the finished product. More localized small scale pellet plants can help generate local jobs and cheap fuel.

Wood Pellet Plants and Pellet Production

The reason transportation plays such a crucial role in pellet fuel production as it effects the costs of production, potential profits and also the credibility of pellet fuel as a green fuel. Through fuels such as bio-ethanol and bio-diesel are now used, most transportation still relies on standard, and expensive gasoline. The high cost of this fuel means transportation costs can be very high. Therefore having large pellet plants which have to have large quantities of raw material transported to the plant 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 transport 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 cost competitive with pellet plants closer to the customer. Finally as transportation still relies on fossil fuels, increased transportation means increased carbon emissions. This therefore increases the carbon footprint of the wood pellet production process.

Pellet Plant and Wood Pellet Fuel Grades

Pellet plants produce different grades of pellet fuel for different consumer markets. One grade is focused more on the residential market, with other pellets focused more on industrial biomass combustion systems. Currently 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 fuel, though more expensive, serves the majority of the residential market. Industrial customers are more interested in the higher ash but cheaper fuel pellets.

Pellet Mill Equipment in Fuel Pellet Plants

Depending on the type of biomass material that is to be processed at pellet plants, this will dictate the appropriate pellet mill for the application. For different materials the pellet mill may need to operate a different speeds. For example for softer material the pellet mill can operate at higher rotation speeds.

PelHeat Wood Pellet Production Guide

At PelHeat we have many years of experience in pellet production, and we provide a pellet production consultation service. The PelHeat guide download will show you how to make wood and other fuel pellets.