Softwood Pellets

There are different types and grades of wood pellet fuel, including softwood pellets. Premium pellets are produced from either softwood and hardwood residues, and there are debates if softwood or hardwood produces the best pellet fuel. Softwood premium pellet fuel is mainly produced from pine and spruce residue. The softwood must be free from bark residue, as the bark can increase the ash content of the pellets. Premium softwood pellets should produce less than 1% ash, and are the lowest maintenance pellet fuel.

Softwood or Hardwood Pellets?

Many people who used to own a wood stove maybe under the presumption that hardwood burns better than softwood, producing more heat and less ash. Well with pellets this is actually not true.  Softwood pellets produce on average 15% more BTU's than hardwood pellets. The reason for this is in log form hardwood has a higher natural density than softwood, therefore burns better producing less ash. However in pellet form, softwood and hardwood pellets have a comparable density.

Burning Wood Pellets

At PelHeat we produce pellets with our small scale wood pellet mill equipment from various different types of woody biomass resources, including softwood pellets. Click the play button below to view a video of our boiler burning a collection of different types of biomass fuel pellets. Different biomass pellets have different combustion characteristics, this can include various percentages of ash, and possible clinker or slag formations which can cause combustion issues.

Wood Pellets Cost

Softwood premium pellets are one of the most expensive types of pellet fuel, as there is only a limited supply of suitable resources. However softwood pellets are cheaper than hardwood pellets.

Pellets Production Guide

We see more and more people are interested in pellets, for either fuel, pellet grills and even animal bedding. We therefore developed the Wood Pellet Production Guide to explain the pellets production process in more detail, and to provide information on the equipment and process knowledge required.

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.