Archive for December, 2008

Wood Pellet Boiler Boxes and Pods

December 19th, 2008

In certain circumstances installing the wood pellet boiler within the property is not practical or possible. This may be due to a lack of space, or concerns over boiler cleaning and ash. Some wood boiler manufactures and retailers have realised this, and now provide boiler energy boxes and pods to keep the wood boiler and pellet hopper separate from the property and pipe the water in. This is similar to our setup with our Tatano boiler, which is stored in an out building and sends hot water to the house via underground pipes.

Storing the wood boiler separately from the house has advantages, including the ones mentioned above. Another advantage is when it comes to the annual boiler clean. Even very low maintenance premium pellet boilers require an annual service and through clean. If this is carried out in the property this could be more difficult.

Another advantage tends to be with the hopper size. When a wood boiler is placed within the property only a fairly small hopper is possible and an external hopper is necessary. Also having a large hopper within the property is a poor use of valuable floor space. With a separate energy box or pod a large hopper is built into the pod.

ÖkoFEN and TRECO both provide solutions

ÖkoFEN –Energy Box

ÖkoFEN –Energy Box

The PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer can upgrade various biomass resources including wood into pellets. If you would like to register your interest in the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer please contact us at:

Contact @ PelHeat . com

Thank you for your interest

www.pelheat.com

WoodPelletProductionGuide

Fröling P2 Wood Pellet Boiler

December 18th, 2008

Fröling are an Austrian pellet boiler company, and they produce high efficiency, low maintenance pellet boilers. Fröling pellet boilers are aimed at the premium end of the pellet boiler market. They are trying to replicate the low maintenance of an oil or gas boiler, as their description states, “the operator is left with practically nothing to do. Conveniently empty the ash box two or three times a year – and that’s it. The boiler takes care of everything else.”

Heat Output:

15-25 KW

Biomass Choice:

To offer this level of ultra low boiler maintenance does come at the cost of fuel flexibility. The boilers are only suitable for premium wood pellets with very low ash percentages.

Maintenance Features:

Fully automatic feeding, ignition, boiler cleaning and ash removal

Safety thanks to patented and thus unique pellet valve

Fröling P2 Pellet Boiler 2 Fröling P2 Pellet Boiler

The PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer can upgrade various biomass resources including wood into pellets. If you would like to register your interest in the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer please contact us at:

Contact @ PelHeat . com

Thank you for your interest

www.pelheat.com

WoodPelletProductionGuide

Pellet Storage Tanks and Silo’s

December 17th, 2008

After pellets have been produced, storage is the next step. Pellets must obviously be kept away from moisture, so whatever the storage solution this is the main criteria. The current most common form of storage is the plastic bag, 16-20kg sacks that are easy to handle and load into the pellet boiler or stove. How often you have to load your stove or boiler depends on its pellet hopper capacity. You will find this figure listed on all the stoves and boilers I include on the blog.

Plastic pellet bags do their job well, however they do have their disadvantages. Firstly there is the waste issue created by the bags, and secondly the manual handling required by the user. Lifting 16-20kg sacks is reasonable for most people, however unsuitable for someone people, for example the elderly. Also some people simply do not wish to have the hassle of load a hopper every day or every few days.

Pellet storage tanks are quite popular in Europe and are becoming more popular in the UK and US. These pellet storage tanks further replicate the convenience of oil boilers, to keep the maintenance or the pellet boiler or stove as low as possible. The tank is loaded with loose pellets, which are then feed into the boiler on demand.

The pellet storage tank transports pellets to the boiler or stove via three possible methods. These include a fixed screw auger, flexible screw auger or suction system. The capacities of the tanks varies on the size of the pellet burner requirements and how often the user wishes for deliveries. Some tanks can hold a month or a few months supply, while others can hold an entire years supply.

The pellet tank could be loaded with pellets empted from bags, however when available a pellet tanker delivery is more suitable. A pellet tanker delivery operates similarly to an oil delivery with the pellets blown into the pellet storage silo. With regards to producing your own pellets with the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer, a pellet storage tank also makes sense. As soon as the pellets you produced have cooled they could then be placed directly in the tank, removing the need to bag the pellets. Below are some examples of pellet storage tanks.

ÖkoFEN Pellet Storage Silo

ÖkoFEN Pellet Storage Silo

Biotech Pellet Storage Silo

Biotech Pellet Storage Silo

Biotech Pellet Storage Silo Ball

Biotech Pellet Storage Silo Ball

The PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer can upgrade various biomass resources including wood into pellets. If you would like to register your interest in the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer please contact us at:

Contact @ PelHeat . com

Thank you for your interest

www.pelheat.com

WoodPelletProductionGuide

ÖkoFEN Pellematic Pellet Boiler

December 16th, 2008

ÖkoFEN Pellematic wood pellet boilers are very low maintenance and stylish pellet boilers. These boilers are targeted at the premium end of the wood pellet boiler market, they have sophisticated cleaning features and come is variety of colours. ÖkoFEN even provide a boiler that produces between 2-8 KW’s, which is the smallest pellet boiler I’ve ever heard of. ÖkoFEN state this small boiler would be used in a small or very well insulated house.

Heat Output:

The ÖkoFEN Pellematic boiler range comprises of the small 2-8 KW model up to units that can produce 224 KW.

ÖkoFEN Biomass Pellet Choice:

ÖkoFEN have designed these units to burn only premium wood pellets, therefore pellets with a very low ash content below 1%. The Pellematic boiler does feature an automatic cleaning feature, where the boiler will clean its self every day. The boiler also features an ash compression system and easy to handle ash box. The boiler uses an auger to fill the ash box and the operator empties the ash box when required. Operating the ÖkoFEN on premium wood pellets, the boiler ash box will be empted once every few months.

ÖkoFEN Maintenance and Efficiency Features:

Ash Compression System

Removable Ash Box

Automatic Boiler Cleaning

ÖkoFEN Pellematic 2

The PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer can upgrade various biomass resources including wood into pellets. If you would like to register your interest in the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer please contact us at:

Contact @ PelHeat . com

Thank you for your interest

www.pelheat.com

WoodPelletProductionGuide

Quadra-Fire Wood Pellet Stove

December 10th, 2008

The Quadra-Fire MT Vernon is classic cast iron design stove. The MT Vernon stove has comfort-quite blowers to reduce the noise levels while the stove is operating. Quadra-Fire states the pellet stove can burn a variety of wood pellets of various grades. The stove can adjust the necessary settings the get the best burn possible from your chosen fuel. The stove hopper can hold 81 lbs of pellets, and has an overall efficiency of around 82%.

Stove Heat Output:

14,620 – 60,200 BTU’s

Heating Capacity up to 3,800 sq.ft

Biomass Pellet Choice:

Quadra fire state the stove can burn a wide variety of wood pellets and other types of fuel. Contact Quadra fire for more specific information stove maximum ash content etc.

Stove Maintenance and Efficiency Features:

Airfoil heat exchanger

Firepot auto clean system

Automatic lighting and operation programs for different fuels

6 foot 12-volt power cord (for power outage)

Quadra Fire Mt Vernon Pellet Stove

The PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer can upgrade various biomass resources including wood into pellets. If you would like to register your interest in the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer please contact us at:

Contact @ PelHeat . com

Thank you for your interest

www.pelheat.com

WoodPelletProductionGuide

Generac BioMax Gasifier

December 8th, 2008

During the Cornell University grass pellet trials a community BioMax gasifier was tested. As with other gasifier I have featured on the blog the fuel needs to be in a compressed form. For efficient gasification to take place fuel moisture content is very important, therefore the fuel should have a moisture content below 15%, so biomass pellets are the ideal fuel. Gasification is controlled thermal decomposition of organic matter in an oxygen deficient atmosphere, producing combustible gases.

Gasifier Grass Pellet Test Results

Grass pellets were tested in a 15KW BioMax gasifier and produced some very positive results. Before the grass pellets were tested, both softwood chips and wood pellets were tested in the gasifier to compare with the grass. The gasifier results showed the heat value derived from the gasifier was actually higher with the grass than the wood. Visit GrassBioenergy.org for more on the test results and the gasifier.

Generac BioMax Gasifier

Further research will have to address the higher ash content from grass, but the potential justifies it. Hopefully in the future more types of biomass pellet will be tested in gasifier systems. Producing biomass pellets with the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer and then using in a gasifier takes full advantage of the biomass. Producing heat and electricity from biomass not only increases the efficiency of the pellets but also increases fuel independence and stable energy prices.

The PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer can upgrade various biomass resources including wood into pellets. If you would like to register your interest in the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer please contact us at:

Contact @ PelHeat . com

Thank you for your interest

www.pelheat.com

WoodPelletProductionGuide

Harman P61 Wood Pellet Stove

December 8th, 2008

The Harman P61 Wood Pellet Stove automatically adjusts itself to your desired room temperature. Simply pour your wood pellets into the convenient top-loading hopper and set the temperature. The Harman P61 can hold up to 72 lbs of pellets.

Harman Stove Heat Output:

Up to 61,00 BTU’s

Heating capacity up to 2,000 sq.ft

Harman Biomass Pellet Choice:

The Harman P61 stove like the other Harman stoves I’ve covered on the blog uses Harman’s patented feeder and burn pot. This gives the stove a better chance of working with a wider variety of biomass pellets. The P61 stove also features an Exhaust Sensing Probe (ESP) to adjust feed rate and increase efficiency. With 61,000 BTU’s of heat output the stove can heat quite a large area. The P61 also features a large ash pan optional battery back system.

Harman Maintenance and Efficiency Features:

Large Ash Pan

Accordian Heat Exchanger

Harman Patented Feed and Burn Pot

Stove ESP Control

Harman Super Easy Stove Cleaning

Harman P61 Pellet Stove

The PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer can upgrade various biomass resources including wood into pellets. If you would like to register your interest in the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer please contact us at:

Contact @ PelHeat . com

Thank you for your interest

www.pelheat.com

WoodPelletProductionGuide

N-Gen Eco 5 Gasifier

December 7th, 2008

Gasification is an excellent way to convert wood pellets and other biomass pellets into energy. The gasifier produces gas from the pellets, which can also be used in an internal combustion engine. One application of a gasifier is using the gas in an engine is to generate electricity through powering a generator.

One example of a small-scale wood pellet gasifier is the N-Gen Eco 5. This gasifier is very compact and can produce up to 5KW of electricity, which for the size of the gasifier I think is very impressive. The Eco 5 gasifier is currently on sale and can be purchased from their website. I think small-scale gasifier units like this will become more and more popular in the future as a cheap way to generate electricity. The gasifier makes local electricity production possible. This will increase the demand for pellets; therefore supply has to be increased with units such as the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer.

N-Gen Eco 5 Gasifier

The PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer can upgrade various biomass resources including wood into pellets to be used in a gasifier. If you would like to register your interest in the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer please contact us at:

Contact @ PelHeat . com

Thank you for your interest

www.pelheat.com

WoodPelletProductionGuide

Harman Advance Wood Pellet Stove

December 7th, 2008

The Harman Advance stove has been designed to be ‘The Ultimate in Home Heating Convenience’. The Advance uses a small sensor to send information back to the stove to keep a constant room temperature. The Advance stove is based on a clean simple design, with a top feed hopper and a glass hopper door to check hopper level easily. The Advance stove can hold up to 60 lbs of pellets, and is available as a pellet fire insert. And has a stove battery backup option for power cuts.

Harman Stove Heat Output:

Up to 48,00 BTU’s

Heating capacity up to 1,500 sq.ft

Biomass Pellet Choice:

The Harman Advance like the other Harman stoves I’ve covered on the blog uses Harman’s patented feeder and burn pot. This gives the Harman stove a better chance of working with a wider variety of biomass pellets. Harman state in the specification for the stove that the fuel is ‘Bio-Mass Pellets’. The Harman stoves in the Cornell trials have preformed well on grass pellets.

To maintain a constant temperature the Harman Advance uses a sensing probe to send information to the stove microprocessor. This information is used to determine the pellet feed rate to maintain a constant temperature. This enables the stove to maintain a constant temperature, and could help when burning different biomass pellets, as feed rates do need to be changed. Many pellet stoves and boilers use a thermostat to start and stop pellet feeding. Therefore the temperature of the stove may have an average of say 70 degrees, but the temperature will vary between 65-75 degrees.

Harman Maintenance and Efficiency Features:

Oversize Ash Pan

Accordian Heat Exchanger

Harman Patented Feed and Burn Pot

Easy Top Loading Design

Harman Advance

The PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer can upgrade various biomass resources including wood into pellets to be used in a gasifier. If you would like to register your interest in the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer please contact us at:

Contact @ PelHeat . com

Thank you for your interest

www.pelheat.com

WoodPelletProductionGuide

Miscanthus: CO2 Sponge

December 6th, 2008

Burning biomass is a carbon neutral process as you are burning a resource, which is already part of the carbon cycle, unlike fossil fuels. Therefore as long as biomass is re-grown then burning biomass does not add to global warming.

However there is evidence of certain crops actually reversing the process. For example Miscanthus is regarded as a carbon sequestration plant that can actually remove carbon from the atmosphere and trap it in the soil. This therefore is actually reversing global warming.

Another way to do this is once you have burnt your biomass pellets, using the ash to make a fertilizer or soil conditioner.

If you would like to register your interest in the PelHeat Mobile Pelletizer please contact us at:

Contact @ PelHeat . com

Thank you for your interest

www.pelheat.com

WoodPelletProductionGuide