Archive for the ‘Articles’ category

Wood Pellet Plus Manufacturers Plus Premium Shortage

February 11th, 2010

Making biomass pellets is a relatively new industry particularly in the fuel sector, but even in the pellet industry as for so long animal feed pellet manufactures have dominated the market. Wood pellet manufacturers have actually existed since the 1970’s when the first experiments we conducted using animal feed pellet mills to process wood into pellet. Then a few pellet stove manufactures started up, however the market was never really taken seriously. The reasons for the is on one side oil plus gas were so cheap, that there was no fee advantage of burning biomass pellets, in addition to there was increased maintenance in using pellets. No one at that time has even heard of climate change as well as global warming, therefore that also did not influence the market plus help to promote pellets. On the other side of the market, where wood log stove owners were, they were also not interested. As they would have to spend more on the pellets than logs, and the true benefits of increased efficiency were not fully known. This lead the idea of biomass pellets for fuel in a sense been moth balled. With just a small biomass pellet market producing animal bedding for horses.

Learn more about Wood Pellet Prices

It was only really at the start of the 21st century that the biomass pellet fuels market was looked at again by way of serious interest plus investment in biomass pellet manufacturers. Once it became clear that oil as well as gas prices were on the rise to record levels, along with their outcome on climate change that action to promote biomass pellet fuels was taken. Fossil fuels such as oil plus gas are net contributors of carbon emissions. They are essentially stored carbon from previous carbon cycles. when we burn fossil fuels we release this carbon in to the atmosphere again. Increase carbon dioxide acts as a reflector, rising the global climate. Biomass pellets however are shaped from a reserve which is already component of the untreated and existing carbon cycle. Burning wood pellets simply reintroduces the carbon collected during the growth of the tree back into the atmosphere, new trees the absorb this carbon dioxide as well as the cycle continues. More green carbon taxes are going to placed on fossil fuels to encourage low carbon alternative energy. This will further help to grow the biomass pellet market, along with support biomass pellet manufacturers by more stable market demand.

Read more about Wood Pellet Manufacturers

Today most wood pellet manufactures manufacture premium biomass pellets for the home heating market. These pellets are produced from softwood and hardwood residues such as pine, spruce along with oak sawdust, majority from timber processing from housing manufacture. This does on the other hand leave the pellet manufactures dependant on the dwelling market. In 2008-2009 this lead to issues along with premium pellet shortages. As the recession hit, the housing market was one of the worst effected sectors. This lead to less new horses being built, along with in term less demand for timber. As timber was not be shaped, there was also no waste sawdust to produce premium wood pellets, this lead to fee increases in addition to supply problems. The biomass pellet manufactures need to create a wider range of wood pellet fuels from a mixture of resources not to fall in the same trap again. On the other hand consumers also need to purchase more energy flexible pellet stoves to be able to burn the pellets.

More information on Wood Pellet Heating

Wood Pellet Heating And Fuel Costs And Log Stoves

February 11th, 2010

Using biomass as a energy for heating solutions is nothing new, on the other hand using wood in pellet form for heating solutions has only really existed on commercial scale since the beginning of the 21st century. Basic log stoves along with boilers have always been a division of residence in addition to company heating solutions. Though they have never really gained mass market appeal in the modern world. The obvious reasons for this is that they are very labour intensive, they are not very fuel efficient, the energy is not always locally available and log transportation over longer distances is not economically viable or sustainable. Therefore the only people who have used log heating solutions are those either have access to their own or a local reserve of seasoned timber. The other issues are the logs generally sold are not seasoned down to the 30% required to achieve a satisfactory burn by means of limited smoke. Yet many of the wood log dealers sell the fuel at prices which would not indicate that it contained between 40-50% moisture. The other major disadvantage is the volume of space that is required to store the timber. This therefore technique the wood log heating market will never grow into a serious market contender in the 21st century. On the other hand pellets do offer a practical heating solution which can compete by other heating units.

Learn more about Wood Pellets Online

The principle of wood pellet fuel has actually existed since the 1970’s. Animal feed mill processors were experimenting by means of using wood in the feed mills. On the other hand the machine is not ideal to manufacture biomass pellets, they did create the first wood pellet fuel, plus a few wood pellet fuel manufactures in addition to pellet stove manufactures did enter the market. Though at the time there was no real market share for the wood pellet. Biomass pellets are more expensive than biomass logs, in addition to the benefits were not well known. Though they had much lower maintenance than incineration logs, they still required more maintenance than oil or gas heating solutions. At that time the cost of oil and gas was cheap, there we no concern over fuel supply along with no one was aware of climate change plus carbon emissions. The biomass pellet market never really go going until the beginning of the 21st century, when the prices of oil along with gas began to rise plus concern over climate change was been started to be taken seriously. Sweden was well ahead of the rest of the world with biomass pellet fuels, as well as had proved the principle of the fuel along with pellet stoves plus pellet boilers.

Read more about Wood Pellet Manufacturing

The characteristics of biomass pellet fuel is a uniform shape in addition to size. These qualities mean wood pellets are ideal for automatic feeding systems by auger units. Wood pellet stoves plus boiler have an integrate hopper which can hold at least a days worth of energy. The burner is controller by way of computer which monitors the fire plus feeds in the required amount of pellets to maintain the most wanted heat. As most pellet burners also have hot rod igniters they can ignite the pellets as well, so the pellet stove or boiler can turn its self on, on demand and turn its self off by cutting off air flow to the fire. Biomass pellets have a much higher density than wood logs plus also a much lower moisture content below 10%. This means the pellets generate less ash in addition to less smoke, requiring less maintenance. Premium wood pellets produce only 0.5% ash.

More information on Wood Pellet Production

Wood Pellet Machine And Processes And Characteristics

February 11th, 2010

Pellet making machines are known with more than a few names, including biomass pellet machine, biomass pellet mill as well as biomass pellet press among others. The basic principle of all wood pellet machines is the compression of the wood residue between a roller and die. The pressure and heat involved melts the biomass residue together and forms it into a pellet shape. Once the pellets cool they hold the pellet shape plus quality pellets are durable. However the above comment is to make the process appear much more uncomplicated than it actually is, as the characteristics as well as qualities of the raw material directly impact on how well the material performs in the pellet mill. The key factors which result the materials performance are particle size, matter density, moisture content as well as lignin percentage.

Learn more about Wood Pellet Mills

The general rule for particle size before going into the pellet is to be smaller than the diameter of the pellet to be formed. For instance if the pellet mill is using a 6mm die, the raw material particle size should be 6mm or below. On the other hand quite a few studies have shown that a smaller particle size of around 3mm performs better in the wood pellet machine generating a more compressed pellet. One of the reasons for this due to a smaller particle size, the pellet mill has better heat penetration into the raw matter to melt the unrefined lignin to help form the pellet. However, dropping the particle size below 3mm can have a negative outcome on pellet compression. As a fine dust the rollers of the pellet find it hard to trap the matter between the roller and die. Also as the fibre of the raw matter has been broken down to such a level, compression results are severely effected. Once the correct particle size has been established the biomass is processed in a hammer mill by a suitably sized screen to organize the biomass particles for the wood pellet machine. On the other hand matter density also effects the performance of the pellet mill. For case the pellet mill will have a unlike productivity by softwood residues compared to hardwood residues. The reasons for this is it is easier to compress softwood along with temperature penetration is easier, therefore a higher productivity can be achieved by way of softwood residues. Some biomass pellet manufactures create a blend of softwood along with hardwood residues to improve the performance of the wood pellet appliance.

Read more about Wood Pellet Equipment

One of the key reasons biomass pellets burn so efficiently is through the fact their moisture content is so low, though a certain percentage of moisture is required in the pellet production process to help to melt the organic lignin to bind the pellet together. This percentage varies between biomass species in addition to unlike pellet machines along with processes. For example, large scale manufacture uses steam conditioners to prepare the particle and pre-melt the lignin, here a lower moisture content is suitable. On the other hand for smaller scale production where steam conditioning is not practical or affordable, a higher moisture content is required. Some raw materials may also necessitate additional binder as well as lubricants as the percentage of untreated lignin is not ample. If this is the case the most common additional binders are based around modified corn starch. The input is below 1%, along with can improve pellet quality and also increase pellet mill productivity.

More information on Make Wood Pellets

Wood Pellet Inserts And Fuel Pellets And Heating

February 11th, 2010

The most popular forms of using pellet energy form dwelling heating is the biomass pellet stove or wood pellet stove inserts. Biomass pellet inserts provide a low maintenance plus convenient heating solution from heating a single room up to a whole property. The inserts can achieve this due to either hot are ventilation, convection heat or the unit may even have a back boiler. How much maintenance wood pellet inserts requires changes depending on the features of the stove. The first as well as most basic maintenance require is loading the woos pellet insert by way of fuel. As inserts are fully integrated to the fireplace the obtainable space for the inbuilt energy hopper is limited. On the other hand, you should still be able to expect at least a days worth of fuel to be held in the hopper even on maximum settings. Through the fact the biomass pellet inserts are heavily integrated into the fireplace, access to load the hopper is more limited. To lessen the maintenance of fuel loading further, some consumer has the inbuilt hopper of the inserts fed from an external hopper in the garage or outside. Having an external large hopper also means bulk pellet delivers are possible with pellet tanker.

Learn more about Wood Pellet Mills

The second other key area of maintenance of biomass pellet inserts is ash removal. The particular task depends on two factors, the type of energy pellets you are combustion plus the size of the ash draw. Choosing a biomass pellet insert by a large ash draw will visibly diminish the number of times it has to be emptied, on the other hand it may also mean the unit is more energy flexible along with able to burn a wider range of energy pellets which may generate more ash. For example, premium grade pellet fuels generally generate around 0.5% ash. This is lowest ash content pellet presently obtainable. Even by way of a fairly small ash draw, the user shouldn’t have to empty the draw until a weeks or even more of incineration.
The problem is as premium biomass pellets are in the most demand, they sometimes have supply issues plus also they already demand the finest prices, as they generate the least ash as well as most heat. The reason for resource complications it the wood residue to produce premium wood pellets is heavily dependant on timber construction. So when timber construction slows, so does the accessible wood sawdust to manufacture premium wood pellets. Therefore when premium pellet supply is lacking, having a wood pellet insert which can used higher ash content fuels is an advantage, so opting for wood pellet stove inserts by way of large ash draws has its advantages. There are other requires the pellet stove requires to burn high ash content energy such as the correct burn pot in addition to auger feed system designs.

Read more about Wood Pellet Furnace

Compare to basic biomass heating solutions such as log stoves, wood pellet inserts provide a far more modern in addition to proficient technique to utilize biomass to heat your house or company. Yet, the likely of the pellet energy market is with no way full exploited, as a there are many more biomass resources which can be used to make efficient energy pellets which are not used. For case willow as well as hemp are two crops which show great likely to move the pellet fuels market forward as their growth rate is very quick as well as can meet the demands of the mounting pellet fuels market. Torrefacation will also revolutionize pellet stove energy.

More information on Wood Pellet

Wood Pellet Plus Furnace Plus Energy Prices

February 11th, 2010

A biomass pellet furnace can describe many different forms of pellet burning solutions, these include biomass pellet stoves in addition to wood pellet boilers. There are many different designs of wood pellet furnace, each by way of its own abilities in addition to limits. One of the key points is premium wood pellets are the market leader, as they call for the least maintenance. Wood pellet stove along with boiler manufactures know that most of their consumers are only interested in combustion premium grade pellet fuel for these reasons. They therefore design their biomass pellet furnace by means of the ability to burn only premium biomass pellets. The reason for this is it is much cheaper to manufacture a unit to burn only premium wood pellets than to successfully burn a wider grade of biomass pellet fuels and other wood fuel pellets. Most consumers at this point will no be the wiser to the boundaries of their chosen wood pellet furnace. Yet in the future and as the pellet energy market grows, they may begin to understand the implications of their furnace choice. Premium wood pellet fuels are shaped from timber residues of softwood along with hardwood. Currently the size of the timber processing industry can support the pellet fuels industry by way of ample biomass sawdust to produce pellets to meet market demand. However, the wood pellet market has not even come close to its probable, therefore where will the additional wood be sourced from? The biomass used for premium wood pellets has to be from only certain species, plus by the bark removed, to maintain the ultra low 0.5% ash content. The concern is that trees themselves by be cut down to meet the demands to the market.

Learn more about Wood Pellet Mill

Once the reserve of biomass reside cannot meet the demands of the premium pellet fuel market, then the fee of premium wood pellets will rise. This has been seen already, with the impact of the banking collapse and mortgage crisis in the US. When the crisis took hold, all new housing production stopped. This in tern meant there was less timber being processed in addition to less sawdust. Increased prices of sawdust constructed the charge of premium biomass pellets enlarge, not only did the price raise, there also wasn’t the volume of sawdust to meet market demand. By means of purchasing a wood pellet furnace which can only burn premium grade pellets you have essentially tied your self to the inevitable fee rises in the future of premium pellets. The limiting factors of poor biomass pellet furnace design involve the design of the pellet auger feed system and the burn pot. Purchasing a more fuel flexible wood pellet furnace will not only mean the pellet burner can burn other grades of biomass pellets, but also wood energy pellets which are growing in appeal.

Read more about Wood Pellet Machine

As the fee of premium biomass pellets in the long term is certain to rise, alternatives which can be grown much more quickly than pine or spruce must be used. Popular wood crops for pellet energy are hemp and willow, both have similar burning characteristics to wood, however by way of hemp for instance it has only a four month increasing period from see along with requires very little upkeep. Many other biomass materials can also be processed into energy pellets, these include grasses such as miscanthus, switchgrass and reed canary grass. Pellet fuel has a increasing future.

More information on Wood Pellet Inserts