Turning Waste Into Treasure: Waste Paper Can Also Be Turned Into Biomass Fuel

Along with the development of human civilization, the number of waste paper has a gradually increase trend every year. It is seen everywhere. Many ways have been researched to recycle the waste paper, while the waste paper has been polluted and there are many toxic substances contained, so it is not good for people to have a direct contact with it again. Thus, it is a good choice to have a try to make biomass pellets from the waste paper.

Another form of paper is the cardboard. The amount of paper and cardboard in the country is enormous, and the paper and cardboard waste that go the landfill sometimes are exported to other countries. Recycling paper and cardboard is quite the obvious option, but why not be creative and use them heating your house. It is best to try and use it locally instead as the great materials for pellet mill. The waste paper can be turned into pellets to power boilers. Apart from being used in large scale boilers, in some cases, they can potentially be used in small home pellet stoves or boilers.

When waste paper is made into biomass pellets, it can be used as one green and renewable energy resource with a wide application. The waste paper pellet is a high efficient fuel that plays an important role in family heating, cooking, generating electricity, or as industrial fuel. They can discharge as high calorific value as possible, little smoke and ash left. That is to say, the utilization of waste paper pellets can not only create great economic benefit, but also save a lot of labor.

How to Turn Waste Paper Into Biomass Pellets

How to turn waste paper into biomass pellets? It is inseparable from the waste paper shredder, waste paper pellet machine, cooling system, and screening system. In short, a complete set of waste paper pellet production line equipment is needed.

Collecting and sorting

Waste papers are abundant in schools, printing companies, market, and office buildings. Paper mill residues are another important source. These materials have different sizes and features, you need to sort them in groups for future processing.

Grinding

You need a hammer mill to crush large size of waste papers into powder with the size of less than 6mm.

Drying

The moisture content of paper materials should be 12%-15%. Neither higher or lower are not acceptable. If the papers are too dry, it would cause static charge and make the pellets light and fluffy. In this regard, you can add certain amount of water to the pellet making machine when processing.

If the moisture content is over-high, you need to lower it by putting the powdery material in a rotary dryer or a pipeline dryer.

Making paper pellets

This is the core process of making paper pellets. Feed materials of proper size and moisture content into the paper pellet machine. They will get compressed and molded in the compression chamber and come out in the shape of cylinders. Usually, there are waste paper pellet making machine for large-scale production and flat die pellet machine for small-scale production.

Waste Paper Pellet Making Machine

Pellet cooling

The newly produced paper pellets has high temperature of 90 ℃. So you need a pellet cooler to lower the pellets to room temperature. Cooling can improve the stability and hardness of paper pellets. Also, you can put the paper pellets in open air for natural withering.

Pellet sieving

Use a sieve to remove the residual powders in the paper pellets. These powders can be re-pelletized together with the left materials.

Pellet packing

Pellet packer is essential for large-scale paper pellet production. It can weigh and package the pellet products in bags. Package can protect the paper pellets from erosion of moisture and wind. Pellets can be stored in the closed silos.

The Benefits of Paper Pellet

1. Quality: Paper pellets are made to meet the quality demands of the energy system. They are very dense, and the Btu content is similar to coal. The dry processing gives them extremely low moisture content.

2. Cost: The price of paper pellets is one direct benefit and a main lure for customers. Transportation is the highest cost component, therefore, the distance of your industry from the pellet manufacturer may be the biggest determinant of its economic value.

3. Environment: Paper pellets have less sulfur and produce less carbon monoxide than coal, which makes them a little more attractive. Compared to wood, paper has less formaldehyde. Besides, using recycled paper for pellets is effective in reducing landfill waste.

4. Lubrication: Paper pellet dust can lubricate the burning system. It is found that paper pellets absorb some of the moisture on coal, allowing the coal to flow more easily on its way to burning.

Paper pellets are typically mixed with coal or wood before being conveyed into the boiler. Co-burning paper pellets takes a little more effort than burning a single kind of fuel. Yet, for the company that wants to save money, develop the region's economy, and improve some of its fuel handling, it may be the right choice for the fuel needs. To process the waste paper, the pellet mill is necessary. There are some essential matters to be paid attention to.

Tips & Warnings

1. No not use the office paper shredder, because the paper pieces are not small enough to use in the pellet mill. In addition, office paper shredder is not built to handle the capacity required to make paper pellets.

2. Using a hammer mill to shred the old documents is a good way to prevent identity theft. They will be unreadable after shredding.

3. If the pellets are too wet to burn well, try letting the shredded paper dry out before feeding it into the pellet mill. According to World Forest Industries, the moisture content should be between 10 and 20 percent for optimum results.

4. Shredding paper to the required size will create a lot of dust. Wear a mask to protect your lungs. Use the shredder and pellet mill in a well-ventilated area to avoid combustion of the dust.