How to Make Wood and Plant Residues Waste Into Biomass Pellets

Biomass pellets are a popular type of biomass fuel, generally made from wood wastes, agricultural biomass, commercial grasses and forestry residues. Dense cubes pellets have the flowability characteristics similar to those of cereal grains. High density of pellets also permits compact storage and rational transport over long distance. In addition to savings in transportation and storage, pelletization of biomass facilitates easy and cost effective handling. Pellet-making equipment is available at a variety of sizes and scales, which allows manufacture at domestic as well industrial-scale production. Pellets have a cylindrical shape and are about 6-12 mm in diameter and 3-30 mm in length.Pellets are extremely dense and can be produced with a low moisture content that allows them to be burned with very high combustion efficiency.

Wood and Plant Residues Waste

The biomass pelletization process consists of multiple steps including raw material pre-treatment, pelletization and post-treatment. The first step in the pelletization process is the preparation of feedstock which includes selecting a feedstock suitable for this process, its filtration, storage and protection. Raw materials used are sawdust, wood shavings, wood wastes, agricultural residues like straw, switchgrass etc. Filtration is done to remove unwanted materials like stone, metal, etc. The feedstock should be stored in such a manner that it is away from impurities and moisture. In cases where there are different types of feedstock, a blending process is used to achieve consistency.

The moisture content in biomass can be considerably high and are usually up to 50% – 60% which should be reduced to 10 to 15%. Rotary drum dryer is the most common equipment used for this purpose. It should be noted that the feedstock should not be over dried, as a small amount of moisture helps in binding the biomass particles. The drying process is the most energy intensive process and accounts for about 70% of the total energy used in the pelletization process.

How to Make Wood and Plant Residues Waste Pellets?

(1) Fragmentation: Use a fragmentation machine to break the incoming wood and plant waste residues into small pieces.

(2) Crushing: Use a wood and plant waste residues crusher to crush the broken agricultural waste residues into small particles that meet the requirements.

hammer mill crusher

(3) Drying: The crushed particles are dried. The average water content of the raw materials purchased in this project is about 20%, and it needs to be dried to 5% before production. The rotary drum drying machine is used in this project. Biomass hot air stove, the fuel is biomass pellets, and the temperature of the dryer is controlled at 150-250℃.

(4) Granulation: The dried granules are conveyed to the agricultural waste residues wood pellet mill pelletizer through the conveyor for granulation, and the finished product is made by extrusion molding. The extrusion process is a physical process without any adhesive and no chemical reaction.

wood and plant residues waste pellet mill pelletizer

(5) Inspection: The unformed or unqualified particles are screened out by the screening machine, and this part of the particles enters the crushing device to be reused without discharge.

(6) Packing and warehousing: the products that have passed the inspection are packed and put into the warehouse.

Advantages of Wood and Plant Residues Waste Pellets

• High efficiency
• Low cost
• Wide application
• Renewable
• Eco-friendly
• Promote the development of biomass energy
• Promote the popularization of wood and plant waste residues pellet press.

Wood and Plant Residues Waste Pellets