What are pine wood pellets?
Sawdust or some industrial dust obtained from milling lumber, wood manufacturing, furniture etc, are used as wood pellets which acts as a good fuel. Pine is the coniferous trees which belong to the Pinaceae family.
The evergreen coniferous pine trees are used as firewood because they are economic. But the disadvantage with this is that they release huge amounts of air pollutants such as carbon dioxide, soot, and carbon monoxide. Therefore pellets are made of pine wood avoid all these shortcomings.
The distinct features of pine wood pellets:
- The pellets are made out of 100% eco-friendly pine products.
- These pellets have more than 85% combustion efficiency. The combustion value is about 9600 btu/lb.
- The pellets have the capacity to absorb 4 times the liquid as compared to its own weight.
- They emit less amount of sulfur dioxide, ammonia compounds, and dust. It has about 0.4% ash content, which can be used as a fertilizer in the farm.
- They have a low moisture content, i.e below 10%. This is the reason behind its high efficiency.
- They are highly durable and last longer.
- The manufacture of pellets does not require indiscriminate felling of trees because the residues left are felling and pruning are used to make them. Thus it is an environmentally friendly process.
- They do not contain germs and do not emit any harmful fumes on burning. So, it can even be used in densely populated areas.
Where are these pine wood pellets used?
- In rural areas where gas is not available, pine wood pellets act as a major source of fuel.
- They are used in power plants for electricity generation, thus replacing coal.
- The pine wood’s strong absorbency and odor controlling ability make it a safe and clean environment for the cats as well as their owners. It can be cleaned easily and it emits a fresh pine scent.
- It forms a comfortable sterile bedding for the horses as they can neutralize the odor and absorbs the moisture. It ensures a clean and dry stall and the waste generation also reduced by about 50%, which leads to the creation of higher quality compost product
- The food processing facilities; department of corrections facilities; asphalt, concrete and petrochemical companies; and schools which use fuel oil, strongly support the pine sawdust pellet market development.
- The highest pine wood pellet consuming market in the world is Europe which consumers 15 million tons more pellets and 102million tons bioenergy.
The production process of Pinewood pellets:
Advanced equipment and technology, which are cost-effective, are used for producing the pine wood pellets. In order to price, acceptable final quality product at the end, the various steps involved in the process are as follows:
1.Receiving the raw materials:
Good quality raw materials are needed to produce superior quality pellets. The wet pine sawdust should be clean and free from bark or dirt. It should not be exposed to weather, as this can cause harmful elements getting mixed into it.
2.Crushing
A flat die with a small hole of about 6mm is used for pressing the raw material. The sawdust that is of larger size needs to be crushed using hammer mills into smaller sizes.
3.Drying
Good quality pellets have a suitable moisture level. Excess moisture is removed by oven-drying or blowing hot air over them. 6-8% moisture is the optimum level in the final product.
4.Pelleting
The biomass is compressed against a heated metal plate which is known as “die”, by the use of a roller. Small holes are drilled in a die through which the biomass get squeezed because of high temperature and pressure. With the suitable conditions, the particles transformed into a solid mass leading to the formation of a pellet. Then a blade is used to slice the palette to a predefined length. The lignin present in the sawdust acts as a flue which holds the pellets together. For large scale production, ring die pellet machine is used and for small-scale production, a flat die pellet machine is used.
5.Cooling:
The temperature of the soft pellets leaving the die is about 150° C. So, they are cooled and dried to remove the excess moisture, using a specially modified cooling equipment so that there is only about 8% moisture left. A rotary drum dryer is used for this purpose.
6.Sieving:
Before the final packaging, sieving is done to remove the unshaped materials from the finished products and make sure that the final package does not have any unwanted materials such as superfine powders.
Know more details about pine wood pellet manufacturing process here:
The packaging of pine wood pellets:
After the final product is formed, it is necessary that they do not get spoiled, so a proper packaging is needed. They are packaged and stored in bulk. They can last longer if they are kept dry, otherwise, they will spoil.
Benefits of pine wood pellets:
- They are cheaper as compared to other pellets or oil for heating or cooking.
- The pine trees are the softwood tres which grow faster, so it is a readily renewable source than hardwood.
- The regular geometry of the pellets and their small size enables automated feeding with very fine calibration. Pneumatic conveying or auger feeding can be used for feeding them to the burner.
- They have a high density because of which compact storage and long distance transportation is possible. On the premises of the customer, they can be blown conveniently from a tanker to a storage bunker or silo.
- Like the fossil fuels, they do not add CO2 to the atmosphere while burning, so there is no chance of increasing the greenhouse effect
Know more details regarding pine wood pellets here:
Where to buy pine wood pellets in bulk?
Our company is the best supplier of pine wood pellets in bulk. We ship the product worldwide. All you need to do is place your order with us and relax and we will make sure that the product is delivered to your doorstep.
Why purchase from us?
We provide you the pine wood pellets at a wholesale price that is lesser than other suppliers in the market. Also, our products undergo a thorough inspection to make sure that they are of superior quality. You can even contact the customer support executive at any time and get your queries resolved instantly.