There is very little information accessible on the internet on the specifics of wood pellet manufacture. There is a lot of general knowledge of how the process works, however it is very light on detail. The reasons for this is easy, very few people have first hand experience of the process, as well as how it actually works. The fact of the matter is biomass pellet construction is a skilled process, along with describing the process in a few works, go no where near to explaining the complexity plus detail of the process. At PelHeat we make small wood pellet mills, plus to improve general knowledge of the process we have developed this guide.

Learn more about Pellet Mill

Pellet mills come in various dissimilar shapes and sizes, including small pellet mills. There are various different designs of pellet mills, along with some are more common than others in the design of small pellet mills. Also the size of the pellet mill can influence its ability to process a range of raw materials. Therefore a small pellet mill can struggle to produce pellets out of certain materials, particularly high density materials, such as wood pellets as well as particularly hardwood pellets. The reasons most small pellet mills struggle to manufacture wood pellets, is they lack sufficient power to compress the biomass, plus they also do not generate sufficient heat to melt the biomass. As wood is a much harder material than grass for case in point, either more power is required in terms of a larger motor, or a lower gearing. Wood melting is crucial to the pellet process in addition to pellet binding. Biomass melts at a much higher temperature than straw, plus the friction generated in a small mill is usually insufficient to reach the required temperatures. Larger pellet mills have a larger contact area, which generates more friction, along with thus heat. Also large pellet machines usually have steam conditioners to enlarge the temperature of the wood before it enters the pellet mill.

Read more about Pellets

There are two core principle designs of pellet mills, which is either a flat die or disc die design. Flat die pellet mills work on a vertical process design, with raw matter entering from above as well as dropping down into the process area. The die is horizontal, with a set of rollers rotating across the surface. As the raw material falls from above, the rollers compress the matter due to the die in a upright motion. Flat die pellet mills are a much more accepted design for small pellet mills, owing to their more simple design plus operation. To learn more about flat die pellet mills, their advantages plus disadvantages, please click below to download the guide. Sphere die pellet mills work in a dissimilar manor to flat die pellet mills. In a circle die pellet mill the die encompasses the rollers, hence the ‘disc’ description. The rollers apply pressure to the inner surface of the die, compressing matter due to the outer surface of the die. Matter is forced fed horizontally into the centre of the ring, Pellets then fall vertically away from the circle. Small ring die pellet mills do exist, on the other hand they are not as well-liked through their more complicated design along with higher costs. On the other hand circle die pellet mills do have certain payback over flat die pellet mills.

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