Today, the require for renewable fuel sources is clear. Our dependence on fossil fuels is no longer sustainable or affordable. There is a limited reserve of fossil fuels, along with as the global population continues to enlarge at an accelerating rate, those supplies cannot meet the demands of a rising population. Also, fossil fuels are now known to be a key contributor to climate change along with carbon emissions. Therefore the call for for renewable energy sources such as wood is driven on energy reserve, price and environmental concerns. The issue is how do we capture the energy from wood. Biomass in its untreated form is not an ideal fuel source. Wood generally has a low bulk density plus therefore also a low fuel density. Also the moisture content of raw wood is generally too high to provide proficient combustion. Therefore the wood requires processing into a more useable form of fuel. Pellets are part of that biomass solution.
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As discussed, wood in its raw form is not ideal as an fuel source through its low density plus high moisture content. One of the simplest ways to turn biomass into a highly proficient as well as cheap form of fuel is to compress the biomass matter into pellets. Pellets are in the shape of small cylinders, which for fuel pellets are usually 6 or 8mm in diameter. Pellets have a much higher bulk as well as energy density compared to the raw material as well as also a much lower moisture content below 10%. This enables the pellets to burn much more efficiently than raw biomass. There are also developments to make biomass pellets even more efficient, along with have a higher fuel density. One interesting practice is torrefaction. Torrefaction is where the wood is heated to between 200 and 300 degrees, along with a lot of the unwanted volatiles which diminish incineration efficiency are burnt off. What is left is a much purer form of carbon which not only burns much more more efficiently than standard wood in addition to wood pellets, it also have more than a few other payback. This payback include being hydrophobic, which means the pellets are not susceptible to moisture as fuel pellets presently are. Torrefied biomass plus wood pellets are gaining ground, and are the future.
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Converting biomass fuel into pellets brings home heating by means of solid wood energy away from high maintenance log stoves into the 21st century. Modern pellet stoves in addition to boilers have a range of automated features which reduce the work load of the owner. For case fuel hoppers on pellet burners usually hold at least a days worth of fuel. Yet some have large external hoppers which hold a years resource. Through the demand for energy from biomass as well as a greater demand for pellets, interest in pellet production has also grown significantly. Producing quality energy pellets requires quite a few pieces of apparatus from chippers, hammer mills, dryers as well as pellets mills also known as pellet machines as well as pellet press. Operating this gear requires a definite knowledge of what each material requires to produce quality pellets.
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