How do you make wood pellets for commercial use?
Are you planning to step into the wood pellet business? If you have a solid wood pellet business plan, it has the potential for exceptional profitability.
Wood pellets are a sustainable and affordable energy source. Therefore, their demand is continuously growing worldwide.
According to experts, the global wood pellet market can surpass the value of USD 31 Bn. by 2030. The market is expected to grow with a CAGR of 11%.
Learn the complete wood pellet manufacturing process for commercial purposes.
Prerequisites
Making wood pellets for profit at a large scale requires a pellet plant with advanced equipment.
You will have set up a complete pellet production line, having a pellet machine, drum chipper, hammer mill, and dryer machine.
You may also require a pellet cooler and packaging machine to meet wood pellet demand on time,
Let’s learn how to make wood pellets in a commercial setting.
Collect Raw Material
Several people ask this question – what are wood pellets made of? Depending on the availability, you can use sawdust, wood chips, and other wood residues as raw material.
You can arrange these materials from sawmills, timber companies, and local forests.
Resizing of Raw Material
Before you take raw materials into use, reduce their size. They are reduced in size to make sure they fit into the die.
You can use a wood chipper to pre-process your raw material. If raw material is in a large quantity, use a hammer mill.
This machine minimizes the size of wood waste by the force of its blunt hammers.
If you are using sawdust, skip this step. You can turn sawdust into wood pellets without any processing.
Transporting the Raw Material
If you have raw material on a large scale, you will need to transport it to the dryer using conveyor belts.
Drying of Raw Material
Drying raw materials is crucial to get high-quality wood pellets. The moisture content affects the calorific value of wood pellets.
Consequently, it is crucial to maintain the right amount of moisture only. Generally, experts recommend 10-20% moisture.
You can use a drum dryer that uses hot air to dry the raw material.
Batch Mixing
It is necessary to maintain uniformity across every aspect of the material batch. If raw material does not have similar density and moisture consistency every time, the quality of wood pellets may be compromised. Use a batch mixer to achieve consistency.
Pelletizing
Pelletizing is the process that turns raw material into pellets. In this step, raw material passes through the holes of the die and becomes pellets. A roller pushes the material on the die, and due to force, it gets moved across the holes of the die.
Cooling
As soon as pellets come out of the machine, they are extremely hot. Therefore, they need immediate cooling to maintain their shape.
This wood pellet process includes air cooling the hot pellets to harden them. The cooling also reduces the weight of pellets as it soaks the moisture.
Sieving of Pellets
In this step, cooled pellets are screened precisely. Uneven and oversized pellets are removed before packaging and shipping to the customers.
Storage and Packaging
Storage and packaging are two significant steps. Don’t forget that they play a crucial role in maintaining the quality of your pellets.
Always store wood pellets in a dry place. You can choose high-quality plastic bags to pack your pellets. Select bags of different sizes as per the demand.
For large-scale customers who need wood pellets for power plants or other industrial uses, wood pellets are stored and supplied in large containers.