Today, the require for alternative fuel sources is clear. Our belief on fossil fuels is no longer sustainable or affordable. There is a limited supply of fossil fuels, in addition to as the global population continues to increase 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 as well as carbon emissions. Therefore the call for for renewable energy sources such as wood is driven on fuel supply, price as well as environmental concerns. The issue is how do we capture the energy from wood. Wood in its unrefined form is not an ideal energy source. Wood generally has a low bulk density along with therefore also a low fuel density. Also the moisture content of raw wood is generally too high to provide efficient incineration. Therefore the biomass requires processing into a more useable form of fuel. Pellets are part of that wood solution.
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As discussed, biomass in its raw form is not ideal as an fuel source owing to its low density along with high moisture content. One of the simplest ways to turn biomass into a highly efficient in addition to 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 along with energy density compared to the raw material plus also a much lower moisture content below 10%. This enables the pellets to burn much more efficiently than raw wood. There are also developments to make wood pellets even more proficient, and have a higher energy density. One interesting practice is torrefaction. Torrefaction is where the biomass is heated to between 200 along with 300 degrees, plus a lot of the unwanted volatiles which lessen combustion 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 along with wood pellets, it also have quite a lot of supplementary payback. This benefits include being hydrophobic, which means the pellets are not susceptible to moisture as fuel pellets presently are. Torrefied wood and biomass pellets are gaining ground, and are the future.
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Converting wood energy into pellets brings abode heating with solid wood energy away from high maintenance log stoves into the 21st century. Modern pellet stoves in addition to boilers have a mixture of automated features which decrease the work load of the owner. For case fuel hoppers on pellet burners usually hold at least a days worth of energy. On the other hand some have large external hoppers which hold a years reserve. Owing to the demand for energy from wood as well as a greater demand for pellets, interest in pellet production has also grown significantly. Producing quality energy pellets requires several pieces of gear from chippers, hammer mills, dryers in addition to pellets mills also known as pellet machines as well as pellet press. Operating this gear requires a exact knowledge of what each material requires to make quality pellets.
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