Today, the require for alternative energy sources is clear. Our belief on fossil fuels is no longer sustainable or affordable. There is a limited supply of fossil fuels, as well as 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 and carbon emissions. Therefore the need for alternative fuel sources such as wood is driven on fuel supply, cost plus environmental concerns. The issue is how do we capture the energy from wood. Wood in its natural form is not an ideal energy source. Biomass generally has a low bulk density and therefore also a low energy density. Also the moisture content of raw wood is generally too high to provide efficient incineration. Therefore the wood requires processing into a more useable form of energy. Pellets are component of that biomass solution.
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As discussed, biomass 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 efficient and cheap form of fuel is to compress the biomass matter into pellets. Pellets are in the shape of small cylinders, which for energy pellets are usually 6 or 8mm in diameter. Pellets have a much higher bulk as well as fuel density compared to the raw material in addition to 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 produce biomass pellets even more efficient, in addition to have a higher energy 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 lessen 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 and wood pellets, it also have quite a lot of extra payback. This payback include being hydrophobic, which means the pellets are not susceptible to moisture as energy pellets currently are. Torrefied wood along with biomass pellets are gaining ground, in addition to are the future.
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Converting wood fuel into pellets brings home heating with solid biomass energy away from high maintenance log stoves into the 21st century. Modern pellet stoves as well as boilers have a range of automated features which decrease the work load of the owner. For case in point energy hoppers on pellet burners usually hold at least a days worth of fuel. Yet some have large external hoppers which hold a years resource. Due to the demand for energy from wood plus a greater demand for pellets, interest in pellet construction has also grown significantly. Generating quality energy pellets requires more than a few pieces of equipment from chippers, hammer mills, dryers in addition to pellets mills also known as pellet machines and pellet press. Operating this apparatus requires a definite knowledge of what each matter requires to produce quality pellets.
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