what is the biomass pellets energy

Biomass pellets energy refers to the energy produced from biomass.

Biomass energy facts

Biomass means all organic matters that store energy from photosynthesis. So biomass in most times refers to plants. (But because plants are always transferred to animal bodies through food chain, animals are also biomasses. Here we mainly discuss plants that can produce fuel.)

Chemical composition of biomass

Biomass is carbon based, so it contains carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and also other chemical components.

But most important, it contains cellulose and lignin.

Lignin is a kind of complex polymer that is mainly derived from wood. The more lignin a plant has, the stronger it is. So the strong wood contains more lignin than weak straw. Lignin does not have smelting point, but will soften at high temperature and become adhesive. In this case, the pellet mill can generate great heat when pressing biomass and the lignin will soften and adhere cellulose. Besides, the great pressure caused by the pellet mill can press the biomass tightly into solid pellets.

What biomass energy can be made into pellets?

Not all biomasses are suitable for pellet making. Only those with high lignin content can be utilized to make pellets. Common seen raw materials are as follows:

Wood chips, sawdust, wood shavings, alfalfa, bagasse, straw, corn stover, stalk, bamboo, rice husk, peanut shell, peanut shell, EFB, grass, waste paper, etc.

You can also download the raw material list by clicking here.

Why do we use biomass pellets energy?

It has been a debatable topic ever since the invention of pellet mills.

As what we know, traditionally we use fossil fuels as the main energy source, which include coal, oil and gas. However, fossil fuels are formed over thousands of years, so they are in fact precious. Besides, the burning of coal always release much CO₂ and even SO₂: the CO₂ may cause greenhouse effect (which is also called global warming), while SO₂ can harm the atmosphere.

Unlike fossil fuels, biomass pellets energy is clean and renewable since they are made from plants. Some plants like crop and grass can grow every year. Others like wood may take longer time to grow, but what we use for pellets making are usually wood waste like sawdust or wood shavings.

Picture Display for Different Kinds of Biomass Pellets

Alfalfa Pellets	Sawdust Pellets
Rice Husk Pellets	Grass Pellets

Besides, biomass pellets energy has more energy efficiency than its raw materials and coal, and it cost the least among common seen efficient energy sources. Read the graph below for more information.

Fuel Type	Efficiency	Units to Produce 1,000,000 BTU	Unit Cost	Cost to Produce 1,000,000 BTU
Wood	60%	0.08 cord	$180.00/cord	$14.40
Wood Pellets	80%	0.08 ton	$220.00/cord	$17.60
Natural Gas	80%	12.5 therm	$1.50/therm	$18.75
Propane Gas	80%	13.5 gal	$2.00/gal	$27.00
Coal	75%	0.05 ton	$200.00/ton	$10.00
Fuel Oil	80%	9.0 gal	$2.00/gal	$18.00
Electricity	100%	293.1kw	$0.10/kw	$29.31

What’s more, now biomass pellets making is also supported by many national governments like in UK, Germany, Italy, France, etc. So making biomass pellets energy has become a world trend.
 

After reading the above content, most people may be curious:

What are used to produce biomass pellets energy?

The biomass pellets making include the following equipments:

• Hammer mill

It is a kind of machine used to cut large pieces of biomass materials that have about 30mm diameter into much smaller sizes of 2-5mm to be suitable for pelletizing. It is one of the most important pre-processing equipment for biomass pellets making.

• Drying machine

Another important piece of equipment in biomass pellets production, which is used to decrease biomass raw material moisture content from about 25% or even much higher to around 10%. If the raw material moisture is too high, it will decrease pellets productivity and even do harm to biomass pellet making machine.

• Biomass pellet mill

The core part in a complete biomass pellet plant. There are small biomass pellet mill and large biomass pellet mill with different capacities. Small biomass pellet mill is usually used for small scale pellets production like for small farms or home heating, while large biomass pellet mill is often used in complete pellet production line for industrial use.

• Cooling machine

It is used to cool the pellets which just come out from biomass pellet mill, since biomass pellets often have high temperature of about 70-80℃. After cooling (usually the cooler is also able to sieve the pellets), the biomass pellets will reach room temperature.

• Pellet packing machine

If you make biomass pellets for sale, the pellet packing machine is a necessity.