One of the most common forms of wood heating used in many homes is the open fire place where they use logs to heat their living room. Some may even have a basic stove in their living room using logs. Yet these biomass heating solutions only provide sufficient temperature for one room, are not very energy proficient and require quite a lot of maintenance to keep feeding the fire by logs along with also clean the fire place of ash. Therefore the main source of heat usually comes from a gas or oil boiler. Though with gas along with oil prices continuing to rise, alternatives for these heating solutions are most sort after. There are wood heating solutions such as log or even straw bail burners for large properties. However these solutions are very large as well as expensive, and cannot be used for individual small properties. Over recent years there has been a growth of wood chips boilers, they are still quite large but can be smaller than log along with straw bail burners to generate the same value of heat. It may also be clear that the fuel can be sourced locally, on the other hand this often is not the instance.
The main problem by log plus biomass chip wood heating solutions is moisture in the fuel. Even seasoned wood logs in addition to chips still contain around 30% moisture. This moisture lowers burning efficiency, generates less heat, more ash and creosote in the smokestack. Another key point is you are paying fuel money for water. Importantly also there is a risk that the biomass hasn't been properly seasoned down to the 30%. By way of pellets on the other hand, you can be sure that the pellet is maximum 15% moisture, as it is not possible for a pellet for form properly by more moisture.
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Pellets also have other payback that manufacture them ideal for wood heating. Their uniform shape along with size way that can work well by way of hoppers. Wood chips on the other hand necessitate some form of agitation to fall because of a hopper to the fire feed system. As pellets are a much higher density their combustion efficiency is much greater and also generate less ash to clean.
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Biomass pellet production has quite a lot of steps along with processes depending on your chosen wood matter. For instance the two key steps before the material can enter a pellet appliance are size reduction along with drying. The biomass must be reduced in size before the matter can be compressed into the pellets. Once reduced it must be dried to on average 15% moisture. At this level of moisture the correct balance between lignin melting and compression can take place. Too much moisture and the pellet mill cannot reach operating heat and you cannot compress a material by a high level of moisture. Dryer is a very expensive plus energy intensive process. Therefore it can be very beneficial to buy a raw material which is already at the correct moisture percentage. When the matter enters the pellet mill it is compressed between the die as well as rollers. Under compression heat is generated which melts the organic lignin along with forms the material in to a pellet.
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