Wood Pellet Manufacturers Processes

Making wood pellets is a relatively new industry particularly in the fuel sector, but even in the pellet industry as for so long animal feed pellet manufactures have dominated the market. Wood pellet manufacturers have actually existed since the 1970's when the first experiments we conducted using animal feed pellet mills to process wood into pellet. Then a few pellet stove manufactures started up, however the market was never really taken seriously. The reasons for the is on one side oil and gas were so cheap, that there was no cost advantage of burning wood pellets, and there was increased maintenance in using pellets. No one at that time has even heard of climate change and global warming, therefore that also did not influence the market and help to promote pellets. On the other side of the market, where wood log stove owners were, they were also not interested. As they would have to spend more on the pellets than logs, and the true benefits of increased efficiency were not fully known. This lead the idea of wood pellets for fuel in a sense been moth balled. With just a small wood pellet market producing animal bedding for horses.

It was only really at the start of the 21st century that the wood pellet fuels market was looked at again with serious interest and investment in wood pellet manufacturers. Once it became clear that oil and gas prices were on the rise to record levels, and their effect on climate change that action to promote wood pellet fuels was taken. Fossil fuels such as oil and gas are net contributors of carbon emissions. They are essentially stored carbon from previous carbon cycles. when we burn fossil fuels we release this carbon in to the atmosphere again. Increase carbon dioxide acts as a reflector, increasing the global climate. Wood pellets on the other hand are produced from a resource which is already part of the natural and existing carbon cycle. Burning wood pellets simply reintroduces the carbon collected during the growth of the tree back into the atmosphere, new trees the absorb this carbon dioxide and the cycle continues. More green carbon taxes are going to placed on fossil fuels to encourage low carbon renewable energy. This will further help to grow the wood pellet market, and support wood pellet manufacturers with more stable market demand.

Premium Wood Pellets and Fuel Pellets

Today most wood pellet manufactures produce premium wood pellets for the home heating market. These pellets are produced from softwood and hardwood residues such as pine, spruce and oak sawdust, majority from timber processing from housing construction. This does however leave the pellet manufactures dependant on the house market. In 2008-2009 this lead to issues and premium pellet shortages. As the recession hit, the housing market was one of the worst effected sectors. This lead to less new horses being built, and in term less demand for timber. As timber was not be produced, there was also no waste sawdust to produce premium wood pellets, this lead to price increases and supply problems. The wood pellet manufactures need to produce a wider range of wood pellet fuels from a variety of resources not to fall in the same trap again. However consumers also need to purchase more fuel flexible pellet stoves to be able to burn the pellets.

 The Wood Pellet Production Guide © PelHeat Ltd - Wood Pellet Manufacturers