What equipment is needed to produce biomass pellet fuel?

The production of biomass pellet fuel generally requires crushers, pulverizers, dryers, biomass pelletizers, coolers, and packaging machines.

1 Crusher: The main function is to make the initial processing of logs, wood scraps, and other irregular forestry waste into blocks or strips that are good for crushing. If the material is like wood chips, you can skip this step.

2 Crusher: Wood chips or other small pieces can be further reduced with a pulverizer.

3 Raw material transportation: Once the raw material is crushed, it must be transported to the dryer. There are several ways to transport these materials, namely screw conveyors, conveyor belts and vacuum systems. Among them, the screw conveyor is the most common mode of transportation.

4 Drying: Before making the granules, it must be ensured that the raw materials are dry. The water content should be between 15% and 20%, depending on the raw materials used. In order for the granulation process to be normal, the raw material should have an appropriate amount of moisture. Drying the material to contain the right amount of moisture is critical to the manufacture of high quality granules.

Heating and drying is a very expensive part of the granulation process. It is usually more cost effective to burn particles or burn wood to generate heat. The dryer is also used to heat the material, which makes it more mellow.

5 Mixing: To make homogenous particles, a batch of homogeneous raw materials is important. Raw materials with the same humidity and density do not need to be mixed. Other raw materials coming out of the dryer may have different humidity or density. If there are inconsistent materials, they should pass through a batch mixer, usually a roller and a stirrer.

6 Adjustment: Raw materials must have the correct performance before the pellets are produced. Many raw materials contain enough natural lignin to be glued together. Other materials may require the addition of additional additives such as vegetable oils.

If the water content is too low when the raw material is discharged from the dryer, water may be added, or the mixed water may contain a high amount of raw materials.

Some materials require more heat and pressure to make the pellets, so they must be heated in advance. In general, it is sufficient to use a dryer to heat the raw materials. But in some large pellet plants, the raw materials are heated with dry steam.

7 pellet production: There are two basic types of pelletizers, flat and ring molds. With the flat die granule machine, the pressing roller and the stamper move relative to each other to clamp, compress and compact the material into the die hole, and then cut through the die cavity to form a granule or a block. The ring mold biomass pellet machine has a ring die. It is extruded through a ring die and a press roll, extruded into a ring die hole, and continuously extruded toward the outer end.

8 Cooling: When the finished granules leave the granule machine, they are very hot and will also release water vapor. Therefore it must be cooled and dried. The most common methods are naturally air dried, sometimes through their blowers or fans. Care must be taken to dry too quickly to prevent cracking.

9 Particle transport: Once the particles have cooled, they will be transported to the packaging equipment. Screw conveyors are not used in this process as they can damage the particles. Usually a bucket elevator is used.

10. Bagging storage granules: At this step, the granules have been completed and ready for use. But in most cases, they need to be stored and transported to consumers. The granules must be stored away from moisture. If the particles absorb moisture, they will expand and become useless.

The granules are usually sealed in a plastic bag. For most consumers, the bag is an easy to carry size. Large bags weighing up to one ton can also be used for large equipment. Store directly in large silos and ship them in bulk.