Wood pellets are an increasingly popular “green” fuel. However, not all wood pellets are of good quality. Only wood pellets produced from standard processes can ensure the quality and best promote the advantages of this biomass material. Learn the production process of wood pellets and sawdust pellets in the article below.

• Raw material transportation

Trucks carrying raw materials are brought to wood pellet factories every day and the materials can be in different forms. Raw materials for production can be sawdust, wood chips, wood scraps… The raw materials can be “fresh” or have been dried and processed. By processing raw materials, production plants will have raw materials with moisture, calorific value, ash content suitable for requirements. Processing of raw materials is extremely important to meet quality standards, help wood pellets have consistent quality, suitable for use needs and ensure stability.

• Raw material grinding

Raw material grinding is the first step in the standard wood pellet production process. Raw materials such as firewood, wood chips, waste wood chips… are put into the wood chipper. The wood chipper will chop, grind the material into a more suitable, uniform, consistent small size and make the next production steps easier and faster.

• Drying

As noted above, there are some tablet factories that use fresh raw materials, are exposed to weather or high humidity, or mixed with materials containing moisture… Generally, moisture is not meet quality standards. These materials will be dried to a suitable moisture content.

• Wood pellets

After drying, the sawdust will be pressed through the pelletizer at extremely high pressure. This process causes the sawdust to heat up and release lignin, a polymer complex that acts as a natural binder in the wood. This substance will bind the sawdust together, forming wood pellets without the use of additional glue or external adhesives. Manufacturers also define the density, diameter, strength and length of wood pellets in accordance with quality standards.

• Cooling and storage

After production, the wood pellets have a temperature of 200 – 250 degrees Celsius and are soft. To become a wood pellet as we usually know, they need to go through a cooling process. There is a cooling tower that is used to cool the newly produced wood pellets and make them stronger.

Once cooled, wood pellets are stored in a large silo awaiting bagging or bulk distribution.

• Bagging or Bulk Distribution

To serve the purpose of consumer goods or retail, wood pellets will be packed into small bags (bags or plastic bags) weighing from 10 to 15 kg and placed on shelves, stored in warehouses waiting for shipment. delivered to agents, stores or delivered to your home.

Others are stored in large containers or directly in trucks and containers for bulk distribution such as export or fuel supply to factories using wood pellets…