Feasibility of Biomass Pellet Press

In recent years, energy issues have become one of the factors that affect social economy development, which means to solve energy issues, is to solve the problem that hinder the development of economy. Now the usage of conventional energy source like coal has caused severe environmental problem because it releases great amount of CO₂, SO₂, and NO_x. As a result, many countries have introduced policies or regulations to boost the usage of biomass energy.

Why use biomass energy?
Biomass energy, also called biofuel, belongs to the 4^th energy source and plays an important role in renewable energy. Developing biomass energy can not only supplement the shortage of conventional energy source, but also have significant environmental benefit.
Compared to other bioenergy, biomass pellets production technology is much easier to be used in mass production and accepted by small workshops. Besides, the convenience of using biomass pellets makes it as easy as natural gas and fuel oil. As a result, biomass pellet press with different capacities can meet most countries’ policies and have good economical and social benefits.

Resources for biomass pellet press in different areas

1. Wood: Almost every country has its own wood plants and can make use of wood waste.
2. Palm fiber/empty fruit bunch: mainly Southeast Asia countries, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Myanmar, Japan, also European countries like Serbia.
3. Coconut shell: South America, Malaysia and Africa countries.
4. Sugarcane bagasse: Brazil, India, China, Cuba, Thailand, Mexico, Australia, America, etc.
5. Bamboo: Ghana, India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Vietnam, South Korea, Philippine, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Mexico, Chili, etc.

Biomass pellets features and applications

Biomass pellets are extruded by the great pressure caused between the pellet press roller and die. The raw material density is around 130kg/m3, while pellets density is higher than 1100kg/m3. So pellets are much more convenient to transport and store. Besides, their burning performance is greatly improved.

Biomass pellets applications

1. Civil heating and household energy consumption: high combustion efficiency and easy to store.
2. Industrial biomass boiler: as a main kind of industrial boiler to replace coal and solve environmental pollution problems.
3. Power generation: can be used for thermal power generation.

Biomass pellets performance index

Item	Index
Heat value	＞4000Kcal/kg
Density	1.1ton/m3
Appearance	Smooth
Ash content	≤1.1%
Moisture content	≤8%
Combustion ratio	≥95%
Heat value	≥81%
Smoke blackness (Ringelman Emittance)	<1
Discharged dust consistence	≥80mg/m3

Biomass pellets market general situation

The price of wood pellets in USA market is 400USD/ton with small bags, while in Sweden the delivery price is 400USD/ton. The FOB price of bulk wood pellets in Amsterdam is 300USD/ton. In china, the National Development and Reform Commission has taken out a solid biomass fuel development project to promote the usage of wood pellets to replace coal and change the energy consumption methods in rural areas. Till the year 2020, biomass pellets will become a worldwide premium fuel.

 

The forming principle of biomass pellet press machine

Biomass raw materials contain cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin. Because they have loose structure and low density, when they receive external force, the internal components will go through rearrangement, mechanical deformation and plastic deformation phases. Those inelastic or viscoelastic cellulose molecules will twine and twist together, as a result, their volume is shrinked and capacity is enlarged.
 

Equipments used for biomass pellets making

1. Bucket elevator
2. Wood chipper, hammer mill or crusher
3. Airflow dryer or rotary drum dryer
4. Biomass pellet press machine
5. Pellet cooler
6. Pellet packing machine