Pellet making process

[TimV]

Hello

Does anyone know what is actually needed to produce a pellet such as those made from sawdust that is compacted and extruded and used for heating in many stoves now that are capable of burning corn pellets.

I read an intersting article in a "cooperative extension magazine" from Cornell that told of using hay...yes hay used for cattle feed that is dried and made into pellets ..not quality feed but rather hay that was wet from rain etc.

I understand for years that leaves, hay and other wastes have been pelletized and burned.

They also told of an Alberta company that makes a home boiler that burns whole bales of "out of the field" hay by using forced draft and it works well they claim.

What I would like to know if anyone could describe first hand how the pellets are made. I understand it takes tons on pressure to make them so they are hard enough to burn for long times....Think of the value of old leaves and pine needles!!!!

Is it called a "Pug Mill" the thing that extrudes the pellets?  Thanks TimV

[DERFMOOSE]

don't know from pellets but have seen and smelt the whole bale burner used round flax straw as it is basicly useless  

have heard that you can make fuel pellets withy a feed pellet mill

[Big All]

I think this http://www.farmshow.com/issues/28/05/280506.asp

might be what DERFMOOSE might be talking about

[DERFMOOSE]

  Hi again  this is the basic idea but it was a lot smaller

burnt only one bale a day the guy who owend it went on haoliday and

forgot to get someone to refuel it and it burst

[pyrocasto]

How did it burst by letting it go out?

[gale]

     The process is called extruding.  You grind your very dry organic material into a fine powder,  depending on material you may add a binder agent, then press it with 10,000 psi+ into pellet mold, usually a rotating type, then cool the final product.  A new commercial unit is about $500,000.  A used feed mill type is about $30,000 in working condition.  I did see a straw log maker(identical process, just bigger pellets) on EBay about a year ago in Texas selling for $7000.00,(not in working order) Original cost was $300,000 from a German company.

    I onced worked for duck company that pellitized all of their feed. Simple process, uses a extreme amount of pressure.  The pressure melts the natural wax in most grains and uses it as the binder agent.  

     It is not economical unless you want to make several thousand tons of fuel.  Actually with corn below $2.50 a bushel, corn is cheaper than wood pellets at $100/ton.

    I have seen a wood chip burner before,  it is similar to a pellet burner, but burns chips processed through a commercial wood chipper.  Generally, you can not burn sawdust directly, due to it's explosive tendencies.

    Personally, I like a corn burner as is; relativly cheap, very clean, and farmer freindly.

[TimV]

Type in "sawdustburner" (google) and you used to get a guy in Maine selling a set of plans for one they used to make for around $25.00 He also was selling homemade knives. I saw a very simple sawdust burner made from 2 55 gallon drums mounted over each other as the burn chamber and was fed by gravity and air rushing over a grate system set up next to a hopper full of sawdust.Worked real well for heating a large garage building with tall ceilings. Hopper was too close to burner to suit me but it did work . Somewhere I have a name and addy of a company in Idaho a foundry,that casts grates and does have a cast burner set up that was around $800 to $1000.Its chucked away in about 1500 emails but if anyone wants it I will dig it out.

A lot of work has been done in Canada with sawdustburners and Type in sadwust fired pottery kilns you will come up with a raft of info. There was a Dr. at a University in Tenn. I think that had some pretyy high tech burner designs that i found from the Pottery Forum

[TimV]

Interesting about corn.Just plain stalk dried corn are we talking about being used in the corn burners?. Some farmers here leave corn in fields till winter and shell it off the stalks and call it high moisture corn when in fact its like popcorn almost. And $100 a ton would not real expensive as that is cheap for coal now I guess and wood is also going higher.

I saw a guy in Walmart last year buying wood pellets at $3.80 for a bag I think an 80 lbs.bag or maybe it was a 40 lbs...If it was $80 that would be less than a $100 a ton or almost $200 if a 40.nothing is chaep anymore but oil has gone crazy

[TimV]

I think it was in winter and cold weather froze the water in it and made it burst.

[gale]

A good percentage of pellet burning stoves also burn corn kernals directly.  Not every stove can do this.  There is a difference in btu's per pound and a difereence in denstity.  In other words the augers that feed the pellets or kernals into the stove work turn at different speeds to keep the same temperature.

Today, the price of dry shelled corn in the midwest is less than $1.90 per bushel(56 lbs)or about $67.86 per ton while wood pellets are $140 per ton.  Corn has  slightly more btus/ pound.  making it about $3.30 PER MILLION BTUS OF HEAT  while wood is about $7 per million btus or a extrtemely efficient natural gas heater is about $9+ per million btu.  

The other thing about pellet burners is that they are extremely efficient, they are a true gasifier heater with conversions of 75%-90% possible. and are very clean exhaust wise, producing almost only co2 and water.

[TimV]

Seems the corn might be worth a real look at by heating experts. Price is a bargin compared to the rest of the fuel available! seems to be a third of the cost of gas!

[ghurd]

I know a few guys using it instead of coal.

They say it is cheaper.

G-

[gale]

Coal might be cheaper.   But, the big difference is how clean it is.  I hate wood, indoor fireplace, track dirt and insects into the house.  outdoor burners, need stoked twice a day.  On Sunday mornig, and it is 5f, I would not like to run out to feed the furnace, Plus there is all that wood cutting and splitting.

  Coal is cheap, but you have dust when loading, some of the local Amish have had their children get into the coal to play, then they have grafetti on the walls and tracks across the floor, plus generally you have some pretty heavy smoke.

   Wood pellets are good, but when I have fields of corn around my house, it is still not a true option.

Corn is clean, it burns clean.  worst thing that can happen is that it may attract mice.

[TimV]

Yes Corn is a whole lot cleaner than coal.

Are you located in Pa. ? Or Ohio or NY southern tier? You said your near Amish? I cant imagine them letting the kids play in a pile of coal...Maybe they were just being kids and love to get really good and dirty!!lol..Poor mother must have a fit!

If your in Pa. are you familiar with "National Boiler" or "E F M" Coal Stokers? (Electric Furnace Man) made in Pa? I am searching high and low trying to find a used one of these. I know a guy who goes to salvage yards in PA. and buys them up no matter what condition....most should have stayed in junk pile but some only need a patch welded in to make them usable. I want one to set up outside away from the house. The nice thing about them is you can easily make a new frame and burn wood in them.

If you wouldnt mind checking out local classifieds or bargin papers maybe you might see one and could bring it to my attention ?

I am located in eastern ny. My email is (remove the obvious words

     NOSPAM-weldingrodd-NOSPAM@hotmail.com

[ghurd]

Well, I am in NE OH.

The Amish do not pitch anything like that.

The stuff is too expensive not to get it fixed.

Or sell it to the neighbor kid who is building a new house,

and let him fix it!

The guy buying all of the junk ones is making a fortune.

G-

[gale]

I am in northern Indiana, I never have seen anything like that in a salvage yard,  I am pretty close to the steel plants, most salvage yards here are more like scrap processors.  You see it for a month or two then it is shipped to be melted.

[TimV]

They must be a sturdy boiler some of the ones I saw were from as early as 1969! Most are from early 80's.They sure have some rough water in Pa by looks of the places on the boilers that

I keep checking the Lancater Farming  Journal in hopes one might pop up. Any large areawide farming papers like that that you know of? List here if you do. TimV

[ghurd]

'The Farm and Dairy', but doubt much luck there.

'Andy H Weavers' has some outside advertising (and a website).

'The Budget' out of Sugarcreek Ohio, would be my best guess. May have to subscibe, and there are 2 versions, 'local' and worldwide, get the world wide if you subscibe.

Most of this stuff changes hands word-of-mouth, and

it doesn't need to travel far, so they don't need to advertise.

Good luck just the same.

G-