Technology and equipment for the production of pellets at home

It’s critical to find cost-effective and environmentally friendly solutions for heating and insulation in your home. Pellets are one such solution that is becoming more and more popular. Not only are these compacted, tiny bits of organic material eco-friendly, but they also provide a reasonably priced home heating solution. However, have you ever thought of making your own pellets at home? It’s now simpler than ever to do so thanks to improvements in equipment and technology.

Making pellets at home has a lot of advantages. It not only gives you a clean, renewable energy source, but it also gives you more control over the pellets’ composition and quality. This implies that you can alter them to fit your unique heating requirements and tastes. Additionally, since you won’t have to rely on buying pellets from outside sources, making pellets at home can help you save money over time.

So, what is required in order to make pellets at home? The raw material is compressed into the appropriate pellet shape during the process using a pellet mill or pellet press. You can choose from a variety of sizes and capacities for these machines to meet your production needs. As the feedstock for the pellets, you’ll also need a consistent supply of raw materials like sawdust, wood chips, or agricultural residues.

The efficiency and accessibility of pellet production at home has been greatly enhanced by technology. Contemporary pellet mills are made to be easy to use and low maintenance, so homeowners with different skill levels can use them. Additionally, improvements in automation have simplified the process of making pellets, lowering the amount of manual labor required and raising overall productivity.

From what and how pellets are made

The ease of use is the main factor that makes fuel pellets appealing as a fuel for residential boilers. Compared to traditional solid fuel boilers, pellet boilers have a higher level of automation and require far less maintenance. The calorific value of pellets (8%) and dry firewood (15%) varies by 20–25%, despite the latter’s significantly smaller volume.

As a point of reference. Wood needs to dry under normal conditions for at least two years in order to reach a moisture content of 15%. When one kilogram of pellets (wood pellets) is burned, the heat of combustion will reach 4-4.5 kW/kg. five to five kilowatts of heat.

Pellets are typically made from the following kinds of raw materials in industrial production:

• Any waste wood, including sawdust and wood chips;
• grain straw;
• sunflower and buckwheat seed processing waste (husks).

Sawdust and other waste materials from woodworking are used to make the most common fuel pellets. Although agropellets made from straw and husks are less expensive than wood pellets, their higher ash content lowers the quality of the product. Hence, making sawdust pellets is of utmost interest to do-it-yourself artisans.

The five primary processes in the industrial production technology of wood pellets are as follows:

1. Crushing and grinding. The waste is reduced to particles of the same size using industrial crushers.
2. Drying to a moisture content of no more than 10%. There are several types of dryers, but they are united by one circumstance: to evaporate moisture from the wood you need to expend thermal energy.
3. Treatment of raw materials with steam for better pellet molding. Humidity increases only slightly.
4. Pressing sawdust into pellets on a special press – pelletizer under a pressure of about 300 bar.
5. Cooling and packaging of finished products.

An apparatus that requires high productivity in a factory setting is typically a pellet press with a cylindrical matrix. It is a thick sheet metal ring that has been perforated, and multiple rollers are running on its inner surface. An auger feeds them the raw material, and rollers then press the sawdust into the matrix’s holes. Using a special knife, the "sausages" that protrude from the outside are cut to size.

For pellets with a lower capacity, pelletizers can also use a flat kind of matrix. This is a circular, multi-holed metal sheet that is at least 20 mm thick. The raw material is pressed through the holes in the matrix by the rollers, which are positioned on top of the sawdust press. These devices are ideal for hand-made pellet production at home because of their compact design.

As a point of reference. Lignin is the glue that holds the sawdust in the press together. It is extracted using intense pressure from minute wood particles.

Equipment for the manufacture of pellets

The machine used to produce pellets is the most important piece of equipment in the technological process, but it is also the hardest to make. Making a pelletizer from scratch won’t work because metalworking equipment such as lathes, mills, drills, and grinders are needed to make the matrix and rollers. Therefore, you have two choices: either order it from masters or purchase a pair of matrix rollers already made.

Advice: Building a homemade pellet machine using parts you’ve already bought is a risky move. The die can break quickly, and it is impossible to verify the material’s quality or the precision of the machining. It is preferable to locate the required supplies and delegate the task to experts—machine operators.

Better yet, use manganese-alloyed CVG or 65G steel. The matrix pair on the pellet press should be made of high-carbon steel St45 or St50. Furthermore, in order to reach a hardness of 58–60 units, the parts must unavoidably go through the hardening process after processing. It is essential to maintain all of the dimensions shown in the diagram when creating a matrix for the pelletizer:

Simpler steel, such as St3, 10, or 20, can be used for the roller shaft; hardening is not required. However, as seen in the picture below, the rolling components’ working parts ought to be constructed from the aforementioned grades and then hardened before being mounted on the shaft via the bearings.

It is crucial. All of the working surfaces of the pellet press’s hardened parts need to be ground.

Let’s talk about what can be used to construct a housing and drive system for the homemade pelletizer. The cylindrical body, which is composed of sheet metal or pipe with an inner diameter of 200 mm, should contain the matrix pair. After the drive shaft is fixed with a key into the matrix’s hole, a platform for the finished pellets must be made below. The following video shows the pellet granulator’s assembly scheme in detail:

An electric motor with a minimum capacity of 5 kW is required to rotate the shaft. The drive can be assembled using a portion of the rear axle from an old Volga or Moskvich automobile gearbox. A pulley driven by a belt from the electric motor is mounted on the side where the cardan shaft will be attached to the gearbox. As shown in the video, both units are fastened to the same frame:

Note: The rollers in this press design stay stationary while the shaft rotates the matrix, allowing users to make pellets by hand. It is important to choose pulleys whose rotational speed does not exceed 250 revolutions per minute.

Homemade crusher

Having access to high-quality, fine wood scraps from a manufacturing facility is advantageous for pellet pressing. In order to pulverize these wastes, additional machinery—a crusher—will be required if they contain small branches or humps. Numerous handcrafted designs exist; however, the majority of them chop wood into excessively large chips, making it unfeasible to produce pellets at home.

This is a basic wood waste chipper constructed out of twelve carbide-tipped circular saw blades. Every saw is positioned on the same shaft so that each saw’s teeth are marginally different from the one before it. After mounting the entire assembly on an angle-or pipe-based frame, a pulley and two edge bearings are mounted on the same shaft.

Note: For the saws to properly "gnaw" through branches and other small wood, we also require a strong motor in this situation.

As you can see, the machine has a low productivity, but it can crush wood waste to produce sawdust that can be used to make pellets. The chopper can be adjusted to fit its bed if your farm has a circular saw, just like in the picture:

Sawdust dryer

In order to prevent hand-made wood pellets from crumbling as they leave the granulator matrix, the minimum moisture content of the raw materials must be guaranteed. This happens in a variety of drying chambers in industry. At home, however, artisans have made adjustments to gather drum-style sawdust dryers because their design is the most straightforward, as illustrated in the diagram:

A number of iron barrels that have been welded together are set up on a frame that is slightly slanted to one side. To mix the raw material from the inside, paddles are welded to the barrel walls. One way to provide hot air inside this makeshift drum is by using an electric or gas heat gun. An electric motor drives the drum’s rotation via a reduction belt or reducer.

As a point of reference. The drying process is where the majority of energy is used when producing pellets from waste fresh wood. They might be too big for home production, which would defeat the purpose of this concept altogether.

What else can be made from sawdust

Pellets cannot be compressed from wet woodworking waste if it is not possible to dry it for a variety of reasons. Setting up an artisanal briquette production line is feasible, but don’t expect to produce a lot of them. After being combined with water and a binding agent (such as wallpaper glue or clay), raw sawdust is shaped into briquettes.

It’s true that you also need a hand press in this situation, but a hydraulic press is preferable. In the image, examples of these machine designs are displayed:

Like pellets, true factory briquettes are held together tightly by high pressure lignin bonding; however, this process cannot be carried out at home. For this reason, glue is added to the mixture, and both the products’ density and specific heat of combustion are low. Light "bricks" are created after pressing and drying outside; these burn through in the stove very rapidly.

Making pellets at home presents a viable option for eco-friendly heating solutions. Homeowners can now effectively turn biomass materials like wood, agricultural residues, or even waste products into high-energy pellets thanks to technological and equipment advancements. By using renewable resources, this not only lessens dependency on fossil fuels but also promotes environmental conservation.

The long-term cost-effectiveness of pellet production at home is one of its main advantages. Even though the equipment purchase may seem high at first, making your own pellets can ultimately result in cost savings that exceed the outlay. Homeowners can save a significant amount of money on their heating bills by not having to buy commercial pellets or other heating fuels.

Making pellets at home also gives people the power to take charge of their energy sources. Customizing pellet production to meet individual needs and preferences allows homeowners to avoid relying on limited fuel options or market price fluctuations. This independence not only promotes self-sufficiency but also gives comfort in the knowledge that heating fuel is always available.

Moreover, home pellet production is consistent with the fight against climate change and the reduction of carbon emissions. Because the carbon dioxide absorbed during the growth of the biomass feedstock balances the carbon dioxide released during combustion, biomass pellets are regarded as carbon-neutral. Residential customers can drastically lower their carbon footprint and help create a cleaner, more sustainable environment by switching to pellets instead of conventional fossil fuels.

In conclusion, home pellet production technology and equipment present a promising option for environmentally friendly insulation and heating. Homes can benefit greatly from adopting this cutting-edge method of energy production, which includes financial savings as well as environmental preservation. By utilizing biomass resources, people can contribute to creating a more environmentally friendly future for future generations in addition to improving the affordability and efficiency of their heating systems.

Investigating the equipment and technology for making pellets at home is a crucial step towards cost-effectiveness and sustainability when it comes to heating and insulating your house. Pellet production, which emphasizes renewable energy, provides eco-friendly and practical alternatives to conventional heating methods for homeowners. The field of home pellet production is growing, enabling people to take charge of their energy sources and lessen their carbon footprint. This is due to the availability of small pellet mills as well as cutting-edge pressing and drying methods. This technology is a compelling choice for contemporary homeowners seeking both comfort and sustainability because it not only offers a dependable heat source but also helps to mitigate environmental impact.

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