Wood Pellets Guide - Home Heating Alternative

With the gaining popularity of wood pellets as a wood fuel, the manufacturers need to ensure that they are producing high quality wood pellets. The consumers must also at least know the essential properties of good wood pellets.Property # 1: Check the dimension. It should be small-sized wood pellet. Most wood pellets that are utilized as fuel have a diameter of about 6 – 8mm and a length of about 2cm. Furthermore, it should be uniform, regular and highly compacted. With this property, they can be easily stored and delivered. They will not take a lot of space. Also, they can be easily fed in an automated fuel handling system.

Property # 2: Know the moisture content. Remember that the lower the moisture content, the lower the need for energy to burn it off. The humidity of good quality wood pellets should be around 6-10%.

Property # 3: Ensure that they are mechanically durable. This means that high quality wood pellets can endure numerous handlings. They should withstand any kind of operation otherwise they would easily break and wear causing an increase on the number of fines in the pellets. Also, it is generally good when wood pellets can stand shipping even in long distance and time.

Property # 4: Check the amount of fines. The amount of fines would greatly influence the smoothness and easy flow of wood pellets in the boiler’s fuel feeder. The greater the amount of fines present in the wood pellets, the greater the likelihood of obstacle in the feeding system of boilers.

Moreover, minute particles burn faster compared to wood pellets. Thus, if numerous fine particles are found in the wood pellets, there is a big probability that they would generate unnecessary intense flame. The worst case scenario is it might lead to precipitation of ash that will demand cleaning the burner after cooling it off.

Currently, the manufacturers make it sure that the amount of fines should be at most 1%. It is checked time after time in the entire manufacturing process. Furthermore, to ensure that fewer fines are present in wood pellets, the producers measure it even at the last processing phase and screen it before distributing.

Property # 5: Know if additives are added. Preferably, the whole wood pellets should be natural. The chemicals or substances added would significantly influence the wood pellets’ emissions during combustion. Wood pellets are commonly produced from sawdust. Thus, a substance that must serves as a “binding agent” is necessary to hold them together and be compacted. Lignin, a natural component found in woods, serves this purpose. In any case those additives/chemicals are used, the quantity and type should be stated.

Property # 6: Check the density of wood pellets. Wood pellets should be highly densed. The degree of compactness would likely determine the possible amount of fines that can be found on the pellets. As mentioned, preferably zero to a very small percentage of fine particles must be present in wood pellets for these minute materials would affect the quality of flame produced. The looser the wood pellets are, the higher the amount of fines.

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Lately, we have been hearing a lot about an efficient alternative biomass fuel. Wood pellets are by-products of sawmilling that are compacted and manufactured to become wood fuel. These solidified, low moisture and uniform goods are proven to be a competitive burnable material. Recently, lots of homes have been using wood pellets for their heating systems. With the increased demand of wood pellets among consumers, it cannot be avoided that some wood pellets distributed are not good enough in terms of their quality. Consumers need to be aware of the essential properties of high quality wood pellets. Some home-based tests can now be done without the need for complicated laboratory gadgets. They are simple and easy to do.

Test 1: Using the sense of smell

With just the use of the nose, you can check if the wood pellets are purely wood pellets and not mixed.
• Grab a handful of wood pellet.
• Place them in a plastic container.
• Position the container close to your face.
• Smell the odor the wood pellets.
Note: Expect that it should smell like fresh cut softwood. If not, then it might be mixed.

Test 2: Using the sense of sight

By simply using the eyes, you can determine what is good and what is not.
• Grab a small quantity of wood pellets.
• Look at these wood pellets closely and carefully.
Note: You must observe light brown colored wood pellets if they are made from clean compacted sawdust. However, if they are dark, then it might indicate that they were derived from bark which emits more ashes. Furthermore, some pellets are darker on the outside but once broken, they are still colored light brown,this would not be a problem.

Test 3: Using both the sense of smell and a fire.

• Choose one longer pellet.

• Ignite the tip of the pellet.

• Smell the smoke produced.
Note: A good quality of wood pellets should smell like a burning wood. Otherwise, the quality is questionable.

Test 4: Using a glass of water

• Get a small amount of wood pellets.
• Place them into glassful water.
Note: Just a few minutes, they should be dissolved into sawdust. Otherwise, a chemical might have been added to bind them together.
• Then, observe the settlement of particles inside the glass after swirling it.
Note: Heavy particles will lie down at the bottom. If there are numerous particles that settled, another feedstock might have been mixed. This would likely result to increased amount of emissions and risk for precipitation.

These are some of the simple ways to check the quality of wood pellets being used. Most are just common sense, thus, these tests can be easily performed anytime at home. In this way, problems can be avoided. Likewise, good quality wood pellets provide lots of benefits. Consumers should watch out for those wood pellets that are sold cheaply in the market. A more costly wood pellets may be a pain the pocket, but you can ensure that what you are buying is cleaner, safer and more efficient.

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