If you are looking for more information on wood pellets, thinking about purchasing them but you’re not 100% sure or are just a bit curious about what they do, then you’ve come to the right blog. Within this post we will talk about what are wood pellets, why are they used, why should you use them and even where to buy them.
What are Wood Pellets?
Wood pellets are waste products from industries that make wooden products furniture, construction and milling lumber.
The pellets consist of compressed sawdust or wood dust which are dehydrated and held together by lignin which is already in the wood. (This means no glue!)
Lignin makes up around a quarter of dry wood and is responsible for strengthening the wood and allows it to have waterproof properties. It’s also a really good fuel.
Why are Wood Pellets used as Fuel?
Wood pellets have a low moisture makeup, usually around 8%. This makes the pellets an ideal source of energy because very small amounts of the energy in the pellets will be used to evaporate moisture. They are seen as the future of central heating- this is because they are not only consistent in size but also in moisture and energy content.
What are the Benefits to Wood Pellets?
- Twice the energy density of greenwood
- Renewable and sustainable heat and energy fuel
- Carbon neutral- this means when they are burned they emit the same amount of carbon dioxide as is absorbed when a tree grows in the forest
- Cost-effective- the cost of wood pellets are far more stable than ever-increasing price of fossil fuels
Why Should I Use Wood Pellets?
You should think about converting to wood pellets because for heating one ton of wood pellets you are using;
- 120 gallons of heating oil
- 170 gallons of propane
- 16,00 ft³ of natural gas
- 4,775 kWh of electricity
What are Wood Pellets used For?
Companies have started to replace traditional heating methods with wood pellets for their industrial boiler because it reduces air pollution and cost. Power Plants have also adopted wood pellets because the heat value of 10 thousand tons of biomass fuel equals 8 thousand tons of standard coal, and the pollutant emission from the pellets is much less.
Within the home, wood pellets are used in specialised stoves and boilers. Compared with your traditional coal and firewood, pellets have a higher combustion ratio, are easy to transport and are also easy to store.
Coal Hut offers a 10kg bag of wood pellets that can be used in pellet stoves and small boilers. The pellets come packaged with a protective layer to prevent weather damage to the bags during transport.
If you are unsure how to store your wood pellets, read our blog *The Best Way to Store Wood Pellets* to ensure you are getting the most out of your pellets.