Wood Pellets

Wood is a renewable source of energy because the carbon dioxide emitted when the wood is burned has been taken out of the atmosphere by the growing plant. Even allowing for emissions of fossil carbon dioxide in planting, harvesting, processing and transporting the fuel, replacing fossil fuel with wood fuel will typically reduce net CO2 emissions by over 90%.

This applies to all forms of wood fuel, including wood pellets, which are usually made of highly compressed waste sawdust. The use of wood pellets for heating is well established in countries such as North America, Sweden, Austria and Denmark. Work on the development of a UK market started in 1999 with the assistance of an EU funded project 'Introducing Wood Pellet Fuel to the UK'. The project helped to establish a number of sources of UK manufactured wood pellets and saw the installation of the first wood pellet-fired appliances.

Wood pellets can be used to produce heat in a specially designed stove or boiler. In addition, some existing solid fuel and oil boilers can be converted to make use of wood pellets.

Pellets are mostly manufactured from waste products from sawmills and other wood processing industries. The materials used, include ground woodchips, sawdust and bark. No chemical additives are needed, the natural lignin of the wood itself serving as a binder, although sometimes small quantities of maize starch are added as well.

Premium grade wood pellets are UK manufactured pellets that are produced from pure wood with no contaminants, such as plywood or chipboard glues. Premium grade pellets are produced in the UK under a voluntary Code of Practice. Other countries have their own standards for the production of wood pellets, some of them compulsory. It is anticipated that there will be a European wide standard for the production of wood pellets by 2005.

Due to their low moisture content (about 6% to 10%) pellets have a high energy content, similar to high quality coal. Only minor energy losses are experienced due to the need to burn off the moisture content.
Being manufactured to a consistent size (usually about 2cm long with a diameter of 6 to 8mm for domestic heating), low moisture content and high density means that wood pellets can be used in automatic clean-burn heating appliances. It also means that the boiler response time is fast and the technology is controllable without increasing the load on the environment.

This and the fact that they are clean and easy to handle make them particularly suitable for domestic use. Being compressed also means that they take up less room than other forms of wood fuel.

Pellets have the following advantages over other types of wood fuel:-

• Less volume to transport and store (due to higher energy density)
• Fewer deliveries
• Consistent size and moisture content
• Versatility - can be used in stoves and boilers
• Less ash and emissions
• Pellets are dry and can be stored without degrading
• Flow like a liquid and can be used in automatic machinery
• Easier to handle
• Easier to ignite

Please Contact Us for further information, prices and delivery details.