IEE/09/758/SI2.

558286 - Mi xBioPells

WP 3.2 / D 3.1.

Critical review on the pelletizing technology








Author 1: Markku Kalli o; VTT
Date: 11.5.2011








Supported by the European Commission under the EIE programme

The sole responsibility for the content of this report lies with the authors. It does not necessarily
reflect the opinion of the European Communities. The European Commission is not responsible for
any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
Critical review on the
pelletizing technology

2
Contents
1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................4
2. RAW MATERIALS.....................................................................................................................6
2.1 Ash content of the raw materials....................................................................................10
3. PROCESSES FOR RAW MATERIAL .......................................................................................13
3.1 Densifying of raw material ............................................................................................14
3.2 Preheting of raw material...............................................................................................15
4. PREPROCESS OF PELLETING................................................................................................16
4.1 Reception of raw material ..............................................................................................17
4.2 Screening contaminants of raw material.........................................................................18
4.3 Grinding of particle size of raw material ........................................................................18
4.3.1 Expander...............................................................................................................20
4.3.2 Fractionation.........................................................................................................20
4.4 Drying of raw material...................................................................................................21
4.4.1 Emissions of drying..............................................................................................22
4.5 Conditioning..................................................................................................................23
4.6 Additives of pellets........................................................................................................25
5. PELLETING PROCESS.............................................................................................................27
5.1 Pellet mill ......................................................................................................................28
5.2 Some properties of pellets mill.......................................................................................30
5.2.1 Measures of die.....................................................................................................31
5.2.2 Roller wheels........................................................................................................32
5.2.3 Moisture content...................................................................................................32
5.2.4 Pelleting temperature............................................................................................33
5.2.5 Pelletising pressure...............................................................................................34
5.2.6 Density of the material ..........................................................................................35
5.2.7 Particle size of the material ...................................................................................35
5.2.8 Efficiency of the pellet production........................................................................35


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6. COOLING OF PELLETS...........................................................................................................36
7. SCREENING OF FINE PARTICLES.........................................................................................37
8. QUALITY OF PELLETS...........................................................................................................37
9. STORAGE OF PELLETS...........................................................................................................39
10. PRODUCTION COSTS............................................................................................................40
11. CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................41
12. LITERATURE..........................................................................................................................44

















4
1. INTRODUCTION

Fuel pellets are usually made from sawdust, wood chips and wood shavings. After experience wood
is the best material for pellets in small scale use. Softwood pellets can be very high quality if they
are made with care. EN 14961-standard determines the quality of pellets made of several raw
materials. Different kinds of high efficiency and low emission burners have been constructed for
wood pellets.

On the other hand, in Europe there is lack of wood, so wood is more and more expensive raw
material for pellets. In northern Europe wet residual wood without pelletizing has been used as fuel
in large CHP-plants of towns and industry. The maximal potential of dry sawdust and wood shavings
has been reached, and wood-based raw material has to be dried, which increases the production
costs. Particleboard industry uses part of the potential raw material of wood pellets in their
processes. The economical fluctuations effect on capacities of sawmills and furniture industry, and
also causes lack of woody raw material during economic depression. In several European countries
the forest industry and also the forest areas are much smaller compared to Scandinavian region and
there is a great potential for pellets from alternated materials.

The European wood pellets consumption exceeds 8 million tons annually (1 m
3
=3 MWh, 4.7
MWh/t). Over 1.0 million t of wood pellets are imported to Europe from Canada and USA, and the
Canadian wood pellet production is growing. Russian wood pellet production is also increasing. A
Russian factory, the capacity of which is one million tons has been built to Vyborg on the coast of
Baltic Sea. Part of the imported wood pellets is used in large CHPs in Belgium, Netherlands,
Denmark and Sweden. Quality of these pellets can be lower than that of retail market produced
pellets. Price of wood pellets is about 200 300 /t in small scale use and in large scale use 110
150 /t.

Figure 1. World pellet production and use (Pino Vivanco 2008).


5
Also other biomass residues than sawdust, wood chips and shavings are already used for pellet
production. Residual wood materials have been burned in large scale CHP-plants in several
European countries. Straw pellets of 80 000 t/a (2009, Vattenfall A/S in Denmark) has been made in
Denmark for several years (beginning 2004) for Amager power plant. The Per-Seinjoki pellet
factory of Vapo Oy produces annually 60 000 t peat and peat-wood pellets. In Sweden bark pellets
are produced in Norrkping. Enhanced wear of pelletizing machinery, caused by the impurities of
alternative raw materials is one drawback of the use of bark. Small diameter wood from forest, first
and second thinning has been pelletized in Northern Sweden (Haaker 2006). By the side of use in
district heat plants and CHPs alternative pellets have also been used to increase the low heat content
of residue fuel, e.g. in winter time.

In Europe the production of alternative pellets was 352 000 t/a and production capacity 809 000 t/a
in 2008. Denmark, Poland (production growing, sunflower shells), Czech Republic (ECOVER
Company, patent, production license) and Finland (peat) are countries, where the production of
alternative pellets has started. In Denmark the annual production of straw pellets exceeds 100 000
t/a. Other countries mentioned produce about 50 000 t/a. In Germany the pellets production is
estimated to be 20 000 t/a, which is produced by at least 10 local, small factories. The produced
straw pellets are mostly used e.g. for littering or animal feeding, and the use of them for heat and
energy production is insignificant. Pusch AG plans to set up decentralised MBP production
capacities. Basis will be a licensing system, in which special pellet production equipment is given to
farmers who produce MBP from local agricultural and waste materials (Bastian 2009).

Several studies of agricultural pellets, both production and use, has been done in Europe. Most of the
studies handle grass or straw based fuels. The production and use of switchgrass and alfalfa (Porter
et al. 2008) as an alternate heating fuel has been studied in several researches in Canada. Researches
of pellets, made from mixed raw materials, are very few. According to the experiments with small
scale pellet burners, there has been great difficulties in heating with mixed pellets or pellets from
alternative materials. Usually the amount of ash, formed in combustion, is high, and the ash melts
and creates difficulties in the air supply of the burner.

There are many advantages of densified fuel pellets:
The amount of dust produced is minimised,
The fuel is free flowing, which facilitates material handling and rate of flow control,
The energy density is increased, easing storage and transportation,
The capital cost for storage is reduced,
Higher uniformity and stability permits more efficient combustion control,
There are less particulates produced during the combustion process,
There are considerable reductions in labour for feedstock handling,
Risk of fire is reduced considerably (Porter et al. 2008).

An often mentioned hurdle for biomass utilization are the logistics inherent to an agricultural
product; harvesting, moisture, storage, transportation, quality uniformity etc. Typically, biomass is
delivered to the bio refinery in bulk by railroad cars or by trucks in the form of chopped forage or
baled hay. One way for handling of biomass crops more efficiently is densifying them into bales,
pellets, cubes or briquettes to reduce the bulk volume of the material. Although each method has
pros and cons, pelleting seems to have the greatest number of advantages. Although pelleting ads
costs, pelleted material is floodable and allows the fuel to handled and stored easily and transported

6
more economically. In addition, pelleted biomass is very homogenous fuel. Pelletizing decreases the
moisture content and allows the pellets to be burned more efficiently (Porter et al. 2008).

2. RAW MATERIALS

In the Northern and Southern parts of Europe possible raw materials for mixed or alternative pellets
are different. In the following list of possible raw materials:
Residues from agriculture (straw, corn cob etc.),
Cultivated energy (grass, cardoon etc.),
Woody residues (prunes from differ sources),
Olive- and rape pressings (residual oil content),
Grape-pressings and citrus fruits (stones and stems),
Residues from processing other agricultural commodities (such as coffee and tobacco),
Residues from landscape gardening (grass etc.).
In the project it will be estimated the local relevance of the raw materials in the considered regions.
Part of the potential materials include materials which would be disposed, of which the pellet
producer might get a fee, and the another part is cultivated material, for which the pellet producer
has to pay. Bulk density of several agricultural raw materials is low, so they should be pelletised
locally or pre-densified to avoid high transport coasts.

Residues from agriculture



Figure 2. A conservative estimation of straw potential resources in Europe (million ton of dry matter).
Source: personal estimation of Pastre (2002), on the basis of Eurostat figures for the primary
data, to which have been applied several coefficients: ratio production/residue, moisture content
coefficient and availability coefficient (15%). "Total straw" refers to common wheat, durum wheat,
rye, meslin, barley, oats, maize, rice and other cereals.


7


In Europe a special focus should be put on straw (Pastre 2002) mainly for the reasons:
straw is the most important agricultural residue in the EU, estimated to be nearly 23 million
tons of dry biomass (present European use of pellets under 10 million tons), figure 2,
great amounts of straw is annually available, it is economically attractive raw material for
pellets, straw corresponds to the most tested and pelletised agricultural residue.



Figure 3. Net straw surplus/deficit (1000 tonnes/region) estimated from national studies and cattle breeding
data (Eurostat: Spain year 2002, Bulgaria year 2001, other countries - year 2003), Edwards et
al. 2006.

Straw is an important fuel at some regions of Europe, as the map of figure 3 shows. Besides different
straw species (Total straw in the figure 2), there are also other straw like specific agricultural
residues.

Low bulk density creates difficulties besides transport, also in storage because of the storage space
needed, and present pelleting machines have been designed for wood raw material, so when
alternative materials are used press works on the lower efficiency than it could.

Straw and grass contain high amounts of potassium and sodium. During combustion, alkalies react
with silica and cause slagging and fouling problems in conventional combustion equipment designed
for burning wood at higher temperatures. Volatile alkalies also lower the fusion temperature of ash:
in conventional combustion equipment having furnace gas exit temperatures above 800 C,
combustion of agricultural residues causes slagging and deposits on heat transfer surfaces. Specially
designed boilers with lower furnace exit temperatures or low operation temperature can reduce
slagging and fouling from combustion of these fuels (Wach & Bastian 2009).


8
In J ena it was the First International fuel straw-congress (www.tll.de/ainfo/html/stro0408.htm) in
2008.


Cultivated energy

Different grasses have used already as fuel in Europe locally. In Northern Europe as fuel and raw
material of pellets and mixes reed canary grass (RCG). RCG is a plant which can grow in same
place several years and it is harvested annually in the spring. Dry yield of the harvest is about 5 12
t /ha (yield depends on several different circumstances). Moisture content is then about 10 15%.
The amount of water soluble components (Cl, K) diminishes during the winter. RCG is a modest
plant. It grows in old peat production areas and waste lands with very small amounts of fertiliser and
water. It is usually baled with baling machines of the farm and stored in well covered stockpiles.
Stockpile is in the terrain and a truck transport the bales to the market. A drawback in storing is that
bales can moisture. RCG is easy to pelletise or briguetaise.

In Central-Europe it is used Miscanthus giganteus as a raw material of biofuels in Europe since the
early 1980s. It can grow to heights of more than 3.5 m in a growth season. Its dry weight annual
yield can reach 15-25 tonnes per hectare. Miscantus exhibits greater photosynthetic efficiency and
lower water use requirements than other kinds of plants. It has very low nutritional requirements it
has high nitrogen use efficiency and therefore is capable of growing well on barren land without the
aid of heavy fertilization.

The rapid growth, low mineral content, and high biomass yield of Miscanthus make it a favorite
choice as a biofuel. After harvest it is used as a source of heat and electricity, or converted into
biofuel products such as pellets.

Miscanthus outperforms other grasses, such as switchgrass, which yields around 7-11 t/ha of
biomass. Switchgrass is popular grass for biofuel in prairie area of North-America. It is sometimes
called "Elephant Grass" and thus confused with the African grass Pennisetum purpureum, also
called "Elephant Grass."

Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.) is an herbaceous species indicated as one of the most suitable
energy crop for southern European countries. Crop dry yield was not different between the two
cultivars and it was rather stable with a mean value averaged from year 3 to 11 t/ha. The chemical
analysis of cardoon biomass showed with good calorific value (15 MJ /kg) but with an ash content
(13.9% d.w.) higher than other herbaceous energy crops. The cultivation results confirmed cardoons
good biomass yield and favourable energy balance even in cultivation systems characterised by
limited water input. Moreover future works are necessary in order to improve cardoon biomass
quality and to evaluate the possibility of using it in blends with other biomass sources (Angelini et
al. 2009).

Woody residues

In Italy woody residues, as dry substance, are more than 700 kt/a, with 30% resulting from pruning
activities related to the cultivation of about 360km
2
of vine yards and 450 km
2
of olive-groves; these
residues are concentrated in the hilly part of the region close to the Adriatic seacoast (DiGiacomo &

9
Taglieri 2009). A properly localized wood pellets production plant could use these residues as a sub
raw material.

In Italy woody residues (mainly pruning off-cuts from vineyards and olive groves) are about 3.5
mill. t/a, 85% unused (Di Blasi et al 2007).

In the Northern Europe it is used forest residues and stumps as a fuel, but those are chipped or
crushed.

Olive- and rape pressings

In particular, during the production of olive oil it is possible to recover olive pits as a by-product for
energy production for use as fuel in domestic boilers or in large industrial plants for cogeneration
(Pattara et al. 2010). On the other hand, the olive pit (Robles Fernndez et al. 2009,) is a competitor
to pellets. It is cheaper and needs only conditioning, but not any manufacturing process. Italian olive
pit production is estimated 277,000519,000 t during 1999 2007 (Pattara et al 2010).

In Central- and Northern Europe it is pelletised rape residues as mix with wood and other straw-
materials. In Denmark there are 4 pellet factories, which use rape as a raw material.

In Ukraine and some other European countries pellets are made of sunflower residues ( pellets-
wood.com /agripellets-b351.html).

Grape-pressings and citrus fruits

Nut shells and fruit stones (about 0.2 mil. t/a in Italy), although not widely available on a national
scale, can be significant on a local basis.

Residues from processing other agricultural

In industry it becomes different by-products as coffee waste, cigar waste, corn waste etc. These can
be pelletised as mix and in Denmark (Nikolaisen et al. 2002, 2005) it has done several experiments
those raw materials. In the experiments included combustion results have not been promising. These
by-products of industry become a lot in every year.

Residues from landscape gardening

Probably it is so small that no commercial meaning. In the appendix 1 has been told pelletising of
such rawmaterials.
________

As mentioned, mixing is still rare. Mixing a feed ingredient or biomass material having high natural
binding capacity with the base feed to improve the strength and durability of the densified products
has been exploited in several studies (Kaliyan & Morey 2009b). Bradfield and Levi (1984) found
that pure wood of hardwoods (red maple, southern red oak, sweetgum, tupelo, white oak, and yellow
poplar) did not produce pellets and they blocked the pellet-mill die for the conditions with or without
steam addition. However, mixing 1535% bark with the pure wood produced pellets with about 93

10
99% durability. Holm et al. (2006) mixed pine and beech, and brewers spent grains (BSG) were tested
as a possible organic additive in combination with beech dust. A mixture of 85% (wt) beech and 15%
(wt) BSG could be pelletized and the durability of the pellets was increased. Further, when BSG was
added to the beech dust inorganic powder additives (30% (wt) dry basis) could also be added without any
problems. These inorganic additives could not have been added to the beech dust alone without causing
great problems in the pellet mill.

In Central-Europe the number of biogas digesters has grown, as well as the amount of the solid
digestate. Digestate can be dried up and pelletized, even for energy use. This kind of alternative for
the raw material of energy pellets is described e.g. in the presentation of Frstaller et al. (2010).

Agricultural fuel pellets are often referred as fuel pellets without specification. However, the sources
for quality variations are incalculable. There are large differences even between softwoods and
hardwoods, between different tree species, and between different parts of trees. The climatic and
seasonal variations affect the raw material properties, as well as the length of the storage period and
the type of storage (Lehtikangas 1999).

2.1 Ash content of the raw materi als

A drawback of the agricultural fuels is the ash content and the behaviour of them during
combustion. Nitrogen, sulphur and chlorine contents of several alternative raw materials are shown
in table 1, and the chemical ash contents of different cereals in table 2. Diversity of agricultural
residues and their mixes are great and it has been tried to find a solution for the ash smelting
properties of the alternative pellets through scientific studies and reasoning in production.

Agricultural biomass ashes have in general a low melting point in relation to e.g. coal ash due to
their specific contents of silica (Si), calcium (Ca), potassium (K), chlorine (Cl), sulphur (S) and other
main elements. A significant degree of melting produces slag whereas partial melting may be the
primary cause of agglomeration, sintering and deposit formation (Hjuler 2007). Ash melting
temperature is raised by Si and Ca, lowered by K. With the tertiary drawings, figure 4, it is
contributed and forecasted of the behavior of mixes in heating. Ash problems will usually appear at
least in left corner of the drawing, where large Cao +MgO contents are.

From table 1 it can be seen that wood-based raw materials include much less nitrogen, sulphur and
chlorine compared to alternative raw materials. Those chemicals can create bad combinations during
the combustion. Hay and grass have the highest values. From the table 2 one can see that content of
some chemical components can vary significantly between different cereals (SiO
2
, K
2
O, CaO), and
some figures are very equal (P
2
O, SO
3
, Na
2
O). For combustion high content of calcium and low
content of potassium is good for raw materials.

11

Table 1. Composition of shown the nitrogen, sulphur and chlorine contents of several alternative
raw materials (Van Loo. & Koppejan, 2008).
Nitrogen (N) Sulphur (S) Chlorine (Cl)
mg/kg (d.b)
Woodchips (spruce) 900-1700 70-1000 50-60
Woodchips (poplar,
willow)
1000-9600 300-1200 100
Bark (spuce) l000-5000 100-2000 100-370
Straw (winter wheat) 3000-5000 500-1100 1000-7000
Miscanthus 4000-17000 200-2000 500-4000
Triticale (cereals) 6000-14000 1000-1200 1000-3000
Hey 10000-24000 2000-6000 2500-20000
Needles (spruce) 11000-17000
Grass 4000-36000 800-7000 2600-20000
Waste wood 1000-39000 300-2000 300-4000
Olive residues 77700-19400 920-1200 1000-3300
Table 2. Compositions of straw ashes in Finland (Wilen et al. 1986).

Component Wheat, % Rye, % Barley, % Oat, %
SiO
2
78.2 61.7 44.7 37.3
K
2
O 6.6 19.2 37.1 40.3
CaO 5.0 7.4 9.3 12.3
P
2
O 3.3 3.7 3.8 4.1
MgO 3.6 2.8 2.5 3.0
Al
2
O
3
2.0 2.1 0.4 0.8
Fe
2
O
3
1.5 1.5 0.5 0.5
SO
3
1.4 1.3 1.4 1.4
Na
2
O 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3

Presence of chlorine (Cl) in the deposits may lead to the severe metal corrosion. Intelligent fuel
blending, known from the coal combustion, and introduction of mineral matter (additives) is one
way to recognize possible methods of reducing the above problems. CEN Denmark (Sander 1997)
has recommended the maximum target values of 0.2% K and 0.1% Cl for efficient use of biofuels
for power generation. The Pellet Fuels Institute recommends that chlorine levels should be below
300 pp (0.03%) (Campbell 2007).

With the harvesting time it is possible to affect to the amount of water-soluble chemicals, and hence
also to the heating properties. The chlorine (Cl) and potassium (K) content of perennial grass
feedstocks is reduced if a late-season or overwintering harvest management regime is practiced.
Burvall (1997) found an 86% reduction in chlorine content of reed canary grass when it was over-
wintered in Sweden. Also switch grass is harvested in early October and it was found to contain
0.95% potassium (K), while over-wintered switch grass harvested in mid-May was found to contain
just 0.06% potassium (Goel et al., 2000). Same phenomena works also to straw when leached,

12
"yellow" straw turns into "grey" straw and the content of water-soluble potassium and chlorine
decrease (Wach & Bastian 2009).



Figure 4. Visualisation of biomass ash compositions by using a ternary diagram (Hjuler 2007). Silicon (Si) is
present in appreciable amounts in the ash, the higher the ratio of calcium plus magnesium (Ca +
Mg) relative to potassium plus sodium (K +Na), the higher the fusion temperature.

Silica (SiO
2
) is a common chemical found in grasses, deposited in the leaves, leaf stems and
inflorescences of plants (Lanning & Eleuterius, 1989). Lanning and Eleuterius (1987) working in
Kansas prairie stands, found switch grass silica contents to be lowest in stems and higher in leaf
sheaths, inflorescences and leaf blades. High silica contest increase wear in the pellet machines.
Producing switch grass (Porter et al. 2008) with lower silica levels increases energy contents,
reduces abrasion on metal stove pans and reduces ash.

The melting temperature of wheat ash deviates from those of other cereals. In addition, the melting
temperature of cereals ash is affected by the soil composition and by the fertilization. The ash
melting temperatures of different cereals are presented in Table 3.
Table 3. Melting temperatures of straw ash (Wilen et al. 1986).
Stage of melting Temperature range,
0
C
Wheat Rye Oat Barley Turnip rape
Initial deformation 900-1050 800- 850 750- 850 730- 800 1150-1250
Hemisphere 1300-1400 1050-1150 1000-1100 850-1050 1250-1500
Flow temperature 1400-1500 1300-1400 1150-1250 1050-1200 1300-1500

Agricultural and other raw materials contain far more contaminants (2 10%) than sawdust (0.3
0.5%). The ash content of barley, rye and oat is about 5 % and that of wheat even 6 - 7%. Also with

13
wood based raw materials the ash content can be high for natural reasons and the sand can increase
the amount of ash during the handle. The amount of the contaminants is affected by the harvesting
methods, which is technological significance for pellet manufacturing.

For example the shorter the stubble the stem portion left standing the more likely the inclusion of
contaminants. On the other hand, just taking the uppermost portion drops the straw yield per unit
field area. The Kge straw pellet plant in Denmark experience some problems with respect to the
somewhat high contaminant proportion of straw. Although a stone trap is installed to separate the
valuable raw material from the foreign objects, it does not always work at 100% and these results in
damages on the knives of the straw bales cutter, grinding and wear the press (Pastre 2002).

According to the survey of web-pages and the discussions with experts, the pelletizing of
Mediterranean raw materials is low at the moment. Factories is used different raw materials; straw,
corn stalks, residues of maize, pruning of trees (Spinelli et al 2010), plants extirpated and also
various types of wood (mixed with other biomasses). Mixes will be done after season and source.
Olive residues as 100% pure or mixed might be one possibility. Olive residues have a rather high
bulk density and heating value. They are used as mixed fuel in bigger plants, but without processing
pellets. It is also difficult to find a pellet stove able to burn pelleted olive residues. Table 4 shows
some characteristics for grape and olive residues.
Table 4. The some characteristics of the grape and olive residues.
Grape residues Olive residues
Nominal top size, mm 16 3,15
Density as received, kg/m
3
440 600
Density of dry matter, kg/m
3
140 500-550

Databases, such as the biomass database of the University of technology of Vienna:
www.vt.tuwien.ac.at/biobib, the biomass database of IEA Task 32:
www.ieabcc.nl/database/biomass.php and Phyllis biomass database:
www.ecn.nl/phyllis/dataTable.asp, summarize the ash contents and other characteristics of several
raw materials.

Using of raw material with low K, Cl, Na and S contents is of particular importance for achieving
high-quality biomass fuels and lowering particulate emissions during biomass combustion. The
major factors affecting the level of these compounds are fertilization practices, choice of species,
stem thickness, time of crop harvest, relative maturity of the cultivar, and the level of precipitation in
a region (Samson et al., 2005). Biomass-fuelled boilers have traditionally been developed for wood,
which is lower in ash and chlorine levels. However, new multi-fuel boilers have been developed that
can burn agricultural and wood biomass more and more effectively.

3. PROCESSES FOR RAW MATERIAL

In Canadian publications (Porter et al. 2008, Samson et al. 2008) it is told well about the working at
field and that subject is mostly left outside this publication.


14
3.1 Densi fyi ng of raw material

By the side of ash content, the difference of the bulk densities of raw materials forms another
main problem between wood- and straw pellets.

Bulk density of straw and grass raw material is low, whether it is chopped or in bales, varying
between 50 to 150 kg/m
3
, so also the energy density of raw material becomes low. It is possible to
recompress the raw material before the transport or even before the pelleting process. In the feed
industry it has been used two pelleting mills in series for compressing (Payne 1994). If straw
material can be recompressed the transport cost will be lower, and also traditional wood pellet press
and other process devices work better and more efficiently with the densified rawmaterial.
Densifying biomass allows the material to be handled and stored more easily. The delivery option
for the densified biomass will be determined by the distance of the transportation radius.

In a Canadian report (Porter et al. 2008) production, handling and delivery of agricultural
rawmaterial (straw and grass) has divided in three possible choices.

1. Loose, chopped material
When the material (chopped hay, straw or grass) is harvested, it is recommended to put multiple
windrows together to use the chopper efficiently in the field. If the cut length of a forage chopper is
set small enough (length of cut) it is possible to produce fairly fine and more desirable product for
the pellet plant. It might be possible to eliminate the wet hammer mill redundant process in the plant
(Porter et al. 2008).

Current choppers can chop 30 to 100 dry tons/hour at a length as short as 7 mm. The forage is
chopped by a self-propelled chopper and blown into a separate truck or wagon. The chopped forage
is then field stored in a simple bunker or large plastic tube in the corner of a field that is accessible
by road for later transportation to the plant (Porter et al. 2008).

2. Bales
Densities of bales can vary between 120 to 180 kg/m
3
. From a logistics standpoint, it makes the most
sense to make bales 2.4 m wide (the width of a semi-truck). This makes transportation, stacking and
handling convenient for a material handling loader. Bales are bound either with twine or wire and
are big enough to require mechanical/hydraulic loaders. They weigh 320-550 kg. Most are 0.9 x 0.9
x 2.4 or 1.2 x 1.2 x 2.4 m
3
. Although round bales may be cheaper to produce per ton, with biomass
fuel it is typically more efficient and safer (dont roll) to produce large square bales for
transportation and storage logistics. Typical balers are capable of baling 10 to 20 t/h (Porter et al.
2008).

Different dimensions of bales are being used in Scandinavia and Europe than in Canada. Measures
and weights of popular bales are following:
straw in round bales 1,5 m x 1,2 m, 240 kg,
medium scale square bales 0,7 m x 1,2 m x 2,4 m, 280 kg and
large scale square bales 1,2 m x 1,3 m x 2,4 m, 520 kg.




15
3. Cubes
Cubes are a Canadian speciality, used especially in feed transport. Cubes were created for a specialty
markets, to make the transportation of western hay possible. To make cubes, hay is dehydrated and
formed into low density cubes. Typically cubes are approximately 4 cm in size, and the cubes are not
very durable (Porter et al. 2008).

Cubes were made with equipment containing a ring die with one pressing wheel. Structure of the die
is special. J ohn Deere built 400 mobile units thirty years ago, figure 5. Also a stationary machine
exists. The cubes (Nelson&Nelson, 1980) can be made in a variety of densities and are extremely
durable, stable and highly resistant to disintegration or breakage under normal conditions. Once in
cube form the densified organic material can be rapidly loaded with bulk loading and handling
equipment for eventual storage, transport and consumption. Cubes might be suitable for use as
industrial fuels.



Figure 5. Cuber on the field picking up Alfalfa (Anon., 1978).

3.2 Preheti ng of raw material

Torrefaction and other heating processes have been used to change the physical and chemical
properties of raw material.

Transforming the characteristics of the straw by heat was described years ago on the internet page of
FAOs (www.fao.org/docrep/005/y1936e/y1936e0d.htm).

In FAO example the principles of the heat-explosion combine the heat reaction and the mechanical
processing. Under the action of steam at 170C, straw lignin is broken down and partly hydrolysed.
During the explosion, the particles impact each other inside the tube and at the same time the water
trapped within cells rapidly expands to a gaseous state and physically tears apart the brittle cell wall.
Straw is shredded into fine particles, greatly increasing its surface area. The quality of the treated
straw is considerably improved.

16
After heat-explosion, the physical properties of the straw have been changed, and the intake of the
entire crop is increased by 50 to 90 per cent. The digestibility is increased more than 50 per cent.
The same article describes also the ammonisation of straw and the changing of properties of straw by
that way.
Production of high quality pellets with regard to durability and water resistance were successfully
developed (Gunnerman 1977, Shen 1987). These methods were based on the pre-treatment of the
grind with a high temperature steam and long residence time in a press to reach a maximum
softening effect, and consequently a maximum agglomeration effect of the material. Also in Norway,
the Cambi Bioenergi Vestmarka did experiments with steam. The raw material (sawdust) was
preconditioned by heating a steam-compression reactor. After a certain exposure time the pressure
was reduced, causing the material to explode. This process works only under certain defined
conditions. After this procedure the wood came out from the vessel in the form of wood fibre, which
was very wet and brown in colour. In practice (Lehtikangas 1999), however, the methods for
production of "perfect" pellets were too expensive and the producers had to compromise between the
quality and the production costs.

Present torrefaction process is a globally studied research area, table 5, and commercial applications
are coming or exist already on the markets. On the other hand, torrefaction process will be an
expensive, not suitable extra unit in a small production, and ash problems will probably not
disappear completely during the torrefaction process. According to Kiel (2011) minimum plant
capacity should be 5 15 t/h. Most of the existing torrefaction results are from wood materials.
Table 5. Torrefaction technology developers in Europe (Kiel 2011).

Reactor technology Technology developers
Rotary drum CDS (UK), Torrcoal (NL), BioEndev (SE),
EBES (AU), BIO3D (FR)
Multiple heart furnace CMI-NESA (BE)
Screw reactor BTG (NL), Boilake (NL), FoxCoal (NL)
Torbed reactor Topell (NL)
Moving bed reactor ECN (NL), Thermya (FR), Buller (CH)
Belt reactor Stamproy (NL)

4. PREPROCESS OF PELLETING

Pelletizing process for wood, straw and other raw materials, consists of few basic sub-processes:
feeding of the raw material, drying, pelleting, cooling and screening.

From the physical, chemical and botanical perspective, straw, grass and other agricultural materials
differs from wood. Even the pelleting capabilities of wood species differ from each other. This
creates differences in the pelleting process and also in the product quality and suitability for heating
purpose. It is not so much a question of superior to wood, rather, it is a challenge of optimal
processing of different raw materials.

17

4.1 Recepti on of raw material

At a plant straw is generally received as bales weighing up to 500 kg, and there might be some
difficulties in feeding a bale into the system if it is not well planned. A schematic drawing of a
Danish plant suggest how some problems related to bales and raw materials handling can be solved,
figure 6.

For pellet production the straw etc. material in bales should be first debaled and chopped. The length
of the chopped stem particles is between 25 to 75 mm. The bigger the press, the coarser the raw
material can be. Bale type might effects on the throughput of the feedstock. Hammer mill at the end
of the feeding system grinds the raw material into fine particles.


Figure 6. Danish Pneumatic feeding system of straw in Studstrup power plant.

The straw storage facility at Studstrup is split into two sections, with a capacity of 560 Hesston bales
of 1.2 x 1.3 x 2.4 m, each weighing 450-600kg. The straw delivery trucks are unloaded by an
overhead crane. The crane unloads twelve bales in one batch. During unloading the bales are
weighed, the moisture content is measured using microwave techniques and the data is stored on a
central logistics computer (Van Loo & Koppejan 2008.).

In small scale pellets production it is possible to build very elegant feeding system. Complete bale
can be fed straight in the grinder in a Finnish solution (http://louhetar.fi/biobotnia/).

Regarding straw, high concentrations of bacteria and inhalable toxins have also been seen in the
storage area and near shredders. To minimise the exposure to micro-organisms, employees must
wear respiratory protection. Straw has higher dust potential than wood chips, but usually the content
of microorganisms is higher per mg of wood dust than with straw dust. It seems that impacts on
workers health have not been studied extensively (Pastre 2002).




18
4.2 Screening contami nants of raw material

Magnets and screens for contaminants are normally used at different stages before grinding.
Contaminants (metals, stones and other foreign material) are removed from raw material before
pelleting process. Ferrous metals are separated with a magnet from the conveying belt. Bigger stones
and other material are picked away manually before the process or a stone trap is installed to
separate the raw material from the foreign objects. An increased wear of machinery is created
growth of contaminants and contaminants damage the machines of the process.

4.3 Grindi ng of parti cle size of raw materi al

After the material is debaled and contaminants have been separated, it flows to grinding, in most
cases with a hammer mill. After grinding the particle size is adjusted to a uniform maximum
dimension, which is approximately 50 - 85 % or less of the minimum thickness of the pellet to be
produced, e.g. for alfalfa pellet approximately one-half the diameter of the pellet being produced.

A hammer mill, and sometimes a roller mill form two common components in grinding technology.
The roller mills crushes the material between pairs of cylinders, while a hammer mills uses the
beating action of rotating hammers or steel strips to reduce the size of material by breaking and
splitting. The screen around (surrounding) the blades determine particle size distribution. The
particles exit through a screen with openings of chosen shape and size distribution, and with only
little control of particle geometry. To mill down native grasses, bales, a large throat area and a large
surface area of the screen are needed. A lot of power is required to achieve throughput production
tonnages. In hammer mill the material for pellets is decreased to a distribution of some millimetres
after the screen. Grinding and conditioning are said to be of great importance for achieving high
quality pellets.

A number of studies have examined the impact of the length of chop on the pellet process. Overall it
has been realized that fine grinding produces denser pellets and increases the throughput capacity of
machines as the material passes through the machine more easily (Dobie, 1959). Fine chopped
material provides a greater surface area for moisture addition during steam treatment. Most
commercial alfalfa and switch grass pellet mills use hammer mills with 2.4 - 2.8 mm screen to
produce a suitable length of chop. The number of hammers, the screen holes in design, and hammer
tip speed also affect the fineness and uniformity of the grind when used in commercial installations
(Porter 2008).

19

Figure 7. Typical particle size distribution of wheat straw grinds at various screen sizes (Mani et al. 2004).

An important consideration is, that does the finely grind material need more energy. Mani et al
(2004) experiments with a hammer mill of the 3.2 mm screen the energy consumption was
approximately 25-30 kWh/t while the 1.6 mm screen increased the energy consumption to 55-60
kWh/t.

Larger holes have been used in Europe in screens of the production machines. In Nikolaisen et al.
(2002) work the straw of wheat and other materials were grinded. A hammer mill with sieve of 4
mm and rotation speed of 1450 1/min was used. In the study the diameter of pellets was 12 mm.
Hutla et al. (2004) used screen of 5 mm with pellets of diameter 10 mm. In mobile pelletizing
machine of Biobotnia Oy the screen is 18 mm. In study of Narra et al. (2010) the raw materials
were straw of winter varieties of rye and wheat. In comparison test of the hammer mill the material
was grinded until it was small enough to fall through the sieve having an aperture size of 6 mm.

Reece et al. (1985) reported that corn ground using 3.18 mm, 6.35 mm and 9.53 mm hammer mill
screen sizes produced pellet durability of 91.0, 91.3, and 92.5%, respectively. Also in his study
(Bergstrm et al. 2008) saw dust of Scots pine found the small differences of the particle size (screen
openings 1.0, 1.9, 4.0 and 8.0 mm). Thus it seems that less energy could be used if only oversized
particles are grinded before pelletizing.

In a production model Amandus Kahl company has integrated a grinder to pelleting press.


20
In grinding wet material outside, especially in wintertime, material can plug the holes of the screen
and also create other problems, e.g. flakes on the screen of the machine. As a drawback with straw or
grass might be that a conveyor screw of the mill can stop the feeding into grinding machine if
fibrous particle size too long. Long particles might wind around the screw conveyors.

Two machines, a chopper and a grinding machine, and also a little more manpower is needed for
straw-based materials it is needed. This makes producing of the straw pellets more expensive
compared to wood pellets in grinding stage. Production of straw pellets might need less kWh in
grinding and drying complete. Some alternative materials wear more the grinder (bark) than wood.
4.3.1 Expander

An expander consists of a conveying screw with mixing bolts mounted inside a barrel. The screw
exerts shearing, mixing, and transport action into the feed. This moves the feed to a moving cone at
the outlet of the expander, thus creating an annular shaped gap. The position of the cone is controlled
by the power take-up of the expander drive. The expander is capable of raising the temperature of
the feed material to above 100 C through mechanical shear, without adding moisture, thus
gelatinizing the starch better and improving the binding characteristics of the feed and producing
better quality feed pellets (Behnke 2006).

In German reports (Nguyen Trung Cong 2005, Narra et al. 2010) it has been described the use twin-
screw for breaking and compressing agrimaterials before pelletising (without conditioning). Narra et
al. (2010) pelletized rye and wheat straws. Pellets after the hammer mill (HM) and the twin screw
extruder (EX) were compared.

The twin screw extruder works with the principle of defibration. The material was brought with two
rotating screws through the barrel and compacted against a die. The material got ground in close
contact between the barrel walls and the rotating screws which caused frictional effects and led to
shearing forces. A destruction of the materials cells occurred through the processing of moisture
enriched material at high temperatures (80 C 130 C) under pressure. Through high mechanical
energy and high shear forces, the materials physical size (particle size) and chemical properties were
changed. Through the extrusion process, the straw surface gets partially destroyed, which has effect
on the lignin content and on the wax surface (Narra et al. 2010).

DeFrain et al. (2003) evaluated an expander as an alternative to steam conditioning (66 C) to pellet
the feed containing raw soybean hulls and corn steep liquor. They found that although the expander
increased the pellet production (by 250 kg/h) and pellet durability (by 12%), the expander
consumed about 4 times more energy (about 150180 MJ/t) than the pellet mill (about 4050 MJ/t).
Therefore, they concluded that the additional energy expenditure did not justify the expander use as
an alternative method of thermal processing for this feed mixture.
4.3.2 Fractionation

Process of physical separation of leaf tissue from the stem tissue is used in Canada for fractionation.
Leaves have a higher percentage of ash and contain many nutrients harmful to boiler steel. Ash can
decrease the heat value of fuel, clinker up boilers and require higher volume ash removal. Normally,
switchgrass ranges between 4-8% ash. Separating out the leaves from the stem produces a fuel that is

21
lower in ash content, has less clinker formation, longer boiler life and less ash to remove after
burning. The fractionated leaf material is itself a potential value-added product for use as a soil
amendment due to its nutrient content (Porter et al. 2008).

4.4 Drying of raw materi al

Biomass feedstock need often to be dried prior to the conversion process, such as pellet production,
pyrolysis or synthesis gas production. A number of different dryer types may be suited for the
purpose, and the final choice should be made after careful consideration of operational and economic
factors specific to the application (Fagerns et al. 2010).

Straw delivered to the pellet production plant is in the form of air-dried bale, with moisture content
of typically 15 - 20%. Moisture of wet sawdust is up to 50 - 60%. Moisture content of straw and
wood pellets after the pelletizing process is 7 to 12%. If straw material is used in the pellet
production the need for drying the material is small. In mixes with wet materials, e.g. wood and reed
canary grass, drying might be needed.

At small scales costs are likely to dictate either a batch perforated-floor technology using heated air,
or a simple band conveyor using exhaust gas or heated air. At intermediate scales, the rotary dryer
will probably continue to dominate, with band convey or designs being a possible alternative. At
larger scales in steam cogeneration applications, the use of steam dryers may offer efficiency
advantages. It makes recovery of low pressure steam or hot water for district heating possible. The
closed system assures zero gaseous emissions. In stand-alone applications a low investment is
usually emphasised, and correspondingly less energy efficient solutions like flue gas dryers (drum
dryers) or band dryers are preferred (Fagerns et al. 2010).

Temperatures in the dryer vary depending on the residence time. Drum dryers and equal slow
dryers the raw material temperature should not exceed 200C in order to eliminate the risks of the
substance losses during starting pyrolysis. For the same reason, small and homogeneous particles are
favourable for an optimal drying process. Large particles imply a risk for pyrolysis on the surface
when the inner parts of the particle are insufficiently dried (Lehtikangas 1999).

Rotary dryers may accept large and variable particle size fuels, but flash- and belt dryers usually
require crushing of the fuel to a particle size below 10 mm. The material will have a bulk density in
the range 50-400 kg/m
3
, depending on type and moisture content. Usually the bulk material will
have only moderate flow properties, but will readily permit through-circulation of the drying
medium (Fagerns et al. 2010).

Traditional dryers are divided to direct and indirect dryers according to the way of heat transfer. In
direct dryers the matter which transfers the moisture away is usually hot gas. The gas is in direct
contact with the substance to be dried. These kinds dryers are e.g. rotary drum-, flash- and fluidised
bed dryers. Heat conducts through a layer to the dried material in the indirect driers. Drying surface
is heated with electricity, oil or steam circulating in the tubes of drying unit. Drying substance is not
in direct contact to dried matter.


22
Table 6. Table Performance data for dryers applied for biomass (Fagerns et al. 2010).

Table 6 continues.


Several sophisticated solutions (Vidlund 2004, Andersson et al. 2006) for drying the raw materials
have been developed for large scale pellet factories. Usually the process is integrated to another
process or drying stages are separated to several phases. There are plenty of information on different
drying solutions in the literature and the internet. More precise analyse of drying would include
much more pages of the content of overview and it is not reasonable.
4.4.1 Emissions of drying

Organic compounds are released (Fagerns et al. 2010) in drying biomass materials as a result of
volatilization, steam distillation and thermal destruction, and cause emissions into the air or
wastewaters. Studies on the emissions have been reported, e.g. in references (Fagerns 1992,
Fagerns & Sipil 1996 and Spets & Ahtila 2004 in Finland and Danielsson (2001), J ohansson
(1997), Karlsson (2002), Johansson (2002), Sthl (2004), Granstrm (2002) and Granstrm (2001) in
Sweden.

Organic emissions can be classified as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and condensable
compounds. In addition, there are particulate emissions. At low drying temperatures (under 100 C)
the compounds emitted consist mainly of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. The VOCs are of

23
environmental concern since they are known to form ground level ozone in the presence of nitrogen
oxides (Vidlund 2004). Photo-oxidants are also harmful to humans, as they cause irritation in the
respiratory tract and insensitive parts of the lungs. The condensable organic compounds, such as
fatty acids, resin acids and higher terpenes, emitted at over 100 C, might condense on equipment
surfaces and thus cause technical problems. They can also form blue haze, a discoloration of the
exhaust plume, as the flue gases are cooled down after the chimney. The blue haze can represent
an odour and visual nuisance as well as a potential safety hazard. The thermal destruction of wood
materials starts at about 150 C with the destruction of hemicelluloses, when alcohols, acids and
aldehydes are released. In the beginning of drying, thermal decomposition is slight, but the rate of
loss accelerates rapidly as temperature is increased further. Such degradation represents an energy
loss to the overall process (Fagerns et al. 2010).

Clean-up equipment for the exhaust gas stream depends on applicable emissions criteria and
regulation, which vary greatly with location. Solid particulates may usually be dealt with cyclones or
bag filters. Blue haze is composed largely of sub-micron aerosols, and these are notoriously difficult
to remove with conventional gas cleaning techniques. As a general rule low material temperatures
(<100 C) should be maintained when possible (Fagerns et al. 2010).

4.5 Condi ti oning

When the raw material properties are more or less uncontrollable the process variables can be used
for steering the pelletising in the desired direction. Steam or water exhibit bonds via capillary
sorption between particles and on the other hand they induce the thermal softening of the materials.
However, too much moisture makes the feedstock slippery and it slides through the holes too easily,
thereby reducing pellet quality. Decreased durability can also be obtained due to the steam
expansion after pellets leave a die. Materials that are too dry may plug the holes in the die if the
resistance from the holes exceeds the roller force (Lehtikangas 1999).

In conditioning stage it is possible to add steam (and/or water) to the raw material in order to soften
the material fibres prior to densification. Conditioning also softens the lignite and hemi-cellulose of
the raw material for a more suitable pelleting process and achieving better strength for pellets. As a
result is better physical quality of pellets and lower percentage of fines. Steam and residency time of
conditioning create a more pliable fibre and the production capacity usually increases. Conditioning
also covers the addition of determined binding agents or other additives. It gives to good mixing of
several raw materials and extra substances without any negative influence on the pellet quality.

At present the most common technique used is steam conditioning. In wood pelletizing steam is
sprayed at 90 150 C to conditioning chamber. Pressure is usually 5 - 10 bar, sometimes even
higher. Proportion of the steam is about 5% from the weight of raw material and process time is 1
4 seconds. There exist also feed expanders, which can be used to expand conditioning. Inside the
conditioning chamber a cascade mixer mixes steam, additives and raw material (figure 8) for
pelleting.

Steam conditioning/preheating the feed may require considerable energy. For example, Skoch et al.
(1981) estimated that steam conditioning to increase the temperature from 27 to 80 C consumed
about 26 kWh/t. Steam add in its pelleting operations improves pellet durability. Added steam

24
provides heat and moisture and it also helps to reduce energy consumption during pelleting. Steam
also activates natural binders and lubricants in the biomass.




Figure 8. Technical description of the conditioner (Manual of Sprout-Matador).

It is said that straw does not accept steam as well as wood residues. The time to allow the water to
penetrate the switchgrass stems is 5 times longer than wood. It is critical to size the ripening
chambers proportionately to allow adequate time for the material to re-wet into the product not just
the surface. When the feedstock is warmer and slightly moist, it is more pliable and then when
compressed by the roller into the die, the resulting pellet is a firm, glassy pellet of high density and
quality. This pellet however is not durable until cooled.

Water resistance might become (Pastre 2002) from the existence of a thin wax layer on straw, which
normally protect it against rain and insects attacks. After a certain period of time, the wax layer
disappears naturally and straw loses its shiny aspect, especially if straw bales have been outside
without cover.

If a two component mix is processed there must be two controlled feed-ins, and a double conditioner
with an effective mixing is needed. Similar method is used in feed industry to expand conditioning.


25

4.6 Additives of pellets

Additives are used in pellet production for better binding, lubrication or to decrease combustion
problems.

A binder (or additive) can be a liquid or solid forming a bridge, film, matrix, or causes a chemical
reaction to make strong inter-particle bonding. Steam conditioning or preheating is essential to
provide heat and moisture to activate the inherent or added binders. Selection of binders mainly
depends on cost and environmental friendliness of the binders. When strength, durability or heating
values of pellets do not match with the quality standards or marketing requirements, additives are
added to the feed to increase the pellet quality or to minimize the pellet quality variations (Kaliyan &
Morey 2010).

Binding agents have been investigated and used as a means to increase fuel pellets durability and
thus reducing the dust and fines generated during their transport and handling. Examples of possible
binding agents for wood pellets include starch, molasses, natural paraffin, plant oil, lignin sulphate
and synthetic agents.

Small amount of starch, fewer than 2%, increases the strength of pellets. E.g. potato- and maize
starches are used. It is question of expenses and of the result in quality when starch or other additives
are used. In experiments some positive experiences from the growing durability was noticed when
starch was increased.

Binding agents (such as maize or rice) can also be used in order to decrease abrasion. This sort of
addition is quite common in Austria for instance. However, a recent publication found that even the
use of binding agents does not always result in low abrasion values, and that abrasion must therefore
depend on several other parameters (Obernberger & Thek 2002).

Experiments have been carried out in Sweden on increasing lignin sulphate to raw material. Pellets
have been produces even from pure lignin sulphonate (hman et al. 2006). In the latter case the idea
was that if pulp and paper production cellulose is upgraded to ethanol. After that the by-product
lignin can be pelletised and used as a fuel. The binding quality of lignin sulphate is good and pellets
can be used in small scale use. Lignin increases the sulphur and ash content, which can increase
sulphur emissions and cause problems with the combustion equipment.

Lignin acts as a binder in situ in the feed material. At elevated temperatures, lignin softens and helps
the binding process. Bradfield and Levi (1984) reported that as lignin plus extractives content
increased above a threshold level of 34% in wood samples, pellet durability decreased. They
postulated that the auto-adhesive action of thermally softened, non-crystalline wood polymers was
like that of mastic with little internal strength of its own. Initially, pellet durability increased as the
non-crystalline wood polymers acted as an adhesive between crystalline zones. However, above a
threshold excessive mastic between crystallites reduced the strength and durability of the pellets.

Fibre can be classified as water-soluble and water-insoluble fibres. Water-soluble fibres increase the
viscosity of the feed and positively affect the structural integrity of the pellets. Water-insoluble

26
fibres may entangle and fold between particles or fibres (Rumpf 1962). Hill and Pulkinen (1988)
found that increasing crude fibre content from 18.526.5% increased the durability of alfalfa pellets
by about 5%.

Hill and Pulkinen (1988) concluded that addition (by weight) of any of the following six binders did
not improve the alfalfa pellet durability over the control: 4% bentonite, 1.5% Perma-Pel
(lignosulfonate), 1.5% lignosite 458, 4% of neutralized liquid lignosite, 4% of liquid molasses, and
40% of ground barley grain. Tabil et al. (1997) observed that the durability and hardness of pellets
with hydrated lime were highest for all three chop qualities. This may probably be due to the
formation and subsequent hardening of calcium carbonate. Furthermore, pea starch increased pellet
durability without necessarily increasing hardness. They suggested that adding 0.5% of either
hydrated lime or pea starch would be sufficient to improve the durability and hardness of pellets
made from low quality chops (Kaliyan & Morey 2009a).

Biomass combustion appliance manufacturers often recommend the addition of lime (CaO) to reduce
clinker formation and slagging. Hartmann et al. (2007) found that this in practice reduced particulate
loading by approximately 15%. Ronback et al. (2007) found 2% fine limestone mixed with oat grain
fuel reduced total particulate loading by 15% and reduced total dust formation by 28%. Limestone
creates a chemical compound such as CaSO4 which has a higher melting temperature, thus these
species stay in the bottom ash. The authors felt this additive would be most valuable in larger
combustion systems where the increased ash content of the fuel would have minimal negative
impacts on combustion efficiency. The limestone also has the added benefit of reducing HCl
formation (Porter et al. 2008).

Nikolaisen et al. 2002 used molasses 2 5% as binding agent in their experiments. In the
experiments also anti-slagging additives, like limestone, kaolinite, Ca- and Al-oxcides, was used.
Wilen et al. (1986) used in their experiments kaolin and talk as anti-slagging additives. Kaolin, 3%,
worked rather well increasing the smelting temperature of celesters.

Different kind oils, e.g. rapeoil (Nikolaisen et al. 2002) and pineoil (Kallio et al. 2005), has been
used as lubricant and also dust binding. Inclusion of fat/oil (animal or vegetable based) in feed
results in lower pellet durability. This is because fat acts as a lubricant between the feed particles,
and between the feed and the pellet-mill die-wall. Due to low friction in the die, pressure in the die is
decreased which would result in pellets with lower durability.

By studying the chemical structure of the ash it has been developed additives, which decrease the
influence of harmful chemicals in heating. Prof. Martti Aho at VTT has participated to the work, in
which the effect of chlorine has been decreased in combustion. Also as a Swedish Chinese co-
operation has been developed additives to prevent the sintering of agrobiomass (Xiong, S. et al.
2007).

It can be underlined that modification of operating conditions changing the thickness of dies,
pressing time, pressing temperatures and pressure can help to improve pellet quality without
binding increasing agents. Kaliyan & Morey (2010) studied Natural binders through the micro-
structural analyses. The micro-structural analyses (i.e., light microscopy, scanning electron
microscopy, and UV auto-fluorescence imaging) of corn stover and switchgrass briquettes and
pellets showed that the natural binders in these biomass materials created solid bridge type

27
bonding between particles in the briquettes and pellets. The potential natural binding components in
these biomass materials are water soluble carbohydrates (2.27.9% d.b.), lignin (8.89.2% d.b.),
protein (3.63.9% d.b.), starch (0.41.0% d.b.), and fat (0.7 0.9% d.b.). The natural binders in the
biomass can be expressed or activated (softened) under high pressures in the presence of moisture
(e.g., water soluble carbohydrates) and in some cases increased temperature (e.g., lignin, protein,
starch, and fat). When pressure is removed and the binder cools, it hardens or sets up forming
bridges or bonds between particles, which has the effect of binding them together and making the
resulting product more durable. Furthermore, activating (softening) the natural binding components
through moisture and temperature in the range of glass transition is essential to produce highly
durable briquettes and pellets.

In certain European countries, addition of some binders is prohibited. In Austria, biological additives
rich in starch content (e.g., maize and rye flour) of only 2% (by weight) are allowed for wood pellet
production (Obernberger & Thek 2004). Under the German emission control legislation molasses as
a residue from sugar production, natural paraffin or starch are allowed (Viak 2000). Apart from
increasing the products hardness, additives are also conceivable as a means of improving some
chemical characteristics, for example slag formation (during combustion) can be hindered by using
kaolin or calcium and magnesium oxides.

5. PELLETING PROCESS

The handling of raw material has been introduces in the former sections of the report. Usually the
complete process consists of drying, grinding, pelleting, cooling, screening, figure 9. Next section
describes the core process of pelleting process, pelleting.


Figure 9. To the pelleting process belongs drying, grinding, pelleting, cooling and screening (Source:
Hannes Tuohiniitty, www.pellettienergia.fi).

28

5.1 Pellet mil l

After conditioning, the particles are continuously fed into the pellet mill. A pellet press is
(Lehtikangas 1999) composed of a die and generally of two or three rollers. Loose milled material is
fed into the pelleting cavity. The rotation of the die and roller pressure forces material through the
die holes, compressing the material into pellets. Pellets are cut off when coming out from the die or
they can be cut with adjustable knives to a desired length. The density of the pellets depends on the
frictional forces which are controlled, e.g. by the length and the diameter of the apertures in the die,
the condition of the die and rollers, the roller adjustment and the raw material properties.

There are several different pelleting methods. Those are schematic described in figure 10.



Figure 10. Different possibilities to pelletize raw materials (Nslund et al. 2003).


29
Ring die presses are the most popular in the pellet industry. From the basic method it has been
several developments. Ring die may rotate or be static, and the power transition becomes either the
die or wheels. In small pelleting machines it is limited space inside the die, the diameter of roller
wheels becomes small and it is difficult to build up good montage. Rotating die shall take all
pressing power with a weak montage, and it becomes stressed and lifetime shortens. The distribution
of raw material is better than in static die; raw material rotates on the circle of die for centrifugal
force. Change time of the die is faster in a static die.

The rollers, which are usually inside the die, have also tested outer circle of ring die. Because space
is enough, it is easier to build large rollers, which are easy to maintain. Feeding the rawmaterial
becomes more complicated. Further developed EcoTre press is fabricated present day in Slovakia.

The flat die type is another popular press in Europe. It has a circular perforated disk on which two or
more rollers rotate. Rollers create force of press and the material goes through the holes and will
pelleting. The structure of flat die is solid. Main axel rotates the big roller wheels around the die.
Feeding of raw material happen upward down and distribution on the die is regular. Biggest flat die
machines produce 8 t/h and smallest few kilos per hour.

At least in Sweden and Germany extruders have used for pelletizing in small scale. In several
laboratory scale of pelleting experiments in Germany it is used Hosokawa pelletisers.

In Germany the PUSCH AG provides a new concept for the decentralized production of mixed
biomass pellets from agricultural and woody raw materials. Based on the license concept
agrarSTICK. A hydraulic press and PM6-28 -plant offers less work and cost intensive
pretreatment of the raw materials. Therefore, the production of different mixed biomass pellets can
be done without changing the press die.




Figure 11. Mobile pellet mill of Biobotnia Oy with a ring die. A whole bale can be put in hammer mill (Source:
http://louhetar.fi/biobotnia/video).

Usually a static pellet plant is built somewhere good place. In pelletizing agricultural materials it has
become an idea to build a mobile system, especially the areas, where large field areas are lacking..
Biobotnia Oy in Finland operates nowadays with a mobile system. The pellet factory has been built

30
in a truck, figure 11. Also in Germany there is a commercial mobile construction
(www.energievomland.de/).
5.2 Some properties of pell ets mill

A number of properties are commonly known to affect the quality of pelleting. They can be divided
from raw material depending and mechanical properties. From the raw material depending properties
include moisture content of the material, density of the material, particle size of the material,
characteristics of the materials and different kind agents. The mechanical main factors that improve
the pelleting process are steam conditioning, optimised die measures and pelleting pressure.

A review of some these factors and the basics of the binding process are described in next section.
Table 7. Pelletising researches done with different raw materials.
Raw materials Press Other data Combustion
included
Source
Cereals and rape
straw
Mobile
pelletising unit,
small scale Kahl
flat die
Additives, kaolin etc. Small scale (farmers),
screw stoker 10 - 30 kW
and 300 kW fluidized
bed, gasifier
Wilen et al. 1996
Wheat mixes,
additives
Full scale Sprout
Madator M12
ring die
12/108p96
12 mixes REKA boiler, 30 kW Nikolaisen et al. 2002
Wheat Lab scale Kahl,
8/40 flat die
Additives; limestone,
starch, fibre, mollasses
Kiesewalterin &
Rhrictin 2004
Hemp Small scale ring
die
Good bulk density,
moisture, bad
hllfasthet
Other researches Finell et all. 2006
Reed canary
grass
Small scale ring
die
Difficulties in
pelletting
Other researches berg et al. 2006
Larsson 2008
Lignin High heating value etc. Mainly combustion hman et al. 2006
Peat Mobile
pelletising unit,
middle scale
Kahl flat die
Raw material for
mobile too wet (35 -
40%)
Middle and big scale
boilers
Oravainen 2003,
Lahtinen
2006
Rape straw and
barley, mixes
Lab scale,
Amandus Kahl
14-174 flat die
Barley was easy to
pelletise. Rape straw-
pellets did not slag.
small scale 20 kW
stoker & boiler
Kallio & Kallio 2007
Wheat, rape
straw, wood
species, mixes
Lab scale
Hosokowa
Much analyses of
material
Boilers 10 100 kW Rombrecht 2007
Mixes, wood -
straw, wood
miscanthus,
straw -
miscanthus
Unknown Mixes of raw
materials, diff. 20%
Two lab scale devices Schneider et al. 2011
Mixes of mash,
shea nut shell,
coffee-, cigar,
pectin waste,
olive
Full scale Sprout
Madator M12
ring die 8/90/P50
(eff. Canal
50mm)
13 Mixes Analyses, later in 2008
combustion
(Hinge, J., 2008,
Capablo et al. 2009)
Nikolaisen et al. 2005

31
Pelletising experiments with different sizes presses and integrated combustion tests have been
carried out in several countries. Some researches of the alternated pellets are gathered in the table 7.
In most cases the alternative raw material has been straw. Appendix 1 describes the pelletising
properties of several other rawmaterials.

During pelletizing the dust of the air can be dangerous. Face mask is good to use so that small
particles do not enter the lungs during inhaling. It has been some researches of the subject with wood
dust.
5.2.1 Measures of die

Measures of die are very important in pelleting process. Dies need to be selected based on the
feedback of the process. If a wrong choose has been done, it might happened that pellets does not
form. A balance needs to be found between pellet durability and throughput when dies are chosen.
Two main measures are dimension (D) of the aperture and length of pelleting channel (L).
Dimension is in European wood industry usually either 6 or 8 mm. For agricultural pellets L/D-ratio
can be larger. For example (Nikolaisen et al. 2002) used their experiments diameter of 12 mm (L/D
8/1). The prolonged residence time in a die gives positive effects on the durability of the pellets. For
flat die machine the length of whole is shorter than ring die machine, L/D for spruce and pine is with
flat die 4 5:1 (Graf 2000) and with ring die 8 10:1 (Nslund et al. 2003).

Figure 12. Examples of different apertures of die (Nslund et al. 2003).

Production experience in commercial plants with pelletizing highly fibrous herbaceous biomass like
oat hulls and warm season grasses has found that L/D of the die should be approximately 8.5 - 9:1
and the dehydrated alfalfa industry (10:1) (Porter et al. 2008).

Commercial pellet mills can operate at speeds of 60500 rpm. Rapid die rotation tends to overload
the pellet motor due to the high fiber content of the forage. In wood pelleting with industry scale
machines (die 800-1000 mm) speeds are about 4 5 m/s (Nslund et al. 2003).


32
Main problems occurring during the pelleting process correspond to die blocking, die breakage, roll
cracking, overheating, high energy costs and at times poor end-product quality and high maintenance
needs. Fitted with a manual or an electrically controlled air cylinder, virtually all overloads and
blockages can be eliminated (Pastre 2002).

Same mills (Pastre 2002) are used for pelleting straw and wood, but from one product to another,
dies and rollers have to be changed. Most of the machines allow a few hours removal and reset up.
With straw the life span of die and rollers can be reduced by up to 20% that of wood. Due to the
higher silica content the straw has a higher abrasion wear.

The condition of the rollers (Lehtikangas 1999), and condition and speed of the die, as well as the
die specifications, including length and diameter of the hole, play a role in influencing the quality
properties of pellets.
5.2.2 Roller wheels

Roller wheels are the second main component in the pellet press. In a pellet press there is two or
three rollers. As big rollers will be manufactured as there is room for them inside the die. Large
diameter rollers have longer pressing time. Larger rollers rotate easily and risk of slide decreases. In
the rollers there is a pattern on the surface to get a better grip of the raw material. The surface wears
and the roller has to be changed after regular time shifts to prevent the sliding.

Gap between roller and die is also an important variable making good pellets. Robohm and Apelt
(1989b) and Robohm (1992) studied the effect of the distance (gap) between the roller and the die on
the strength and durability of pellets in a flat-die press, and a ring-die press. For both press types,
increasing gap-size (about 22.5 mm) increased pellet hardness and durability. A further increase in
gap-size (about 45 mm) caused decrease for pellet hardness and durability. The initial increase in
pellet quality was due to a dense layer of material compressed through the die as a result of increased
shear and prolonged pre-compression. A further increase in gap-size resulted in decreased stability
of the feed mash on the edge of the roller and die because of sideways leaking of the feed mash
(Kaliyan & Morey 2009a). In present mills the gap between dies and roller is adjust hydraulically.

In flat die press the roller wheels are as large as possible. Because the die is better supported than
ring die it is smaller risk of bending. Also the hydraulic control between rollers and die is easier to
make.

An important task for rollers is to lubricate bearing regularly and also keep them clean as possible.
Inside the die temperature can increase to 125 150C and there is much dust.
5.2.3 Moisture content

Water as moisture in the biomass is one of the most useful agents that are employed as a binder and
lubricant (Kaliyan & Money 2010). Moisture content (Nielsen 2009) is a central property for woods
physical strength and stiffness. Also the former drying history interacts on the situation of moisture.
Several studies (Kaliyan & Money 2009b) have showed that strength and durability of the densified
products increased with increasing moisture content until an optimum is reached.


33
With the help of heat, water induces a wide range of physical and chemical changes such as thermal
softening of biomass, denaturation of proteins, gelatinization of starch, and solubilisation and
consecutive recrystallization of sugars and salts (Thomas et al., 1998). These physic-chemical
changes affect binding properties of the biomass particles. The optimum moisture content for
biomass densification may range from 8% to 20% (w.b.) (Kaliyan & Morey, 2009b). At high
moistures (>20% w.b.), coherent biomass briquettes/pellets may not be produced because the cell
structure remains largely intact at high moisture levels due to the incompressibility of high moisture
biomass particles (Pickard et al., 1961). Before conditioning after rberg (2007) the optimal water
content for straw and reed canary grass is about 15%.

Water content minimizes (Nielsen 2009) the stiffness of wood by lowering the physical strength of
the cell walls of material. The polymer matrix in the wall is softened by water that occupies cross
linking hydrogen bonding sites in the cellulose and hemicellulose and decreases the glass transition
temperature of lignin and hemicellulose. Softening of lignin is not a distinct transition that occurs at
a well-defined temperature for wood. The lignin gradually (Back & Salmen 1982) changes from a
hard and glassy to a soft and rubberlike state with increasing temperature and moisture content.
Lignin and hemicellulose were found to be amorphous thermoplastic materials which would undergo
plastic deformation at low compaction pressures for temperatures in the range of their glass
transition temperatures (Back & Salmen, 1982).

In corn stover and switchgrass, the glass transition (i.e., softening) occurs from 50 to 113C. The
mean glass transition temperature for both corn stover and switchgrass is 75C for the moisture
content range of 1020% (w.b.) (Kaliyan & Morey, 2009a). Irvine (1984) found that the glass
transition temperature of lignin ranged from 60 to 90C. Therefore, the briquetting/ pelleting
conditions causing glass transition in biomass particles may activate (soften) the biomass cell
contents/natural binders.

Amount of water and heat may therefore have several roles in this connection, because it decreases
the bonding strength and the friction. Also, water may increase the plasticity, which will minimize
the energy for the particle deformations that may be involved.
5.2.4 Pelleting temperature

In the experiments the temperature of the pelletised material and the temperature of the die can be
separated. The temperature of sawdust can be the result of heating by steam addition or by the heat
from the pellet mill itself. The temperature of the industrial die is approximately 125 C, which is
caused by the sawdust's friction with the press channel walls, and may also be affected by the
sawdust temperature (Nielsen 2009).

Modest increasing the temperature of the die also caused the pellet strength to increase. Canadians
keeps 85 C the minimum temperature required to produce durable agripellets. It has been done
several studies; those show the advantages of higher pelleting temperatures. Working to produce 6.3
mm pellets using 3 herbaceous feedstocks, Shaw and Tabil (2007) also found temperatures of 100
C were superior to 80 C temperatures in improving pellet durability. The state of glass transition
temperature is defined as the temperature at which the material softens due to coordinated
molecular motion and is critical to densification (, 1995).


34
The results show that increasing the temperature decrease the energy requirement for all the
pelletizing components. Temperature decrease the sawdust's stiffness and viscosity and thereby the
energy required for compression and flow. In the pellet mill, this temperature could be increased by
means of heating the sawdust before it enters the pellet mill. This approach is utilized in pellet mills
with steam addition. Additionally, the friction in the press channel was dependent on the die's and
the pellet's temperature. For species with high friction such as beech the friction may be highly
dependent on this temperature and ways of increasing the pelletizing temperature could be way to
increase the pellet mill capacity (Nielsen 2009).
5.2.5 Pelletising pressure

Pelleting has been studied and compression test conducted using a single pelleting unit. In the
experiments properties of wheat, barley, canaola, oat, corn stover and switchgrass straws were
determined at compressive forces, particle sizes, moisture contents, bulk densities and chemical
compositions etc.

In the study of Adaba et al. (2009) were determined pressing characteristics of barley, canola, oat
and wheat straw. Main results are shown in the table 8.
Table 8. Effect of compressive forces (pressures) on compact density and specific energy required
for compression and extrusion of agricultural straw compacts (Adaba et al. 2009).



From the table 8 it is possible to see (Adaba et al. 2009), that although the total specific energy
increased significantly with pressure, the compact density of barley and wheat did not increase
above a pressure of 63.2 MPa. Similarly, the compact density for canola and oat did not change
above a pressure of 94.7 MPa. Therefore, a pressure of 63.2 MPa for barley and wheat straw, and a

35
pressure of 94.7 MPa for canola and oat straw produced the highest density compacts with minimal
specific energy consumption values.

Differences of the results could be due to the fact that the bulk densities for all four straw samples
were statistically not different (P >0.05); however, the geometric mean particle diameter of ground
oat straw was significantly smaller than the other three ground samples. This resulted in larger
plunger displacement values and consequently, higher specific energy values.

The percentage extrusion values reported in Adabas et al.s study are higher than the values reported
by Shaw (2008) for wheat and poplar biomass, while significantly lower than those reported by Mani
et al. (2006
a
) for corn stover; Mewes (1959) and Bellinger & McColly (1961) for hay.
5.2.6 Density of the material

Typical bulk density of grasses and straws is 90 - 150 kg/m
3
and after pelleting 650 - 700 kg m
3
. The
bulk density of wood is about two to three times higher than with straw as a raw material. Higher
density would result lower transportation costs, reduced storage volume and easier handling. Olive
residues have a higher bulk density, about 600 kg/m
3
, when dried.

A trouble of agricultural materials is feeding of the raw material to the pellet process. In the pellet
press it is not possible to feed equal amounts straw and wood. There are articles about this, and it has
been noticed also in the experiments of VTT. In laboratory scale feeding system about 10 - 15 kg/h
straw could be fed. With wood the amount was 30 40 kg/h. As an example Pastre (2002) tells that
with the same pellet press of 250 kW, a 4 t/h output can be expected for wood pellets, and a 5 t/h
output for straw pellets while it would amount 20 t/h for feeding granulates (which do not meet the
same quality standards).

Double pelleting has been used in feed industry, for ex. cattle feed consisting of high fiber content.
Robohm and Apelt (1989a) found that specific energy required for double pelleting was about 813
kWh/t higher than that of the single pelleting system.
5.2.7 Particle size of the material

Particle size, perhaps also the shape, has not a great effect on power demand as Bergstrm et al.
(2008) study with wood showed. Sawdust particles approach spherical form, whereas straw is a far
more fibrous material. It seems that particles behave rather equal in pellet production, for ex. need of
power equal, compare Kge example, VTTs and SLUs experiments. When straw is grinded to
small particles it does not differ much about the wood particles, only the bulk density of agricultural
raw material is lower.
5.2.8 Efficiency of the pellet production

The output of pellet presses ranges from a few hundreds kilograms up to 10 ton/h and power demand
of the presses are from 50 130 kWh/t. The most common mills produce 2 - 4 t/h. In the Kge plant,
energy consumption (Pastre 2002) for the pelleting process is said to be equivalent to 4% of the
energy content for straw pellets, and only 2% for wood pellets made from wood chips. But this is
because 85% of the steam used in the dryer for wood chips is recovered and reused as a heat source.

36
Without this particularity, wood pellets energy consumption be expected to be higher to the straw
pellets one.

In wood production it is acceptable efficiency to whole production line 130 - 200 kWh/t without
artificial drying. Lange (2007) promises as low as 85 kWh/t for whole wood pellets production
line. In experimental studies with a small flat die pelleting presses productivity has been 70 100
kWh/t (for ex. Kallio & Kallio 2004). The figure of efficiency goes downwards to about 40 50
kWh/t in big pellet presses. A complete large scale pelleting line would typically range a 600 - 800
kWh power for straw processing in Kge. For a pellet mill of 250 kWh with straw feed an output is
5 t/h and productivity 50 kWh/t.

6. COOLING OF PELLETS

Due to the upstream conditioning (with hot water or steam) and the friction in the pellet mill, the
pellets leave the mill with temperatures of 100 C and more. Also the moisture content can be 12
18%. In cooling they are air quenched down to 20 - 25 C and to 8 - 12%. The commonly used
coolers are counter flow coolers. For very small pellet mills with low throughputs a subsequent
cooler is not necessary. Period of utilization and required electric power has asked information from
pellet producers and cooler manufacturers, respectively.

If pellets include too much moisture inside the pellets steam explosions occur and pellets will be
fragile or broken. In the figure 13 it is shown pellets after bad process conditions.

Figure 13. Pellets may break in cooling stage if they include too much moisture (Payne 1994).


37
7. SCREENING OF FINE PARTICLES

The residual fines are screened to separate pellets. Fines are harmful in use. Fines are generally re-
used in the process and re-pelletised. Some process lines are operated with under pressure in order to
minimise dust escape from the process and improve the working environment.

During the pelleting process straw and other agricultural materials might generate more fines than
wood. Operation conditions of pellet process have a great influence. It is reported (Jannasch et al.
2001) that, at the exit point of the press sawdust pellets present a 3 - 4% of fines, whereas for straw,
fines proportion could amount 5 - 10%. It is also usually expected a 5% loss of dry material in most
alfalfa pelleting systems.

8. QUALITY OF PELLETS

Pelleting increases bulk density, energy density and decreases the moisture content of pellets. Bulk
density increases from 100-150 to 500-700 kg/m
3
. Pelleting straw, crass and other alternative raw
materials moisture content passes from 20-30% to 10%. It is important that amount of small particles
is low. From table 9 it can be noticed that straw pellets have a lower bulk density and a lower energy
density than wood pellets.
Table 9. General characteristics of raw materials for pellets (Van Loo. & Koppejan, 2008).

There are also considerable differences in combustion quality characteristics between biomass fuels.
Agrifibers are generally more difficult to burn than wood chips. They have a lower heat value
(switchgrass is approximately 5% lower in heat value than wood) and higher content of chlorine,
alkali and ash. Improving biomass quality of agricultural raw material depends on minimizing their

38
nutrient, ash, and moisture content, and the emissions of particulate matter during combustion
(Porter et al. 2008).

For controlling the market quality of pellets it has been done standards in Europe. Multipart
standard EN14961 6 Pellets is published in 2010. In the standard (Alakangas 2010) it is included
both wood pellets for non-industrial use (part 2) and non-woody pellets for non-industrial use (part
6). Pellets standards are targeted for non-industrial use in small-scale appliances, such as, households
and small commercial and public sector buildings.

In specification and classes (prEN 14961-1) classification is based on origin, source, major traded
forms and properties. Hierarchical classification system is in table format: 1 Woody biomass, 2
herbaceous biomass, 3 Fruit biomass and 4 Biomass blends and mixtures.

There are special requirements for chemically treated biomass. Chemical treatment defined as any
treatment with chemicals other than air, heat or water (e.g. glued, painted, coated, lacquered or
otherwise treated wood, without halogenated compounds and heavy metals).

Classification is flexible, and hence the producer or the consumer may select property from each
property class. The classification does not bind different characteristics with each other and the fuel
supply chain shall be unambiguously traceable back over the whole chain.



Figure 14. After CEN modified tumbling can method in the laboratory of Enas OY in Fnland (photo M. Kallio).

For most commonly traded forms the standard includes 15 property classes. Some of the properties
are normative (mandatory), e.g. The origin and the source have always to be stated. Normative
properties vary depending on both origin and traded form. Moisture content (M), and ash content (A)
is necessity for all fuels. Some properties are informative (voluntary), but they are recommended to

39
be stated. Property has been divided into several classes, e.g. ash content to 9 values, from A0.5
0.5 % dry basis to A10.0+>10.0 % dry basis.

Modification of EN14961-2 for wood is ENplus (Bahr 2011). For wood it is still used German
DIN+-standard and Austrian NORM M 7135.

In the EN 14961 standard also gives instructions how to measure different variables. For example
tumbling can method, figure 14, is used to estimate the pellet quality in terms of pellet durability
index (PDI), or, simply per cent durability. This test simulates the mechanical handling of pellets and
predicts the possible fines produced due to mechanical handling. During tumbling, pellets abrade
and produce fines due to impact, and shearing of pellets over each other and over the wall of the
tumbling can. After tumbling 500 g of pellets for 10 min at 50 rpm, the pellets are sieved using a
sieve size of about 0.8 times the pellet diameter. The PDI or durability is calculated as the ratio of
weight after tumbling over the weight before tumbling, multiplied by 100. A detailed procedure can
be found at ASABE Standards (2003). The tumbling can method is the most often used method in
feed manufacturing industries in the U.S. and also modified in Europe.

9. STORAGE OF PELLETS

After screening pellets are ready for storage. For commercial use pellets are put into retail bags (20 -
25 kg) in an automatic bagging machine or into bulk bags (1-1.5 ton). Retail bags are usually set on
a palette and make a load of ton. Besides that pellets can be store as bulk in silos or in storage halls.
They can be delivered as loose or pneumatic way to the storage of the user.

Durability of the pellets is a very important quality factor at many levels, e.g. with regard to storage,
transport, handling and combustion. Screening the pellets before delivery to the end-user will reduce
the dust problems to some extent. Fines are also formed when pellets are dropped from the conveyor
down to the pile (Lehtikangas 1999).

Fines may accumulate under transport conveyors and may result in dust explosions. Dust explosion
is a problem connected with handling and transporting of fuel. High-risk zones at the heating plant
and during combustion are fuel silos, mills, cyclones and filters. Organic dust may constitute a health
risk for those who handle the fuel. Fines may result in uneven combustion and decreased efficiency
of combustion and will contribute to increased percentages of unburned material. Moreover, risks for
increasing emissions of particles, such as soot or even unburned material will appear (Hadders
2002). Technical solutions in order to avoid fine particles may be to decrease the number of
conveyors as far as possible and to keep the transport feed low. The pressure should be adjusted
when using pneumatic conveyors. Moreover, blowing pellets on to the other pellets instead of, e.g.
against the walls, gives less fines (Lehtikangas 1999).

The agripellets might tolerate less moisture than wood pellets. All species of pellets has to cower
against moisture. Fasina and Sokhansanj (1996) reported that increase in moisture content by more
than 35% due to storage under high relative humidity (7090%) had detrimental effect on durability
of alfalfa pellets. During storage, an increase in the moisture content of alfalfa pellets from 7.5%
(w.b.) to about 12.5% (w.b.) increased the durability of pellets from 81 to 85%.


40
During storage wood pellets create carbon monoxide (Swaan 2002). Silo or storage has to be well
ventilated before a person goes inside it. It has been some lethal accidents with wood chips and
pellets in a closed space.

Temperature increase in organic material during storage is a well-known phenomenon with wood
chips, pellets. About 30 000 m
3
of pellets burned in a silo in the harbour of Rotterdam (Ljunblom
2004). The temperatures are started to be monitored for the threat of fire, and large storages have
wired with temperature detectors. Also the changes of indicator gases (ec. carbon monoxide and -
dioxide) will be monitored. Inert gases can be used for air-condioning the silos. Different theories
have been presented during the past years on why big stockpiles and silos heat up, e.g. moisture
differences, fatty acids etc.

Microbial activity is absolutely one of the most important reasons for increasing temperatures
(Kubier 1987). Respiration of living parenchyma cells is another process where heat is released and
is considered by many researchers to be the initial cause of heating of fresh wood chips (e.g.
Assarsson 1969, Feist et al. 1971). The temperature development implies biological, chemical and
physical changes in the raw materials and has to be considered when the importance of raw material
quality for pellets quality is discussed (Lehtikangas 1999).

The significance of these processes on pellets quality is, however, not totally known.

10. PRODUCTION COSTS

The following section gives an idea of the order of magnitude of pelletising costs. The straw pellets
production costs are rather similar to the wood pellets. Regional differences of the raw material costs
may lead to a greater variability of straw pellets prices than to those of wood pellets.


Capital investment costs per ton decrease with greater capacity. The economies of scale for a pellet
mill are shown in figure 15. The data in figure 15 shows that pellet mills maximize efficiency when
they produce more than 5 - 12 tons of pellets per hour.

Lets think about the production costs of a ton of wood pellets. Overwhelming the most expensive
phases of production are raw material and drying in wood pellets production (Lange 2007). With
agricultural materials it is possible to decrease just these costs significantly. Precise descriptions of
the costs can be found in the book of Obernberger and Thek (2010).

41

Figure 15. Pelleting cost versus plant size. In the bottom line is the capital costs/t, the middle line is the
perating costs /t and the top line is total costs/t (Mani 2006b).

11. CONCLUSION

Development of renewable energy is a central aim of the European Commission's energy policy.
Several reasons stand for this: renewable energy has an important role to play in reducing carbon
dioxide (CO
2
) emissions - a major Community objective. Increasing the share of renewable energy
in the energy balance enhances sustainability. Renewable energy also helps to improve the security
of energy supply by reducing the Community's growing dependence on imported energy sources.
Renewable energy sources are expected to be economically competitive with conventional energy
sources in the medium to long term (Anon. 2002). The renewable energies, biomass fuels already
play an important role in several European countries

In pellet production there is a shortage of woody raw materials in several countries. Also the price of
the wood raw material increases. In Denmark and southern European countries it is the potential of
low forestry. So, agricultural residues could be largely used in the future for raw materials of pellets
manufacturing. It is therefore of great importance to study the characteristics of this new category of
raw materials, paying special attention to the problems that they may trigger both at production and
utilisation level. The information gathered in this report points out both positive and negative
subjects affecting agricultural pellets (with a special focuses on straw pellets) in comparison with
wood pellets.

Pellets and agripellets have several positive aspects as fuels compared to firewood, wood chips and
briquettes:
Pellets have a high energy content per volume unit, 4 5 MWh/t
o increased bulk density (500-700 kg/m
3
)
o lower transportation costs,

42
o less storage is needed.
Low moisture content
o favouring a long conservation,
o less loss of product during storage,
o advance to use of wet wood dust.
Small variations in fuel quality
o facilitating material handling,
o rate of flow control,
o cheaper and simple feeding equipment.
Dust free
o reducing dust explosion potential,
o minimizing particle emission.
Uniform
o more efficient control of combustion.
Homogeneous composition
o fully automatic heating operation,
o complete combustion,
o little repairs and high annual time of using.
An increased energy density in combustion,
o better control possibilities,
o higher energy efficiency.
Low emissions during combustion
Can be used for trimming of fuels in small and large heat centres.
cheap price of raw material.

Naturally agricultural raw materials and -pellets have also some drawbacks compared to wood
pellets:
The supply reliability and quality of the raw material,
o soil, climatic conditions and fertilising.
o growing season, with lower production in abnormally dry years.
Impurities of raw material
o straw, bark etc. would present a higher abrasive power,
o An increased wear of the parts of mill.
Moisture
o in winter wet and snowy bales,
o the screen of hammer mill jams,
o quality of pellets will be lower.
The low bulk volume,
o high transportation costs,
o demand for large storage capacities
o difficulties in pelletisig.
The fibre structure is different compared to saw dust
o fibre rotates around the rotating feeding/handling devices,
o bridging problems,
o variations in material flow in production.
More difficult handling process at factory than with wood dust,
o even the risk of dust explosion..

43
Mixed pellets
o need for two feeding in lines.
In pressing process
o variation of power consumptions,
o uneven feed.
Price of raw material can be increase,
Difficulties in combustion, emissions (another report of the MixBioPells -research).

Technically production straw and other alternative raw materials can be pelletised without major
difficulties when the proper moisture content and pressing temperature exist. Feedstock moisture
also appears to have an important effect on improving pellet density and durability. As water softens
lignin, moisture can improve durability if densification temperatures are low. To produce durable
pellets, several precautions are required (Porter et al. 2008):
The moisture content of grass material should be 10-13%,
The material should be finely ground using a screen of at least 2.8 mm ( Canadian
recommendation), in Europe it is used coarse screens, usually 4 5 mm and even much
coarser up to 18 mm.
The pellet die should have L/D (length/diameter) of 8.5-9:1 (Canadian recommendation), in
Europe ring dies 8:1 10:1 are used (results are few), diameter of aperture is 10 12 mm.
Steam should be used for conditioning and for increasing the temperature of the raw material.

Olive and grape residues are typical Mediterranean materials. Especially olive residues have been
used as a fuel. They have rather high bulk density and high heating value. On the other hand, the
olive might be a competitor to pellets in larger plants. It is cheaper and needs only conditioning, but
not any manufacturing process.

Improvements could come from the fuel preparation stage, with the addition of some specific anti-
slagging agents (e.g. kaolin, Ca(CO
3
)) or the mixing with sawdust to present final characteristic
more convenient with regard to combustion and ash issues (Pastre 2002).

Co-firing of agricultural pellets with other fuels is also an interesting alternative, both technically
and economically. For straw pellets the small scale markets of devices are still very limited, but
some manufacturers already propose multi-fuel grate boilers in the range of 10-60 kW. In all cases,
attention must be paid to the flue gas cleaning systems. Pellets made from agricultural residues (and
in general other ash-, N-, K and Cl-rich fuels) should be used primarily in large scale combustion
plants equipped with sophisticated combustion control systems and flue gas cleaning systems,
whereas wood pellets should be preferred for residential heating. Assuming that economic aspects
concerning the agripellets energy option are favourable, the agripellet market for small-scale use will
develop only if equipment manufacturers are encouraged to develop novel, safe and affordable
combustion solutions (Pastre 2002).

It is essential to further optimize (Porter et al. 2008) the alternative pelleting systems in order to be
completed on commercial pelleting systems. Parameters, such as time of harvest, the residence time
of high temperature saturated steam, impact of various L/D dies, and the impact of increasing pellet
diameter on pellet bulk density and durability require further assessment to more fully optimize
agripellets production and pellet quality.


44
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53
Appendix1/1

Table 1_1. Summary of the Potential for producing pellets from alternative materials (Steward
2007).

Material

Cost
Ease of pelleting
Ash

Sulphur

Pellet Potential
Landfill
timber

Could be low or
negative cost
Hard to moderate

Low V.low Very cheap but may need
rape cake to improve pellet
quality. Risk of
contamination?
Garden
waste

Low
Easy

Med/high Low but
may vary

May be too mixed and
unpredictable but low cost,
suitable for power stations?
Hemcore

High good markets
in animal bedding
Moderate
Med Low Probably too expensive due
to
competing uses (animal
bedding, insulation)
Oilseed rape
straw

Baling cost only?
Hard to moderate

High High Tends to be ploughed in?
Could be a good material,
low cost, but ash and
sulphur high
Oilseed rape
cake

90/tonne (Med/high?) High Expensive, competing
markets forcing price up, but
may be
good as a blend to facilitate
use of other materials
Miscanthus 45/odt but may need
to be higher to attract
growers
Moderate
Low/med Low May need to be expensive to
encourage production
potential for high
production. Ash and
slagging may be a problem
Wheat straw Locally about
45/tonne delivered
but can be much
higher
Hard to moderate
Very high Med High ash, high price
variability, may be other
demands when needed.
Wheat grain 95 per tonne +
delivery
Easy
Med ND Expensive but best used as a
binder

Willow 45/odt but probably
nearer
90/odt to attract
growers
Hard to moderate
Low/med ND Need to dry (drying costs?).
May be expensive as need
high price to encourage
production. However,
potential for high production


54
Appendix 1/2

Table 1_2. Pelleting and combustion properties of non-wood materials (Steward 2007)

Pellet quality Combustion Ash
Material
Ease of
pelleting Length,
mm
Density,
t/m
3

MC,
%
Lighting Burning % Quality
Hemcore
Pale

Moderate 3 12 0.67
Hard

8.4 Easy Very
good

2.7 Grey/buff
powdery
20% sinter
Hemcore +
20% rape
cake

Moderate/
easy

8 20

0.67
Hard

8 Easy Very
good

3.33 Pale
grey/buff
powdery 5-
10% sinter
Miscanthus

Moderate 2 12 0.62
Hard

8 Easy Good 1.07 Mid/dark
grey 35%
sinter
(very hard)
Miscanthus
+20%
camelina
cake
Moderate/
easy

8 20

0.7
Fairly
hard

8.8 Easy Good 1.83 Mid grey
35% sinter
(soft)
Mixed
agriculture/
etc residues
Easy 20 0.7
Hard



Hard Slow 5.1 Wormy, no
sinter
Oat straw Not easy 5 15 0.54
Soft,
crumbly

10.4 Easy Very
good

3.7 Dark grey,
wormy 40%
sinter
Rape straw Not easy 8 15 0.67

5.21

Wheat straw Hard to
Moderate
10 20 0.64
F. hard
12.2 Easy Very
good
6.1 Black 15 -
20% sinter
Wheat straw +
20%
camelina
12 20

0.7
F. hard

Easy Very
good

5.4 Black, 15%
sinter

Wheat grain Fairly
Easy
15 20 0.76
Hard

11.2 Very
hard
Moderate
to poor
2.46 Black, 40%
soft sinter
Willow Moderate
needed
oil
Up to
20 mm
0.66 Easy Good 1.0



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Agricultural and Other Materials. Coed Cymru, Product Development Glasu Project GEO20
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