Wood pellets have gained wide popularity as heating fuel of choice.  Because of their ease of use, most owners of homes and commercial facilities choose boilers and pellet stoves over the traditional equipments that are fired by wood. In consequence, there has been rapid increase of fuel pellets.  An important thing to note at this early stage is that wood is just of the many feedstock that can be used in the manufacture of pellet fuel.  There are various biomass materials that can be used in the manufacture of pellets including the perennial grasses such as miscanthus and switchgrass.

In addition to the foregoing, the necessary pellet making machine is available in various scales and sizes which allows for various types of use ranging from the small-scale whereby single homeowners manufacture for their domestic use to large commercial plants that produce over 500 million tons annually. Biomass pellets are of higher quality then their raw feedstock. They are not only more energy dense but they are also easier to use and handle in feed systems that are automated. These advantages combined with the fuel’s properties that are sustainable and ecologically make it a highly attractive option.

With a small-sized pellet mill or pelletizer you can produce biomass pellet fuel at your home. In all cases, you should ensure that you pay special attention to quality. A pellet of high quality is durable, hard and dry and has very low ash amounts that remain after its combustion.  The Pellet Fuels Institute standards are to the effect that the premium pellets must have content of ash that does not exceed 1%.