High Octane 11,000 BTU Composite Wood Pellet

[smwilliamson]

www.thepelletco.com

Our proprietary biomass fuel pellet technology is protected by U.S. Patent #5643342 and is based on using wood blended with other locally sourced materials such as bark, grass, and non-chlorinated recycled plastic to create composite pellets that have a lower moisture content, are cleaner burning and yield higher energy production than traditional biomass alone. Our biomass fuel technology is a more cost effective and environmentally friendly alternative to thermal energy produced by oil, propane, and electricity. The positive economic and environmental implications of this technology are numerous:

At this time this pellet is NOT available for residential use. Primarily because the pellet contains plastic and the fire needs to burn at a very high rate constantly to enable it to burn off the emissions from the additives.

The guy is sending me a ton to distribute to users of this forum to "test" in residential machines. Jay and the gang, I need you guys to run it through the mill and show off the results.

DISCLAIMER: this pellet must be burned at the highest rate of airflow available. This pellet will ruin your machine if allowed to run on low or medium for any long duration of time.

Benefits, it is cheaper to produce than regular wood pellets when looked at millions of BTU's produced and utilized an array of lower BTU biomass but will outperform most because it has additives within.

Any takers?

 

[subsailor]

I'd be willing if you can get them to Maine.

 

[smwilliamson]

I'd be willing if you can get them to Maine.

They come from Orono so they are already there.

 

[subsailor]

They come from Orono so they are already there.

I should have know when you said composite. As I said, I'd be willing.

 

[peakbagger]

Sorry but I will state my opinion and go away.

Yes plastic has a high btu content. Unfortunately it is opening a major can of worms, as burning plastic bumps the fuel from the biomass to hazardous waste incinerator category. To really "test" it would require emissions monitoring. To give them away for "testing" purposes without requiring emission testing is iresponsible. Since they are given away I guess the producers are getting free durability testing by volunteers with no recourse on the producers if there are issues and avoid the hassles in getting test burn permits.

It is a great idea (for the producer), low grade plastics are generally not worth recycling so they end up in the general waste stream which has to be disposed of at potentially $100 per ton. So rather than buying low grade wood for $40 per ton which has to ground and dried, they can paid to take dry plastic and put it in a pellet.

I believe there is already a producer of similiar pellets in wisconsin that have already tested and proven the concept.

 

[jtakeman]

www.thepelletco.com



At this time this pellet is NOT available for residential use. Primarily because the pellet contains plastic and the fire needs to burn at a very high rate constantly to enable it to burn off the emissions from the additives.

The guy is sending me a ton to distribute to users of this forum to "test" in residential machines. Jay and the gang, I need you guys to run it through the mill and show off the results.

DISCLAIMER: this pellet must be burned at the highest rate of airflow available. This pellet will ruin your machine if allowed to run on low or medium for any long duration of time.

Benefits, it is cheaper to produce than regular wood pellets when looked at millions of BTU's produced and utilized an array of lower BTU biomass but will outperform most because it has additives within.

Any takers?

Sure, I'll give a 2 bag test a whirl. As long as its OK for me to be totally honest with what comes of it.

I took a quick look at the site and I see that they are pellets with different base's. I take it you have the wood base?

• Wood Based
• Grass Based
• Bark Based

 

[subsailor]

I would want to know what was in the pellets. As Peakbagger suggested, if it is plastics in the pellets then that does open a can of worms. A lot of us are very happy about not using any oil. And also as he mentioned, what about the emissions? The there's also the question of what does this do to a stoves warranty? So I guess I would need more information regarding ingrediants before I would commit.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Make certain you do not over fire your stoves.

 

[BrotherBart]

That rocket fuel sounds like it is better suited for a large pellet boiler of some sort.

 

[save$]

I would like the manufacturers os some of the major stove producers to "test" these composite pellets before they go to testing in the general public. Not using a stove in compliance with the manufactures instructions can pose some very major liabilities. I.E. some one getting ill or worse from some excaping gases, or a house fire with a question of the stove getting too hot and exceeding clearence needs. Who knowes, maybe the manufacturer would say ok, or give circumstances where these or a design modification makes them acceptable. But no way would I knowingly risk my heating system or my family to satisfy my curiosity. I would question the motive one would have to put that whole composite pellet program at risk.

 

[DirtyDave]

I dont think I would want to burn plastic additives in my old stove, and the fumes would be not to healthy I would gather?

 

[smwilliamson]

That rocket fuel sounds like it is better suited for a large pellet boiler of some sort.

Yes, it is intended for Thermal electric and other very large commercial equipment type of stuff.

 

[smwilliamson]

I would like the manufacturers os some of the major stove producers to "test" these composite pellets before they go to testing in the general public. Not using a stove in compliance with the manufactures instructions can pose some very major liabilities. I.E. some one getting ill or worse from some excaping gases, or a house fire with a question of the stove getting too hot and exceeding clearence needs. Who knowes, maybe the manufacturer would say ok, or give circumstances where these or a design modification makes them acceptable. But no way would I knowingly risk my heating system or my family to satisfy my curiosity. I would question the motive one would have to put that whole composite pellet program at risk.

Listen, guys. The company isn't trying to push anything here. In fact, they outwardly said that they ARE NOT FOR RESIDENTIAL USE. I made friends with him and thought that it would be a fun project to check out. Whine about emissions, but they operate a temp high enough to burn off just about all emissions. Whether they are burning in your stove or somewhere else on a larger scale....in concept I like the idea.

We're not talking about a handful pellets stuffed into a poland springs water bottle. If you are against it, fine. This post is intended for those who may be a little adventurous.
Safety, yes, that is very important, but I cannot imagine anywhere else a safer group to experiment. I'm not going to give just anyone here on the forum a bag. Those who I know I can trust to be safe and honest, you are welcome to check them out and let us know.

 

[John97]

I wonder how they'd burn in a Mt. Vernon AE on sunflower...

 

[Countryboymo]

I think the issue will be the shutdown and smoldering and or smoking pellets with some stoves. I would think a top feeder would be more suited as there aren't any pellets waiting to be pushed into the fire starting to off gas/ give off residue. Of course the amount of 'plastic' in these could be so small that there would be no issues. I bet they would burn fine but be a touch dirty on the shutdown and startup. If you used a gel to get them up and running asap and did not have the stove in a thermostat controlled mode I bet they would be the 'hot' ticket.

I bet they would probably run fine in any stove as long as it was on high and not in auto mode.

 

[mepellet]

HA! When I mentioned this a couple months ago I remember someone saying that it would be a bad idea. They are available for purchase already in Bangor Maine. Have been for a few months I believe. He is charging $275/ton.

Still wouldn't try them. But that's just me...

 

[DexterDay]

Some pellets out there may contain more plastic than you think.

Those companies that use waste materials have all sorts of things that one wouldnt think of burning in there stove.

This year I found a lot of plastic in some pellets. If I wasnt a Pellet Sifter (sucker) I would have never noticed it.

At least this companyis up front about the materials and they have a known amount of the product going into the pellet.

I would love to try some. In both my 17 yr old Englander and my Fahrenheit. Since my improvements on the Fahrenheit (added new components and higher CFM parts) it has enough gusto to lift pellets out of the pot. That and its controller runs the Combustion fan on the same speed not matter the heat level (except level 1, you have 5 trim levels for the combustion blower and 5 for feed) So it can have copious amounts of air on a low feed as well as high feed.

Wish I was closer. As I would be interested. Even a good "blend" of these, along with some other pellets. Take a controlled test of air temps with "X" pellet and then again with a 50% mix of "X" and the Pelletco, then 100% Pelletco.. Very interested in seeing results of those who do get them.

Oh and Congratulations on your companies success thus far.

 

[imacman]

I'd be very interested in what someone like Mike Holton would have to say about these.

Would I give them a shot?....yes, but I don't think you'll ship 2 bags to NY.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

i admit it would be intersting to play with in a controlled environment, but until controlled testing and manufacturer based configuration to allow for the higher BTU/LB input values were built in i wouldnt want these to be released for public consumption (dont get me wrong scott i understand what youre doing and that doesnt worry me) the thing that caught my eye was the high velocity recommendation for combustion air, a very large percentage of my "traffic" in my support office is generated by lack of cleaning this reduces combustion air which with this type of pellet could be a serious issue.

also the btu/lb values issue stoves are manufactured to feed "x" amount of fuel in order to achieve "x" btu output, if these pellets have a potential of 11K and average wood pellets are 8.5K thats a big jump, close to 40% increase, this much heat release could very easily put more stress on heat exchange areas and the exhaust blower especially (most will kick out thermally at 475F internal to motor) as a manufacturer of stoves i'd have to be really worried about performance in my units. the stove would see the high temps and probably error out (hopefully anyway) before damage would be done to the unit but that kind of heat especially if rapidly presented to the unit could cause thermal shutdown of the exhaust blower or possible damage due to overfiring.

in short, i'd be very cautious in experimenting with this fuel and suggest running lower feed rates along with the highest speed you can on exhaust, have an air mover handy as well to blow some air across the exhaust blower motor as well in case it does exceed thermal limit cause if it does it will slam shut off until it drops below the 475F internal temp

 

[jtakeman]

HA! When I mentioned this a couple months ago I remember someone saying that it would be a bad idea. They are available for purchase already in Bangor Maine. Have been for a few months I believe. He is charging $275/ton.

Still wouldn't try them. But that's just me...

I remember the thread, I think I said no way too! But we are only talking a small test to see how they do. Buying several tons? I would need to see lab data on them first. Price seems high too! There are lots of good wood pellets going for less. I would only consider if there was a major cost savings.

Some pellets out there may contain more plastic than you think.

Exactly, I have heard many use Styrofoam as a binder. No proof just hear say. And if they are its hard to tell even with breaking them down in water. I didn't see any floating in what I dissolved. I assume it gets broken down during the heat process of pelletizing. But the said amount is very minimal as far as percentage.

Something else we need to think about: a pellet stove doesn't have what an industrial burner does, is an exhaust scrubber. We need some info on the pollutants to know what we might be exhausting with the home burners. I know anything we burn has bad stuff in the exhaust. But what would this high amount of plastic do with the stoves emissions?

 

[Dr.Faustus]

i think we should be really careful and level headed about what we burn in our stoves because if we start seeing dirty output, or the exhaust gases smell of burning plastic, neighbors will complain, and town govt's will start to ban our stoves. this is what happened with a lot of the outdoor wood burners. people either did not keep them clean burning with seasoned wood or some tried burning garbage in them. the result is now many many towns have banned them.
our pellet stoves are a great thing, and regular pellets heat my house just fine under the coldest weather i've seen. i'm lucky not to be using any oil since then. a lot of ppl cant afford it and its only getting more expensive. lets not blow this...

 

[BrotherBart]

You depend on these things to heat your house. Don't go doing this and breaking the suckers. Spending all that time keeping it clean and running right and then melt it down, I dun tink so Lucy.

 

[JoeS]

I wonder how they'd burn in a Mt. Vernon AE on sunflower...

Wow, can you imagine the heat that could be generated from the Mt. Vernon AE on sunflower setting with these pellets!

Would love to see those test results!

 

[ScotL]

Adding plastic resin in small amounts isn't new (0.05% range) and you may have burned some of that already. This product would have a much higher plastic content and would be targeted for industrial burners with emission controls on their stack.

 

[lessoil]

Ahhh...
A place for those empty pellet bags!!

Seriously, I wouldn't want them in my stove as it cycles on/off many times.
Industrial boiler that is running flat out would be a good place for them. IMHO