making one's own pellets

[fyrwoodguy]

i've been wondering if it's possible to use my own waste saw dust,and make my own pellets to burn at home.
anybody do this ,or help me out? i have noticed that over the years that my sawdust cooks all year long and even keeps the snow melted off the pile all winter long.
i have been turning the pile over every 2-3 years and see that you can make some nice mulch for the garden with this stuff. i'd like to keep it cleaned up and make my own pellets with the "fresh" saw dust that i make during the summer,as i make it. i don't think that the old stuff that is more than 1 year old would make good pellets.can you help me out with some info or idea's ???

 

[aaronnoel]

I had a farmgarden catalog that sold wood pellet making machines for about 5 grand if I remember right.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

I checked into home pellet mills. The good ones are very expensive and take alot of electricity to run.

Your best bet is to make a deal with a local wood pellet mill for a few tons of wood pellets in exchange for your pile of sawdust. That would be a win - win situation!!

 

[Nicholas440]

I looked into a pellet mill also, and they are too expensive for me plus I dont have the available material such as saw dust, etc like you have. But I have seen good Diesel powered pellet mills for about $4,500 or so. They claim to use 1 quart of fuel per hour and you can produce up to 600 lbs of pellets per hour. The tricky part is getting the right mixture, and the die temperature has to be just right but you can do it . There are a lot of them out there and some start about $2500 or so, but these only make up to 100 lbs per hour.

Here's a link to one of the places I found. http://www.pelletpros.com/id69.html

If I had material to make them with I would. I would also prefer Diesel power over the electric motors.

 

[Fsappo]

Don2222222 wins. Great advice Don.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

It also takes approx 1.3 tons of material to make a ton of pellets. There is a lot to it other than buying some equipment used to make feed pellets. If it was that easy to make mills would be everywhere. There is more used equipment to be found than mills that are up and running. I looked at a mill that took up approx 2,000 sq foot of a warehouse and they have two or three guys working per shift and still have production around 22 tons a shift. You do not want to know what they have invested at this point to make that amount and it is no where near $2,500.00.

Eric

 

[renewablejohn]

I make pellets commercially here in UK and it is not easy. More akin to bread making you start out with the same ingredients but the end product varies tremendously. Critical is moisture content. A much easier task is making briquettes. Moisture content is still critical but on the hydraulic presses you can control the amount of pressure so a more consistant product can be produced.

 

[fyrwoodguy]

THANKS FOR THE REPLY'S !.....tell me more,especially about the moisture content.then maybe i use old sawdust.if not like i said i use fresh stuff i generate & keep cleaned up.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

I do know using green wood is very bad. This will give you volcano rock like clinkers.

Eric

 

[renewablejohn]

THANKS FOR THE REPLY'S !.....tell me more,especially about the moisture content.then maybe i use old sawdust.if not like i said i use fresh stuff i generate & keep cleaned up.

We use a solar kiln (clear plastic polytunnel) to reduce the moisture content of the timber down from 50% to approx 12%. Any higher than 12% and the extrusion holes of the pellet die blocks up and you have to dismantle and drill out each hole. I think my die has approx 240 holes in it (not been sad enough to count them but drilling out after the first 10 becomes boring)

If your sawdust is from kiln dried timber it may be dry enough to pelletise without drying but if your kiln dried timber has been kept out in the rain forget it the moisture will have reabsorbed into the timber and you will need to dry it again.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

Aside from the process of the mills to make pellets, can you answer a question from a suppliers point of view. If sawdust is my by-product and I want to move the dust and the pellet mills will take it is there any money in it for the sawdust folks like me? I'm not looking to make anything more than my drivers time and the fuel to get it there. As long as the dust can be re-used and not go to waste. Anyone?

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I'd love to use my splitter ram to power a press for bricks, but I am without a source of sawdust anyway.

 

[renewablejohn]

Aside from the process of the mills to make pellets, can you answer a question from a suppliers point of view. If sawdust is my by-product and I want to move the dust and the pellet mills will take it is there any money in it for the sawdust folks like me? I'm not looking to make anything more than my drivers time and the fuel to get it there. As long as the dust can be re-used and not go to waste. Anyone?

If you were in the UK I normally pay £5 per tonne for virgin wood waste. Either sawdust or wood off cuts. I normally supply the 1 cubic mtr IBC containers and then do a weekly collection service minimum 6 containers at a time.

 

[peirhead]

If I had lots of extra sawdust I think I'd try making one of these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMdRRhVJorY

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

If I had lots of extra sawdust I think I'd try making one of these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMdRRhVJorY

I saw it and I like it. I now think the amount of dust collected from cutting wood may just be enough to heat a medium size shed. I'll have to do some more research on this. Thanks...

 

[duckandabluesailor]

I'd love to use my splitter ram to power a press for bricks, but I am without a source of sawdust anyway.

Pity, I have an abundance of sawdust and no ram.

 

[tjnamtiw]

I would suggest that you use the Search function and you will be surprised how many times this same question comes up and the same people answer with the same advice over and over. There's a lot of info here if you search for it.