Making pellets at home with pto powered mill

[Wojo]

Has anyone made there own pellets? Would like to know if it is worth doing or not. How they came out, how it's done ect.

 

[Big papa]

Welcome to forum I'm unaware of anyone making pellets at home I have seen videos maybe some one will chime in that does

 

[JDenyer236]

I looked into it and it seemed more hassle and expense than it was worth. First you need the pellet mill, then you likely will need a hammer mill to grind your biomass fine enough. Then you need a source of clean biomass and lots of free time to grind up the raw materials, get the moisture content right and then run that thru the pellet mill. After that the pellets need to be stored on racks or some other type of homemade dryer for drying. Then you screen them to remove fines and finally put them into storage. You will have the added expense of replacing the pellet mill dies as well as the hammers in the hammer mill.

 

[Big papa]

I looked into it and it seemed more hassle and expense than it was worth. First you need the pellet mill, then you likely will need a hammer mill to grind your biomass fine enough. Then you need a source of clean biomass and lots of free time to grind up the raw materials, get the moisture content right and then run that thru the pellet mill. After that the pellets need to be stored on racks or some other type of homemade dryer for drying. Then you screen them to remove fines and finally put them into storage.

Yeah that sounds like a pita will go back to burning wood be fore doing all that

 

[JDenyer236]

Yeah that sounds like a pita will go back to burning wood be fore doing all that

Yep huge pita. Burning regular wood would eliminate quite a few steps

 

[SidecarFlip]

I looked at some length at pellet mills and hammermills but the ones I looked at that I could afford, made crude pellets (disk extruders), basically squeezing hammermilled wood through a plate and roller asembly and you still have to dry them. PTO power is no issue here, my lowest tractor output is 100 pto, plenty of power but the product is questionable and yes, I already have a hammermill (aka: feed grinder)

Somewhere north of 3 grand for a Chinese mill, just the mill. You can bu a lot of pellets or corn for 3 grand.

One thing to add and keep in mind is, you aren't limited to wood for pelletizing. I looked at a mill to peletize excess round bales, we grow hay and many times I have a couple hundred bales sitting around in the spring I need to do something with. A pelletizer will pelletize hay just as well as wood. Once the biomass is hammermilled it can be pelletized. Hay, switchgrass, Bermuda Grass, corn stover, even wheat straw can be pelletized and roasted.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Not everyone has an abundance of wood for burning (logs) or pellets. In some regions wood is a scarce commodity, but grass basically grows everywhere. My reluctance was pellet quality and quantity per gallon of diesel used plus the drying was an issue.

The Chinese extruders are nothing more than a steel roller with a revolving plate below it and the plate has machined holes in it the diameter of a pellet. Nothing fancy really.

 

[mustangwagz]

3 grand of pellets would be SOOO awesome...and space consuming. LOL

 

[SidecarFlip]

No problem here, I have the room, about 13 skids or so. Double stacked is no room really. I looked hard at a full semi load but I couldn't get a good discouny so I passed. A full flatbed load is 22 pallets. They keep fine inside.

 

[mustangwagz]

whoa...22 ton of pellets...that would be insane! Hmmm...maybe ill buy an old sea-van shipping container and store em in there! i got plenty of space in the woods for one of those!

How much was a truck load flip?

 

[SidecarFlip]

I got a price last year from Michigan Wood Fibers in Holland for a bit over 5 grand for 22 pallets delivered.. Not a big savings so I passed. Not sure a container would work. It might sweat inside during the summer and that would be bad. I can keep mine in a ventilated barn.

The other issue is, if they are dud pellets, 22 ton is a lot to get stuck with... I could always sell them. My neighbor burns 4 ton a year and the guy down the road, another 4 ton, it would still take me a couple years to go through a truckload.

 

[mustangwagz]

dang 5 grand!? yah kinda steep. I think ill end up burning more than 4 ton this year. I gotta get some insulation still though. That'll cut down on my pellet consumption.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Somwhere around 250 a pallet. Corn is actually a better deal and it's local. I'll roast 5 this year for sure.

 

[railfanron]

Heck Sidecar I bought Michigan Wood Fibers last year for 190 a ton from Menards in Lansing pretty much all last year. That was not delivered though.
Ron

 

[SidecarFlip]

That was a delivered price. If I picked them up it was substantially cheaper. I'm not fond of them, I prefer Somersets. Last year diesel was around 4 bucks a gallon too.

 

[railfanron]

Yea I like Somersets better too. Menards sold MWFs at the beginning of last year then Sets then back too MWFs and then Magic Spark which are the same as Pro Pellets. I'm burning Pro Pellets this year and like them as much as Sets. I burned all the flavors last year just to try them out. Got the Pro's from TSC on sale for 200 a ton in the fall.
Ron

 

[SidecarFlip]

I got the 'Sets' for 190 at TSC on pre-order on 5 ton. If I had known that corn was going to reset, I would have bought 1 ton and tanked 600 bushel. Next year will be one ton and 600 in the GSI, no braiiner.

You live in Perry or over by 96? I go that way all the time to Lansing to visit with my rifle at Pierce....

 

[railfanron]

A Little Southeast of Perry. Good deal on the sets.
Ron