Pellets made from . . . PAPER?

[hpdorman]

Hi - I just found a local source that makes pellets out of waste paper.

http://pelletamerica.com/

They will sell them to me at $100/ton They claim 10,000 BTU.

Has anyone had any experience burning pellets made out of paper?

Can anyone come up with any pros and cons that I should be considering?

 

[wg_bent]

Read the "about us" link on their website. You willing to be burning paper with plastic on it? Glue from cardboard? Is that stuff o.k. for your pellet stove? Personally I would not. Fear of gumming up the works, not to mention that burning plastic is toxic.

 

[babalu87]

Wheres Dylan he has been touting the use of virgin cardboard
Hey if its cheap enough....... you dont need the big heat output all the time

 

[berlin]

"burning plastic is toxic."

... and so is burning wood, coal, oil etc. look up the dozens of carcinogenic and toxic chemicals present in wood smoke.

If the appliance is venting properly it won't matter.

 

[warminwisco]

I was told by the pelletamerica that it is made on a line with no contaminents. Just straight paper. Other lines are used for nonburning pellets. I do not believe they are 1/6th the btu's of pellets. probably a lilttle less though Thanks. JMO

 

[hpdorman]

Thanks to everyone for your input!

Thanks, warminwisconsin, for the info that there are no "contaminates" in the pellet fuel line at pellet america.

Blessings! HD

 

[smirnov3]

One question: Paper is bleached with Hydrochloric Acid (otherwise, it would be brown). The acid is rinsed out, but some of it remains, and all white paper is acidic (if you have ever worked in a bookstore, you know the damage that handling books all day does to your hands)

so my question is, what effect will all that acid have on your chimney?

 

[hpdorman]

I don't know what effect it will have. Anyone?? HD

 

[berlin]

If masonry/clay lined there will likely be little to no effect over many years, stainless or stainless lined (hopefully 316) over many years there will probably be not much of an effect over burning anything else, however, there is greater chance of damage with stainless.

 

[hpdorman]

I'm using the Simpson Dura-Vent kit. What is "316"? Thanks! HD

 

[berlin]

316 is a fairly corrosion resistant austenitic alloy that contains molybdenum to give it greater corrosion resistance. It is the only common grade of stainless that should be used for chimney lining.

 

[smirnov3]

To answer Dylan's comment, I'm not 100% certain that they use HCl to bleach paper. but I am 100% certain that paper is acidic. But I wouldn't worry about your rear-end too much - paper's nowhere near as acidic as the stuff inside your stomach (though by the time it comes out, it may be more pH neutral - I don't know, it's not my area of expertise. Any waste managment guys out there know the answer to this one?)

Actually, let me retract that - I don't really want to know.

 

[hpdorman]

Breckwell has informed me that if I burn these paper pellets it would void my warrantee - because they haven't tested them. They say they'll test any product that a manufacturer sends them. I've asked Pellet America to send Breckwell some of these pellets for testing - hopefully they will. HD

 

[Eric Johnson]

Bleach, which is what is usually used to bleach paper, is a base. That's about as far as you can get from acidic.

If there's any acid in paper, it's probably from the process of separating the cellulose in wood from the lignin.

My guess would be that paper fuel pellets would be made from the lowest paper grades, such as cardboard. That stuff is just basically ground up and reconsituted wood. No bleaching, at any rate.