Fabon Engineering

Making wood pellets from sawdust involves several steps, which convert raw sawdust into compact, high-energy pellets. Here’s a general process:

1. Collecting Sawdust

• Gather clean, dry sawdust from a reliable source, ensuring it’s free from chemicals, paints, or other contaminants.
• If the sawdust is too wet, dry it using a Sawdust Dryer Machine to reduce the moisture content to around 10-15%.

2. Grinding (if necessary)

• If the sawdust is too coarse, it might need to be ground further using a Wood Crusher or hammer mill. This helps achieve the right particle size (typically less than 3mm), making the palletisation process more efficient.

3. Drying

• If the sawdust has high moisture content (over 15%), it needs to be dried. Use a Sawdust Dryer Machine to reduce moisture levels to 10-15%. Too much moisture can cause pellets to break or not form properly during pressing.

4. Conditioning

• After drying, you may need to mix the sawdust with a small amount of water or steam to improve its moisture content. The moisture should be about 12-15% to ensure proper binding during palletisation.
• You can use a Pellet Mill Conditioner for this step.

5. Pelletizing

• Feed the conditioned sawdust into a Biomass Pellet Machine (such as a ring die pellet mill).
• The machine uses high pressure and temperature to form the sawdust into small cylindrical pellets. The heat helps the natural lignin in the wood to bind the sawdust particles together.

6. Cooling

• Once the pellets are formed, they’ll be hot and soft. Allow the pellets to cool in a Pellet Cooler to harden them and reduce moisture content further.
• Cooling ensures the pellets will maintain their shape and burn efficiently.

7. Screening and Packaging

• After cooling, use a Pellet Screen to remove any broken or undersized pellets.
• Package the high-quality pellets into bags or containers for storage and transport.

8. Key Considerations:

• Moisture content: This is crucial for pellet quality. Too much moisture can cause problems during pressing, while too little can prevent the pellets from binding.
• Sawdust quality: Clean, dry, and fine sawdust leads to better-quality pellets.
• Equipment: Use appropriate machines such as pellet mills, dryers, and coolers for a smooth production process.

The whole process turns raw sawdust into high-density pellets suitable for use in heating systems or as animal bedding or even for biomass energy generation.