Turning Leaves and Stuff into Pellets

JohninCT · Nov 23, 2009

Just about every fall I watch leaves being processed (raked, blown, vacuumed, etc). Around here in CT some of the collection is done at a town level or by landscape companies with big truck mounted vacuums. While mulching the leaves is good, I thought that with the price of heating oil, propane and natural gas it would be great if these leaves could be processed into fuel. Having purchased a pellet stove last year and loving it. I've been reading about these small "make your own" pellet mills. Here's one that's powered by a tractor PTO. Others are diesel engine or electric motor driven. All seem to be manufactured in China.

Wood - Biomass Pellet Mill, Tractor PTO Driven 440lb/h - eBay (item 150389953638 end time Dec-17-09 14:34:55 PST)

The other "feedstock" that I have a steady supply of is wood shavings/horse manure. I'd like to try to process this into fuel pellets too.

It seems like just about any kind of woody biomass can be processed into pellets. Here are a couple of more videos.

YouTube - Pellets from leaves.mpg
YouTube - Pellets made from Grass
YouTube - Make FREE wood pellets from recycled junk mail to run your pellet stove - Part 2

Anybody else interested in this? Anybody out there already making their own pellets?

Egon · Nov 24, 2009

Locally I have heard of a sawmill making compressed pellets but forget the details.

[Seems heat and pressure were all that was involved]

Back when it is said that cow chips or Buffalo chips fueled the stoves of those living on the treeless prairie.

20 20 · Nov 24, 2009

I think the biggest thing about making good pellets is to make sure the product is dry. I took a tour of the pellet factory in schuyler NY a couple years back, very interesting. They would NOT use bark and such though, that went to scrap. They used the scrap to fire their drier which aslo heated the place. They did say that the bark and such did not make for good pellets.

dave1949 · Nov 24, 2009

There are several new commercial pellet mills operating here. They have found that using forestry waste (tree tops, branches, etc.) does not produce good pellets. Too much ash residue in your burner pot.

That was good news of a sorts because foresters say that waste needs to remain behind to feed the forest soil.

For reasons I don't know, pellets produced from softwoods (conifers) produce more btu's than pellets from hardwoods. Here at least, softwood pellets sell for more per ton than hardwood pellets.

That doesn't answer your question, but may be good stuff to know.
Dave.

Western · Nov 24, 2009

Using leaves, if they would work, is a super idea. cheap and probably all free except the pickup and that may even pay some if contracted from a town. I have never used a pellet stove, always wood so can't help there..Still a good idea with allot of potential if it worked.

jayste · Nov 24, 2009

Egon said:
Locally I have heard of a sawmill making compressed pellets but forget the details. [Seems heat and pressure were all that was involved]

Back when it is said that cow chips or Buffalo chips fueled the stoves of those living on the treeless prairie.

Ah yes, the days of "prairie coal".

Jay

JohninCT · Nov 24, 2009

I've seen some YouTube videos of commercial pellet making operations and the equipment/ process is fascinating. What I'm really intrigued by are these small DIY pellet mills - especially the tractor PTO powered ones - always looking for new and interesting tractor attachments right.

What I was thinking is that with a reasonable size storage bin a small horse operation could haul out the equipment (hammermill and pellet mill) maybe once a month and batch process all of their used bedding into usable fuel. The other nice thing is that it would get rid of the waste bedding fast - as compared to composting (no more manure piles sitting around). But the real beauty is that you get a second valuable use (home heating) out of something you bought, used, and then have to dispose of. When other feed materials (like leaves) are available they could be readily incorporated into the "recipe". I see this as akin to something like processing firewood or making your own biodiesel if you have availability of materials.

The one problem is that the darned equipment is pretty pricey - I mean as far as tractor attachments go. The machinery looks to be pretty simple construction. And its all made in China

I guess low demand is what keeps the price high.

Attached are a couple of more links to a company called Pellet Pros that sells this equipment in the US.

Davenport woman goes into pellets-for-fuel business

Pellet Pros

Bedlam · Nov 24, 2009

Interesting reading thanks

charlz · Nov 24, 2009

We had a pretty good discussion a while back in this thread: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/123379-pellet-mill-attachment.html

Key problem I see with leaves, manure etc. for burning in a stove is you need to have very little dirt and other trash. I have had problems with 'clinkers' in my stove, it has little clearance at the bottom (only opens about half the diameter by design) and under the firepot and I have to shut the stove down and let it cool some before I can remove them. Had a bad batch of pellets and had to shut down twice a day.... really sucks and doesn't help when it's really cold and the stove needs to run full time to keep your house warm.