Small pellets
Big effect!
Pellets as fuel
Pellets are small, standardized wooden compacts that are made from waste products from the wood processing industry, such as sawdust or wood chips. They do not contain any chemical binding agents and are only pressed together using high pressure to then obtain their typical cylindrical shape. Pellets, like all wood-like fuels, are therefore considered CO2-neutral and are considered biogenic fuels. They are inexpensive and price-stable because wood, as a constantly renewable raw material, can also be sourced regionally.
Heating with pellets is also extremely sustainable and protects the increasingly scarce fossil fuels. So if you want to do something for the environment and our climate, pellets are a great alternative to oil and gas.
In Germany, around 90 percent of pellets are made from sawdust and residual wood, which are by-products of the sawmill industry. 10 percent uses non-sawable round wood that comes from logging and thinning. Waste wood and forest residues are not processed into wood pellets for quality reasons. The strict air quality regulations could not be met with these raw materials. Likewise, high-quality sawn timber is not used, as it would be far too expensive.
*More than 95% of the cutting in German sawmills is made from softwood.
Source: Döring, P; Mantau, U: Locations of the timber industry - sawing industry - cutting and sawing by-products 2010, Hamburg, 2012. Conversion: DEPI. © German Pellet Institute, using images from mipan/123RF.com and Can Stock Photo / dusan964
storage
The Storing the pellets is versatile and can be adapted to almost all circumstances. No matter whether outside or in the building, in the basement or in the attic - there is space for pellets everywhere. If no separate room is available, one can be used Bag silo If there is not enough space in the house for this, the small bundles of energy can also be stored outside in an underground tank. For a house of around 150 m² you need around 6 m³ of pellets per year. That's around 4 m² of storage space required. Pellets are the most space-saving fuels made from wood and by a large margin.
The most important thing when storing pellets is a dry, well-ventilated environment. If the pellets come into contact with water or if the humidity is too high, they swell and become unusable. However, humidity levels such as those found in living spaces do not harm the fuel.
When planning a wood chip storage facility our professionals there for her
and would be happy to advise you!
When burned only emits as much CO2 as the tree previously stored. Thanks to modern technology, there are very few fine dust emissions.
In Germany the forest is managed sustainably – it is used less than it grows back. Of 23.5 million tonnes of residual wood from timber harvesting and sawmills, only 15% was pressed into pellets in Germany in 2022.
Pellets are made from sawdust
that are under high pressure
be pressed into pellets – without chemicals!
Which: DEPI. © Deutsches Pelletinstitut