Complete Miscanthus Pellet Production Line Solution

Production Line Description

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I.Miscanthus

Miscanthus species or elephant grasses is a high yielding energy crops. They are perennial, rhizomatous grass, which can grow more than 3 meters tall in a growing season. Miscanthus giganteus has high value for biomass fuel production, which makes them one of the most popular energy plants . Miscanthus now is widely planted in Asia, North America and Europe.

1.Features of Miscanthus

Miscanthus is a perennial plant. Once it planted, it does not need to replanted again which will save the production cost and lower the impact to environment caused by annual sowing.

Miscanthus can improve the soil quality by adding organic matter to the soil. At the mean time, it causes less soil compaction and erosion for it needs no tillage.

Miscanthus is a low input crop, which recycles nutrients back and stores at the root. Thus, it needs little or no fertilize after being established.

2.Application of Miscanthus

Miscanthus as an economical crop is widely used . Generally, they are used in the following ways:

As raw materials for biomass fuel production, such as, miscanthus pellets or briquettes production, used with coal or peat.

As animal bedding, such as horse bedding, cat litter, etc.

As materials for construction materials production such as medium density fiber board (abbreviated as MDF) production.

As raw materials for paper production.

As horticulture raw materials for plant pots construction.

II.Technological Process Of Making Miscanthus Pellets

1. Chopping

When miscanthus is harvested and baled in the field to increase density and maximize transport efficiency, it is then transported to the processing facility where it is chopped. Miscanthus is chopped into fibers (25mm-35mm lengths) using a chopper or bale shredder then dried and pelleted.

2. Drying

The chopped miscanthus is further dried using a drier to allow processing to pellets. The required moisture content for pelleting is 10%-15%.

3. Grinding Processing

Before pelleting, the raw material must be reduced to an average particle size. For Miscanthus, this will require two separate grinding operations. Bales will go through a chopper or bale shredder, then through a hammer mill.

4. Pelleting

Pellet formation takes place in the pellet mill where the feedstock is extruded through a ring die or flat die. As the pellets begin to extend outside the die, they are broken off with knives at a specified length. There are specialized pellet mill or pellet plant for Miscanthus pellet production.

5. Cooling

Cooling is necessary t stabilize, dry and firm the pellets. The counter-flow cooler is the most popular type in the industry. It pulls ambient air through a bed of pellets to remove moisture and heat through evaporative and convective cooling.

6. Screening

When the pelleting is complete, some amount of the material will have not formed pellets. These materials are called fines. Screening is necessary to separate this materials out. It is then sent back through the pellet mill. When the pelleting process is functioning correctly less than 3% of the material will be screen out.

7. Bagging

After screening, pellets are bagged for residential sales or stored in bulk. For automatic packaging, pellet packing machine can service you. Pellets are conveyed to a bag-out bin where a scale measures the correct weight for each bag. The bags are then sealed and stacked on pallets.

How to make Miscanthus pellets

III.Advantages of miscanthus pellets

Lower moisture content , which will be much more suitable for burning.

Lower ash content, which will reduce the risk of slag during burning.

Higher colorific value, which will generating more heat during burning.

Higher density which will be much more easy and convenient for transportation and storage.

Densified and uniform pellets makes the burning much more clear and stable.