Professional Pellet Production Line Solution Supplier Since 2004

What is a Pellet Production Line?

Pellet Line, also called pellet production line, wood pellet production line, it’s a complete production line designed to make pellets. The complete process include Crushing Section, Hammer Milling Section, Drying Section, Pelletizing Section, Cooling Section and Pellets Packing Section. Based on the different pellets usages, the pellet line can be devided into two types: Biomass Pellet Line and Feed Pellet Line. 

Although each pellet production line will vary in terms of how it operates and is assembled, for the most part, they all have similar construction.

A hammer mill or crusher is used to decrease the size of the raw material you’re putting into the machine. Most materials, like wood, aren’t going to be the ideal size for a pellet mill automatically. Using the hammermill will help prevent the raw material from clogging the pellet mill and leading to inefficiencies or unequal sizes of wood pellets.

A dryer is an integral feature of most pellet production lines, too. This helps reduce the moisture in the pellet mill while also removing the human error factor. When drying material for a pellet mill, there’s a bit of a Goldilocks scenario in which you don’t want the material to be too wet – but it can’t be too dry, either. The dryer is highly efficient at striking the right balance between the two.

The pellet mill is the core component in a wood or straw pellet production line (or a production line of any type, really!). It processes the material into pellets. Some pellet production lines also include pellet coolers and packers. However, these can be added or removed as needed and aren’t considered necessary for the basic functioning of the machine. 

Most also have a conveyor, which is used to convey the materials from one area of the processing system to the next. This can eliminate a lot of the manpower that would otherwise be needed to transport materials from one section to the next. 

How Many Types of Pellet Production Lines?

There are several types of pellet production lines you can choose from. They vary depending on your desired capacity, the size of your facility, and what kind of pellets you’d like to produce.

Most can handle all kinds of biomass, including stalks, wood, straw, rice husks, peanut shells, bamboo shavings, alfalfa, and grass. 

You can break down the different types of pellet production lines even further, though, with various features that can be added or removed depending on your needs. Most small pellet production lines include components such as a hammer mill or crusher, a conveyor, a dryer, a pellet cooler, a packer, and of course, a small pellet mill. 

What’s the Complete Process for Pellet Production Line?

Are you ready to start using your pellet production line? Here are some tips to help set you up for success.

Understand Which Parts and Components Are Included

Before we dive into the complete process for a pellet production line, it’s essential to address the individual components out of which the machine is made. Here’s a quick overview.

First, the wood chipper. Most pellet production lines come with a drum chipper machine. Wood chippers can process large materials, like log branches, bamboo, waste products, and big chunks of wood into pieces of smaller sizes. You can adjust the size of this material based on your unique needs.

Most produce an output of wood chips roughly three to five centimeters in size. Again, this varies, but it’s important to remember that the smaller the wood chips you want, the smaller the knives on the machine will be.

The following section is the hammer mill section. This is used to mill the wood chips produced in the first section into a smaller size (usually sawdust). It works by crushing the chips with hammer mill knives before separating them through a screener. Most of the time, the output size will be five millimeters or less. 

Next is the drying section. This can be used to dry all kinds of materials from the hammer mill. It combines a heating stove and a fan, removing moisture from the material to around 10%. While you don’t want the material to be too much drier than this, as it can become difficult for the machine to form it into pellets, later on, it can’t be too wet, or your pellets will be a soupy mess! 

Again, the ideal moisture rating is around 10 to 15%.

After the material has been dried (usually with a built-in rotary dryer machine, although the exact type of technology that is used does sometimes vary), it goes on to the wood pellet section, this is likely the section of the wood pellet production process with which you are most familiar – and it’s one of the most important components of the entire pellet production line!

The dried sawdust (or other dried material, depending on the type of pellet production line you are using) will be pressed into pellets in the wood pellet machine. The output size of these pellets can vary after the roller assembly and ring die to push them out. On average, the pellets will be around 6 to 10 mm in size. The size will vary depending on the market standard for pellets where you live and the type of pellets you are attempting to produce.

Last but not least, it’s time to cool and pack your pellets – hence, the cooler machine and the packing machine. The cooler machine is meant to cool down the pellet temperature from around 80 degrees Celsius to about 25 to 40. Once the pellets have cooled, they are ready to be packed into plastic bags by the packing machine.

The packing machine’s function is to process wood pellets into small bags that can be more easily transported. 

Now that you have an overview of which parts are included in a pellet production line, we can go into more detail about how to operate one of these machines. 

Step by Step Guide: How to Use a Pellet Production Line

To use a pellet production line, you will need to chip the wood with the drum chipper. That way, you can make sure the wood is all the right size.

Next, you’ll screen the materials. This is done to make sure they don’t have impurities in them that will affect the outcome of your finished product and potentially damage the machine. That includes things like bits of stone, metal, or plastic. Some pellet production lines do come with built-in magnets to help get rid of this debris, too.

Your next step is to dry the raw materials with the dryer (usually a drum or rotary dryer, although this can vary). This will ensure that all materials have the right moisture content.

Next, you’ll force the material through the die hole of the pellet mills. This is all fully automated with a pellet production line, with material pushed from one step to the next with conveyors.

Your final steps involve cooling, packing, and storing the pellets. The pellets need to be cooled before they are packed, or they can adhere together. This will also increase their storage life. While some people choose to dry their pellets manually, the built-in cooling systems provided by the best pellet production lines are far more efficient at cooling large amounts of pellets.

Next, your pellets will be packed for protection and easy, convenient distribution. You can store your pellets in a container, silo, or tank or transport them in bulk by using trucks and other vehicles meant specifically for this task.

How Much Does a Feed Pellet Production Line Cost?

The average pellet production line price will vary depending on the size of the machine, which components are included, and what kind of raw material you are planning on processing in it, among other variables.

However, you can generally expect to pay around $2000 to more than $400000 US dollars for a machine. There’s such a wide variability between prices due to, again, the different factors listed above. 

What to Consider When Choosing the Best Pellet Production Line from China?

It can be hard to find a pellet production line that checks off all the boxes for you. Here are some tips to help you find the right one for your needs.

Consider Individual Pieces of the Wood Pellet Line Machine

The first thing you need to consider when choosing the ideal pellet production line from China is the makeup of the individual parts and components of the machine. While it’s important to consider the quality of the machine as a whole, you need to think carefully about the individual pieces, too, to ensure that each and everyone meets your needs.

In many cases, you can customize the specifications of each component to meet your needs. In the chart below, you will see different characteristics that can be adjusted for a pellet machine component of the pellet line in particular:

Moisture Content

Does the pellet production line you’re interested in buying come with a dryer? If it doesn’t, you might want to think twice about making the purchase.

Some people assume that the only important feature of the pellet production line is the pellet mill. While you certainly can’t make pellets of any type or size without the pellet mill, you need to make sure all of the other parts are of high quality (and even exist, in the first place!) too. 

Otherwise, you’re going to find yourself stuck with a machine that’s difficult to operate, inefficient, and requires constant maintenance. 

Versatility in Raw Material Type

It’s no secret that some types of pellet production lines are better suited to certain raw materials than others. If you can, find yourself a pellet mill production line that is a jack of all trades. Look for one that can handle materials of all types, including rice husks, peanut shells, wood chips, livestock feed, and more.

That way, you’ll be able to continue using your machine even if your business plan takes a sharp pivot later on down the road. 

Here’s a diagram showing how some types of pellet production lines can even be used to process chemicals. Although chemicals aren’t as commonly processed in these types of machines as are things like wood and animal feed, they can still be done. See below:

Customer Service

Whenever possible, buy a pellet production line from a reputable company backed by solid customer reviews. Choose one that offers excellent customer service – you want to find a company with a 24-hour turn-around on inquiries whenever you can. This will help set your mind at ease when you encounter problems with your machine.

Although most pellet production lines are easy to operate and experience few issues, proper maintenance is key to keeping the machine healthy. Being able to get in touch with customer service if questions or problems arise is essential, too. The best companies offer onsite support to help with installation, troubleshooting, and repairs as needed. 

You may also want to consider a company that offers generous warranties on their products, or at least many of the parts. Some pellet production lines are shipped with things like additional teeth and knives for the machine. That way, you will have everything you need to get up and run – and stay up and running – as efficiently and economically as possible.

What to Consider When Starting a New Pellet Production Plant?

You will need to consider a few factors when you are first starting a pellet production plant.

Types of Raw Materials

What kinds of raw materials do you plan on working within your machine? Different types of raw materials have different traits, including varying lignin and fiber content, both of which can affect how cohesive your pellets are. 

These different cohesiveness values can also call for different compression ratios of the die mold – for example, hardwood needs a lower compression ratio. Some raw materials may even need to be mixed with a binding agent, like wax or vegetable oil. You’ll need to consider how you’ll go about securing and working with the type of raw material you’ve decided upon before you can even get your mill up and running. 

Size of the Raw Materials 

When starting a new production plant, you will also want to give a second thought to the size of the raw materials. If you don’t have a good way of getting your raw materials down to size, you will have an inefficient, poorly operating plant.

Fortunately, 

Most pellet production lines you can buy come with components that can help reduce material into the required size – things like hammer mills, wood chippers or crushes, or debarkers.

The size and style of your machine will likely vary depending on the type and size of material use – so you will need to make sure your budget can include this kind of pretreatment equipment. If it can’t, then you might want to reconsider the types of pellets you’re going to make and choose materials that don’t require quite as much treatment before they’re made into pellets. 

Technological Processes 

Different types of raw materials can be combined and milled together – or you can work with just one material at a time. 

Depending on your goals, you may need to get different types of materials. However, it’s important to note that you need to have processes in place to combine these materials effectively and safely. If you throw materials in willy-nilly, it can cause the machine to become unstable and clogged. 

Budget and Timeline

There are so many factors that go into starting a pellet production plant. Does your facility have enough electricity amperage to operate a pellet line? Are there safety regulations in place? Do you have a solid workforce?

Most importantly, how quickly do you want to get your enterprise up and running – and what does your budget look like? You may need to make accommodations to allow machinery a longer period to get to you or to make sure you have enough money to finance all of your equipment upgrades. 

Before starting a pellet production plant, it’s a good idea to meet with an insurance agent, a certified financial planner, and an accountant, all of whom can help you plan out your business and make sure all of your ducks are in a row.