jdboy9
ArboristSite Operative
Anyone try their hand at making wood pellets? I have a lot of sawdust from my woodworking and sure would like to use it somehow.
Are you looking to sell the pellets, or just use them for your own heat? If it's for your own heat, there are easier ways to burn the sawdust than turning it into pellets first.
If you know of a good way to put sawdust to use, let me know. I have a good bit sitting around my little mill. I have tried burning it in the past, all it does is just simmer away.
I would't try to blow it into the fire, once saw an experiment with custard powder blown over a flame.... lets just say the tin lid hit the roof. I guess maybe try burning it like a coal fire, air from below and through the fire
Blowing it into a combustion chamber is the best way to burn it-but it has to be engineered correctly. Every fuel oil furnace gun in the world blows highly combustible particles (droplets) into a hot environment without blowing anything up. The trick is to be sure the combustion process is continuous and you don't get a buildup of dust without flame.
What I was envisioning was have a combustion chamber preheated with a gas/fuel oil flame (or even a small kindling fire), then turning on the blower and admitting the sawdust to the air flow. As long as the combustion chamber is hot enough, the dust/air mixture will combust upon entry. The most difficult part of it is getting it to start up and shut down easily. The simplest solution is just to be able to meter the dust/air mixture so you can have a continous burn going as long as you need the heat, then shut it down and be done with it.
...guess you have to get the flow right to ensure clean burn!
Sawdust burning has been figured out several ways. Take a look at bio-mizer
http://www.biomizer.com/ part of wood-mizer. Small units have been built by at-homers before. I wouldnt want one in my house, but something like an OWB could work wonders.