Professional Documents
Culture Documents
corn and wheat among others. This important agricultural residue is quite popular in Europe where an
estimated 23 million tones of straw is produced each year across the 15 states. Straw pellets are
special products produced from straw and has applications ranging from heat production to animal
feeds and animal bedding among others. In order to make the pellets from raw straw, a number of
procedures must be performed. This is because the original residue is composed of different
compounds that include cell (80-90%) and lumen (10-20%). The internal composition includes silica
and extractives all which are water soluble. Here is a detailed step-by-step description of how to make
straw pellets.
★ Drying
This process is often bypassed yet is still worth mentioning as part of straw pellet formation. Straw is
delivered containing about 15% moisture content which is ideal for producing pellets. When saw dust
is also used, then drying is added to the process.
★ Conditioning
This is basically the process of increasing straw hardness to the desired state. It involves application
of steam or water as well as binding agents and additives. Conditioning is necessary for achieving
right temperature that allows malleability and melting of the lignin (which is found in raw straw) to act
as the binding agent. Increasing hardness prevents excessive abrasion when pelletizing.
★ Pelletizing
Straw ring die pellet press is the main phase of producing straw pellets. During this proves, consider
aspects of moisture content in the straw,fibre strength, particle size and natural binders. All these
influence the pellet quality. It is also important to prevent pellet breakage, overheating and pellet die
blocking. These challenges may lead to increased energy costs, damaging the pellet mill and poor
pellet quality. It is thus important to use high quality straw and also use thicker pellet die to increase
compression length and yield favourable quality.
Conclusion