What are wood pellets? What are the benefits? Are they renewable? How are they delivered?

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What are wood pellets?

A. Wood pellets are a solid biomass energy product made from highly compacted wood fibre such as sawdust, shavings and ground wood chips. They are generally characterised by low moisture content, high calorific value and low emission and ash residue. Wood pellets represent a realistic renewable fuel solution, available now and sustainable into the future.

Q. How are wood pellets made?

A. Ground and pre-screened wood fibre is fed to a press and forced through holes in a die. As the material leaves the die it is cut by a fixed blade creating pellets of the required length. The high pressure involved in the process creates sufficient heat to plastify the lignin content of the wood which binds the pellets as they cool.

Q. What are the benefits of using wood pellets?

A. Wood pellets are a reliable, long-term renewable and carbon neutral fuel which are competitively priced against other fuels such as coal, oil and gas. The volatile pricing of traditional fossil fuels makes the use of wood pellets increasingly attractive. The sustainability of wood pellets gives independence from dwindling fossil fuel resources. Wood pellets are a clean to handle, clean to burn fuel with virtually no emissions or ash. They can be utilised in highly efficient, fully automated, boilers, readily available in the UK. Wood pellets can be conveniently delivered in bulk direct to your fuel store or available in handy bags for purchase in smaller quantities. Duffield wood pellets are a locally manufactured, cost effective, fuel providing heat for consumers in the same geographical region, endorsing the UK Goverment's Low Carbon Transport Innovation Strategy. A variety of grants and incentive schemes are available to encourage installation of equipment using, and consumption of, renewable fuels .

Q. What appliances are required to burn wood pellets?

A. Burned correctly wood pellets produce very little emissions. They are best consumed in equipment which is specifically designed to burn them, this could be an efficient and attractive room heater or a central heating boiler. For medium to large scale projects requiring heat and water, a wide range of highly efficient pellet burning appliances are available on the market, which may be automatically fed from a store, self ignite and programme like a conventional fuel boiler. However, wood pellets can be used in an open fire grate or wood burning stove provided that a suitable pellet basket is used.

Q. What standards are the pellets made to?

A. Our premium quality wood pellets are characterised by low moisture content, high calorific value, excellent mechanical durability and minimal ash residue after combustion. They comfortably conform with EN 14961-2 A1 standard specifications and are available for purchase in bulk quantities or conveniently bagged. For an overview of wood pellet standards ... read more

Q. How are wood pellets delivered?

A. Our wood pellets are available for delivery pre-bagged on pallets, in 1 tonne dumpy bags or, for larger quantities, loose in bulk delivered by wagon to be tipped or blown direct to your store. Alternatively, pellets can be collected directly from the factory gate on a cash and carry basis. For further information about delivery considerations... read more

Q. How much storage will be needed?

A. 10 tonne of wood pellets will occupy 15m3 or more of space. Our wood pellets offer a calorific value of in the region of 4.8 kWh/kg (17MJ/kg) or better and, with a typical bulk density of 650 kg/m3, each cubic metre of wood pellets should provide over 3000 kWh of heat.

Q. Can a future supply of woodfuel be guaranteed?

A. In our region we are lucky to have a promising supply of woodland (some 92,000 hectares) with much of this being currently under-managed. Well managed and sustainably harvested these resources have the potential to generate renewable woodfuel stocks well into the future.