A Review of Pellet Production from Biomass Residues as Domestic Fuel

Burning fossil fuels and deforestation are the major contributors to anthropogenic climate change. As a result of climate change threat, the use of biomass and biomass residues have become extremely important to created a new industry focused on the production of clean energy through the use of renewable sources. However, factors such as low density, high moisture content, ease of handling, storage and transport are some disadvantage from the use of biomass. Pelletizing is a promising technology which converts it into a more useful form through densification in order to minimize these disadvantages. Between 2006 and 2012, pellet production worldwide grew from 7 to 19 million tons. However, the use of pellets is insignificant in developing countries. Many of the developing countries produce huge quantities of wood and agro residues with an interesting potential for biomass energy production, but they are used inefficiently causing extensive pollution to the environment. This paper presents a synthesis on what pellet is, the characteristic of pellet, the raw materials used for pellets production, biomass pelletizing process and description of a typical biomass pelletizing operation. Previous research that has been carried out on pellet production from biomass residues and application as domestic fuel has also been reviewed and cited in this paper.