When Should You Use Vegetable Oil for Pellet Mill
You can find various techniques to increate the biomass pellets quality. For instance, using binding agent is one aspect you can consider. There are many forms of binders that you may use in the biomass pellet production. And vegetable oil is one of the most economical and popular binders.
The advantage of binder
It is not difficult to answer this question. But if there is enough lignin in the raw material, you can skip this part. For example, wood may not need you to add more binding agents. The lignin is a kind of sugar. The percentage of lignin decides the firmness of the plant. That’s the reason the wood would be much harder than other plants. The pellet mill will generate heat and pressure to melt the lignin and then the raw material can be bind together by the lignin. When the pellets come out of the pellet mill and cool down, the lignin will then make the pellets to be harder and more robust. Hence, if you are coping with the raw material that falls short of lignin, the pellets will break down easily if you don’t add more the extra binding agent which can make them become more compressed.
The advantage of vegetable oil
Inexpensive price and good effect are the two important factors that why vegetable is favoured. There are also other binding agents such as starch and dried distiller grain, but they are more expensive and not as clean as vegetable.
Aside from what we mention before, you can also figure out vegetable oil still has other uses. For example, before the production begins, you shall include some vegetable into the pellet mill to get rid of the corrosive on the surface inside the machine, which can help to prolong the lifespan of the machine. Even during the biomass pellet production, vegetable oil can also be very practical. It can help reduce the pressure. Some raw material with high density, for example, wood, would make high friction force and pressure, which will wear out the die and in the end lessen the production efficiency.
Nonetheless, be care not to use too much vegetable oil. It may result in waste situation and even bring down the final quality of the pellets. You can ask for the professional technician about the proper dosage. Also, you can use small dosage in the beginning, then gradually adjust the use level according to the real fact.
If you have interests in getting more information about pellet press, you can visit pellet press guidance.