Premium Quality Wood Pellets Production Process
The wood pellets Biomasa Forestal SL are produced from locally harvested timber. We are supplied by Spanish local forestry administrations. The Spanish forestry, by law, are protected under the FSC® certification program.
You can read more about the Forest Stewardship Council® certification here:
The first stage of pellet production is debarking of the logs.
Remaining bark cannot be even burned in drying drum heater because smoke can contain ash and have impact on wood pellet quality. The logs are made into sawdust locally with on-the-site machinery, guaranteeing perfect quality and pureness of the sawdust (no debris, no sand etc. remains). Main timber species: spruce, fir and aspen.
After being dried in the drying drum, the sawdust is transported in to the pellet granulation unit. During the drying of sawdust, various temperatures are maintained, causing direct impact on Color of wood pellets. In summer season, when less heat in drying is required, the sawdust has lighter color, after being dried. In winter, the opposite is truth. The COLOR of the sawdust has no impact on the quality of Pellets. The wood pellets are made of pure sawdust and have no additives whatsoever. One can convince himself by taking a breath of pellets – clean and pure pellets have a pleasant refreshing wood odor. If other smells are present, it is the sign of potential additives in pellets. It is not uncommon for some producers to add Other materials to make the pellets whiter color.
The wood pellets are made in 6mm diameter. Other physical and quality features are constituted by the DIN Plus standard and Certification program
The picture depicts the samples, taken throughout the year: mid-summer to mid-winter and the color tone shift accordingly.
The 8mm clients are co-supplied from our partners (no DIN Plus certification). Also the Industrial grade DIN51731 norm wood pellets are available in limited quantities. Annual production capacity is 10000 tons.
Packing of wood pellets in 15 kg bags
For packing the wood pellets into small 15 kg bags an automatic Packaging line is used. Special robot stacks the bags perfectly and then wraps it with stretch film. The calibration allows any size from 960 kg up to 1200 kg/palette.
The 960 kg (64 bags) palettes are the most popular, because 25 palettes x 960 kg = 24 tones (official truck weight limit).
The 1050 kg (70 bags) palettes are appreciated by those customers, who save the warehouse floor space.
40’ Sea containers (typically for island-located clients) are loaded with 22 x 1200 kg = 26.4 tones.
The dimensions of palette are 1000 mm x 1160 mm x 1500 mm.
The packing of the wood pellets into the big bags is performed directly from the cooling unit. The bags are filled to weight 1000 kg. Each big bag has two holes: one on top for filling and one on the bottom to empty. The big bags have handles to be easily attached on the forks of the regular lifter (or Manitou lifter).
 Wood pellets in small bags logistics |
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| Bags/kg per palette | Bags per truck | Palettes per truck | Total weight |
| 64 bags / 960 kg | 1600 | 25 | 24 000 kg |
| 70 bags / 1050 kg | 1610 | 23 | 24 150 kg |
| 80 bags / 1200 kg | 1760 | 22 | 26 400 kg |
The 15 kg bags can be Biomasa Forestal branded or no name (neutral). The neutral bag is either transparent or white color Polyethilene bag.
Brand protection: Biomasa Forestal SL is a European-Union-wide registered and protected name. Any use of the graphics and schematics or the name without written permission is prohibited.
The Biomasa Forestal branded bags contain the Din Plus logo, with a certificate number; the EAN barcode (to use with scanner in supermarket) and the description of wood pellets origin in 8 languages and also the technical values table. The bags have description in English, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Lithuanian languages.
Useful information regarding the DIN Plus logo: it can only be used together with registration Nr. (7A279 in our case) and the contacts of producer. Any neutral or labeled bags, having DIN Plus stamp without registration Nr. is illegal use and shall be reported to CERTCO in Germany.
Technical Specification for wood pellets Quality: DIN Plus |
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| criteria | test | norm |
| Calorific value | 17.8 MJ/kg | 16,5 – 19 |
| Ash content | 0,6 % (at 550 °C) | ≤ 0,7 |
| Humidity | 4,3 % | ≤ 10 |
| Fines (dust) | 0.1 % | ≤ 0,5 |
| Density | 687 kg/m³ | ≥ 600 |
| Energy value | 4,94 kWh/kg | 4,6 – 5,3 |
| Ash melting point | 1420 (°C) | – |
| Sulfur | 0,01 % | ≤ 0,03 |
| Mercury | 0,1 mg/kg | ≤ 0,1 |
| Lead | 3 mg/kg | ≤ 10 |
The bag dimensions are: 470 mm x 695 mm (width x height). The drawing is portrayed bellow. The bags are made of white color 85 µm Polyethilene; special holes are punctured to remove excess of air during the stacking onto palette to assure tight position. Therefore, it is always recommended to store the bags under the cover from any source of moisture.
Usual order: 25 palettes x 960 kg = 24 tons. Usual clients: Danish, German, Belgian wholesalers, retailers, shopping centers, small company owners and even private persons.
Wood pellets Quality Maintenance
DIN Plus certificate confirms that processes are in respect to the DIN Plus certification agency DIN CERTCO GmbH requirements; the quality of pellets is being constantly monitored. During every production session – each 24 hours- the sample from the line is taken and examined at a small in-plant laboratory. The samples from each production session are being held in the archive for the reference if needed (for ~360 days). This allows for a 100% control of quality and also the traceability of production, even after being distributed.
The DIN Plus wood pellets have nominal requirements with the tolerance. DIN Plus certification means Biomasa Forestal SL is responsible that every bag would be within these limits and take the responsibility if it is not. The actual results from the testing (on the day of our certification) can be seen in the table on the bag.
DIN PLUS standard requirements for the wood pellets: DIN PLUS standard requirements for the wood pellets:
EN PLUS Standard requirements for the wood pellets (as comparison):
Important information – many bags in the market are marked with fake calorific value and ash content, or at best it is 1 day production sample sent for testing (which is easy to manipulate). Mostly it’s what a trusty or naive Client wants to see, but not definitely the true: 0.3 % Ash, hardwood production, 18 kcal, premium quality etc.
Another popular standard is the EN Plus.
Technical specification |
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| Quality: | European domestic standard | European industrial standard |
| Length (mm) | < 40 | < 40 |
| Diameter (mm) | 6 or 8 +/- 1 | 6 or 8 +/- 1 |
| Fines (% of mass) | ≤ 1 | ≤ 1 |
| Bulk Density (kg/m³) | >600 | >600 |
| Net Calorific Value (MJ/kg) | 16.5 – 19 | 16.5 – 19 |
| Moisture (%) | <10 | <10 |
| Ash content (% of mass) | ≤ 0.7 | ≤ 1.5 |
| Ash melting point (°C) | ≥ 1200 | ≥ 1100 |
| Length: 1% of all pellets can be longer than 40mm, but max 45mm | ||
| Feinpartikel: particles < 3.15mm, fines at the final point of delivery | ||
| Ash content at 550°C | ||
| Ash for determining the melting temperature is created at 815°C | ||
The detailed physical scientific description of wood pellet fuel can be found here: Pellet Fuel