Soft woods belong to gymnosperms, such as pine, rosewood, cedar and spruce. They are not necessarily softer than hard wood. There are some hard woods like cork wood are softer than soft wood. With regard to their combustion effects, hard woods burn for a longer duration of time, while soft wood burn more sufficiently. Traditionally, people believe hard wood is a better choice for fireplace, but when it comes to pellet stove, their difference is not that much as they are pelletized.

Hard wood pellets are regarded as superior wood pellets, with higher price than soft wood pellets. Because hard wood is more costly raw material, producers have to raise the selling price of hard wood pellets to make profits. Although hard wood has higher combustion ratio than soft wood, when it comes to wood pellets, their difference is diminished. Before pelletizing, the water content in both raw materials is reduced to 10-15%. And the heat and pressure from wood pellet press transformed their structure and density. So the combustion values of the same quantity of soft and hard wood are almost the same.

The heat value of soft wood pellets is from 10% to 20% BTU, which is higher than that of soft wood pellets. That’s because soft wood pellets contains more juice than hard wood pellets, which makes they burned faster. A research carried on in 2009 studies the dust emission and dusting factors of soft and hard pellets. The disparity lies in what raw materials they are made from. Among the pellets made from raw materials with low combustion ratio, the dusting amount of soft wood pellets are higher. If the pellets are made of raw materials with high combustion ratio, hard wood pellets emit more dust.

To those who use pellet stove, cleaning work and environmental effect are two major concerns. Hard wood pellets are regarded as more environmental friendly than soft wood pellets due to their low ash content. But as a matter of fact, the ash content of wood pellets depends on their cleanliness and quality rather than raw materials.

All superior wood pellets have the ash content less than 1%. Its common to see hard wood pellets have more ash content than soft wood pellets. What determine the pellet quality is the pellet press you use. Superior pellet making machine can produce premium wood pellets with both soft and hard wood.

GEMCO is dedicated to research and develop biomass pellet presses for more than 20 years. As one of China’s earliest manufacturer of hard wood pellet making machine, we boast abundant production experience and strong technology capability. We will renew our commitment to promote application of biomass energy and reduce our reliance on fossil fuel.

GEMCO hard wood pellet making machine

can process various hard wood chips, shaving, flour and saw dust. The biomass pellets produced by our wood pellet mill features high calorie, low emission, no coking, sufficient combustion, and little ash remnant. They can substitute for coals, oil and other fossil fuel, widely applied in furnaces, power plant and family. They can save your fuel cost and environmental cost.

Get Price Now