Wood pellets are one of the very popular biomass fuels in recent times. However, because of this popularity, many units have taken the opportunity to mix poor quality raw materials, significantly reducing their reputation in the domestic and international wood pellet market.

To limit this situation, consumers need to be careful and knowledgeable to identify and distinguish the quality of basic wood pellets.

And here are five ways to determine the quality of wood pellets:

1. Through the length and diameter of the wood pellet

You can tell a pretty big difference between premium and poor quality wood pellets just from the size of the pellets.

High-grade wood pellets will have a relatively uniform length, optimally from 30 mm – 40 mm. Poor quality wood pellets lack this balance, will have different short sizes; some can be only a few millimeters long, and some are up to 50mm long.

Besides the length, the diameter of the wood pellets is also an important specification. Usually, wood pellets will have a 6mm – 8mm depending on the wire, and they are almost always the same.

Premium wood pellets of equal length and diameter

The equal length of wood pellets proves that the performance of the crusher and the wood pellet machine is consistent, stable, and vice versa. As for the size of the diameter, depending on the chain, the diameter of the wood pellets will range from 6mm to 8mm, but usually, there will be only one primary size per line. Therefore, if your products are of different sizes, most of the time, they have been mixed and are not of good quality.

2. Through the surface and feel

The surface of the high-grade wood pellets is smooth and not cracked

A well-compressed wood pellet will have a smooth, glossy surface and no cracks when you touch it. If the wood pellet is not soft, but on the contrary, it is rough, then you should reconsider buying it. An unsafe line will often produce wood pellets with this condition, so the moisture content or the improperly cooled wood pellets will lead to cracking and poor quality.

3. Check the quality of wood pellets by smell

Wood pellets are made from 100% wood and natural materials, so they have a specific scent – the smell of sawdust, wood, or other production materials. You can completely smell these scents, and it is entirely safe for the health of the user.

If you smell strange smells in wood pellets, you will need to look into these products. Many units produce low-quality wood pellets because the machinery is not standard, so they have to add glue and adhesives to compress the wood pellets. This material causes the wood pellets to have an unpleasant smell and seriously reduces the quality of the wood pellets. Specifically, wood pellets mixed with glue after burning may produce a lot of black smoke that is harmful to health and leave a lot of lousy ash.

4. Put in water

This is a method of checking the quality of wood pellets through several test samples. Specifically, to perform this method, we first prepare a cup of water, then drop the wood pellets into the water. Good quality wood pellets will sink, and vice versa; poor quality wood pellets will float to the top.

Put the wood pellets in the water

To explain this phenomenon, very simply, wood pellets, after being compressed under high pressure, will be heavier than ordinary wood and cannot float on water. However, because it is only made of wood, very quickly, the wood grain will absorb water and expand, dissolving in a short time and vice versa; the poor quality wood grain will dissolve longer due to the impure materials and too much binder.

5. Burn test wood pellets to check the quality

These tests are usually only used if the above four methods still cannot determine the quality of the wood pellets. Partly because few wood pellet vendors allow you to test their products by direct burning, partly because this is not easy to do.

In this way, you only need to light a fire and burn a few wood pellets; good quality wood grain will be burned quickly because 100% is pure wood. Besides, when the wood pellets start to burn, the yellow and brown flame will be good wood pellets; however, if the fire is dark like blue or black smoke, your wood pellets already contain a binder or an impurity. After that, wait until the wood pellets burn out; if the remaining ash is white, smooth, and small, it is a good quality wood pellet and vice versa.

Above are some guidelines on determining the quality of a wood pellet that you can use to buy good wood pellet products. Besides, you can also use them as a measure to determine whether your wood pellets are good or not. Good luck!