How Are Wood Pellets Made? The Full Manufacturing Process

Wood pellet manufacturing is a continuous process that turns raw wood fibre into a densified, low-moisture, high-energy fuel. Every stage affects the final ash content, durability, and calorific value that appear on your spec sheet.

1. Debarking and chipping

Roundwood is debarked (bark increases ash) and chipped to a uniform size. Sawmill residues skip this step and enter directly at drying.

2. Drying

Rotary or belt dryers reduce moisture from 45–55% to 8–12%. Moisture control is the single biggest driver of pellet quality and mill throughput.

3. Hammer milling

Dried material is ground to a consistent 2–4 mm particle size so it can flow evenly through the pellet die.

4. Pelletising

The prepared fibre is forced through a ring die under 200+ bar of pressure. Friction raises the temperature to ~120°C, activating lignin as a natural binder. Pellets exit at 6 mm or 8 mm diameter.

5. Cooling and sieving

Hot pellets are cooled to ambient temperature to lock in hardness, then sieved to remove fines below 3.15 mm.

6. Storage, bagging, and loading

Finished product goes into silo storage, then to 15 kg consumer bags, 1000 kg big-bags, or bulk truck / vessel loading for wholesale export.