Organization of production of peat pellets

Sennensky district has a rich natural resource potential. There are more than 12 peat deposits on the territory of the district. The largest explored deposits for peat extraction are:
1. "Black Ditch", reserves of 605 thousand tons;
2. Chistik III, located on the watershed of the Kamyanchanka and Chudinka rivers, reserves of 242 thousand tons;
3. Hibni, located in the water-protected zone of the lake.Novoselskoye and the Svecha river, reserves of 191 thousand tons.
The peat fund of the district has prospects for industrial use as fuel.
Currently, much attention is paid to environmentally friendly, reliable, renewable energy sources, such as peat.
Along with traditional types of peat fuel, such as lump or milling peat, a new, modern, technological and environmentally friendly type of this fuel – peat pellets is becoming increasingly relevant.
The investment project involves the organization of the production of peat pellets of a full cycle: from peat extraction at the field, to the production of ready-to-use pellets.
When burning 1 ton of peat pellets, as much thermal energy is released as when burning: 1.6 tons of wood, 475 cubic meters of gas, 500 liters of diesel fuel, 685 liters of fuel oil.
As a rule, milling peat, pre-dried naturally in the fields to a moisture content of 45-60%, is used as a raw material for the production of peat fuel pellets. Before delivery to the processing plant, milling peat is pre-cleaned on screens from large impurities: stones, tree roots, etc.
The entire technological chain of production of fuel pellets from peat can be divided into the following sections:
1. The preparatory section. At this site, the wet raw materials are crushed in hammer crushers, after which fibers and wood inclusions larger than 10 mm are separated by means of a screen. Such peat is ready for the next stage – drying.
2. Drying area. For granulation, peat should come with a humidity of 8-12 %. Various types of dryers can be used for drying peat, but due to the increased explosion hazard of peat dust, certain requirements are imposed on them. In addition, drying can only be done indirectly, that is, the flue gases in the heat exchanger heat the air from the environment, which is the drying agent. After drying, the raw material is finally crushed in hammer crushers to the fraction necessary for feeding to the press granulator.
3. Granulation area. This site is the "heart" of the pellet production, the final stage. Dry crushed peat is pressed into cylindrical granules of a certain diameter. Immediately before entering the pressing chamber, the crushed raw materials are processed with dry steam, which makes it more malleable to pressing and activates the adhesives. Fresh pellets contain excess moisture, have a temperature of about 80°C and are very fragile, so they are sent to the next stage – cooling, where, in addition to lowering the temperature to the ambient temperature, the pellets are dried to the level defined by the standard. After the granules have acquired hardness, it is necessary to give them a marketable appearance by removing small particles from their mass that were formed during transportation through the technological cycle.
4. The packing area.
One of the options for implementing the project is the organization of production on the existing areas of the housing and communal services in the city of Senno. The finished products will be sent for their own consumption for heating (about 2.8 thousand tons) and for sale to individuals and legal entities.
The project provides for the reconstruction of the central boiler house of the city with the transfer of boilers to pellets, which will save 1300 thousand cubic meters of natural gas, or 1.1 million rubles.
The required amount of investment for the organization of production will be about 2500 thousand rubles, excluding the cost of reconstruction of the boiler house.
The project provides for the creation of 6-8 new jobs.