Analysis of fuel pellets from sorted contaminated construction and demolition wood waste

The construction sector worldwide is producing a massive amount of waste materials. In worst-case scenarios, most of these materials end up in landfills. In the Swedish national waste plan, construction and demolition waste is an area of priority, when transforming from a linear to a circular economy. The aim of this paper is to determine if it is possible to industrially produce good quality pellets from wood waste. The scope includes Swedish construction and demolition wood waste. Four assortments of wood waste from the building sector were turned into fuel pellets in a single pellet press, and their quality was determined. The main pellet quality aspects investigated were moisture content, solid density, hardness, mechanical durability and ash content. The results for these quality aspects were compared to the standards and the results of others. Also, the energy use was determined. The results demonstrate that it is possible to produce good quality pellets from construction and demolition wood waste. The achieved pellet moisture content is such that the investigated wood waste material is suitable for pellet production. The container mix resulted in the highest hardness and durability. However, since the ash content is too high, it should be mixed with pure pine sawdust to make it suitable as a high-quality raw material for the pellet industry.