July 15, 2011

How wood briquettes are made

by Ben Heron in Wood Briquettes Tags: Blazers Eco Logs, sawdust briquettes, wood briquettes 6 Comments

In these times of rising energy costs when more people are turning back to traditional methods of heating their homes, open fires and wood burning stoves are back in vogue. Of the many alternatives that you can use as fuel for these appliances, wood briquettes are among the most popular.

Essentially, wood briquettes are made from compressed sawdust and because they are purpose made they are perfectly designed for your traditional heating appliance.
Sawdust is a natural by-product of the wood processing industry and in the past may well have been disposed of as waste material. Now, with ecological awareness at the forefront of the wood industry, this sawdust is taken and used positively.

The sawdust is dried to remove as much moisture as possible – on average a wood briquette will contain around 10% moisture but in most cases it is much less. Using a specially designed press, the briquettes are formed into either rectangular or circular blocks and are then ready for sale.
There are many benefits in using wood briquettes for heating purposes. This process of manufacture means that they are ecologically very sound and that sawdust which would have been wasted in the past is put to good use.

Because the briquettes are so dry, they are easy to light and burn quickly. They reach their optimum temperature in a short space of time but because they are so compressed, they burn hotter for longer. All of this means that they are far more economical than wood logs but they are also versatile and can be used both on open fires and on wood burning stoves.

Far from being the fuel of the past, wood briquettes are among the fuel of the future. The ecological manner in which they are made just underlines how far the wood industry has come to recognise this fact.

Blazers Eco Logs are available in 10Kg bags directly from Logs Direct.