Until recently making wood pellets has been almost exclusively done in large commercial pellet mills.
There has been a recent trend in small scale producers entering the market and even home owners making their own pellets.
Pellets are made by compressing wood or other biomass materials until they become very dense and hot enough to bond together.
This takes a large amount of force and the right conditions from machinery that has traditionally been built for large scale production mills.
In recent years there has been a lot of development in lower cost small scale pellet machines that are available for low production producers and even consumers.
This opens up the door for small business to make and sell wood pellets and even for home owners to make their own.
One of the problems with using pellets for heating is occasional pellet shortages.
There have been times when pellet producers have not been able to keep up with demand.
With more small scale operations going into production and with people making their own this is opening up more options for consumers.
Wood is not the only material that can be pelletized.
Paper, cardboard, grain, yard waste, straw or just about any form of agricultural and forestry waste can be pelletized.
There are many uses for pellets besides heating including animal feed, bedding, fertilizer, cooking fuel, cat litter and more.
Pellets have been made since early in the 20th century mostly as animal feed and agricultural products.
It wasn't until the late 70's that people started making pellets for heating.
Pellet heat has had mixed reviews since then and has been slow to compete with cheap abundant fossil fuel.
As prices of fossil fuels increase and as people search for more renewable energy sources wood pellets are being looked at more as an alternative source of energy.
Now that there are more options available for making wood pellets, this form of heat is becoming more appealing and practical.