Wool pellets from wool of inferior quality

Several of the sheep breeds that are common in Sweden have wool of inferior quality with a coarser and uneven structure, which cannot be used in the textile industry and which is currently to be regarded as a waste that is thrown away.

Pelletizing is an attractive method for refining biomass into a product that is efficient and easy to handle, transport and use. Pellet presses are commercially available from small farm scales to large industrial scale. Compared with the raw material normally pelletized today such as wood chips and straw, wool differs in terms of for example density and structure. It is therefore a need to develop the pellet production system for wool.

In the proposed project, we want to develop and adapt the technology for pellet production to work with Swedish wool as a raw material and thereby enable the wool of inferior quality that is unutilized today to be converted into a renewable and locally produced fertilizer and soil improvement product.

The project group includes RISE Agriculture and Food, Läppe Energiteknik AB, Mallas Stenstugu AB / Ullkontoret and Lauritze Ord & Handling AB