Pellets are made from compacted sawdust, wood chips, bark, agricultural crop waste, waste paper, and other organic materials.
Some models can also burn nutshells, corn kernels, and small wood chips.
They are more convenient to operate and have much higher combustion and heating efficiencies than ordinary woodstoves or fireplaces. As a consequence of this, they produce very little air pollution. In fact, pellet stoves are the cleanest of solid fuel-burning residential heating appliances. Pellet stoves have heating capacities that range between 8,000 and 90,000 Btu per hour. They are suitable for homes as well as apartments or condominiums.