[Gasification] BRUSH ENERGY

Sun Jun 5 15:47:12 CDT 2011

There is almost as much energy or even more, in the brush of deciduous trees as in the main trunk. And every time you cut down a tree you get a big pile of brush which needs to be burned or hauled to the dump.  

I have developed an attachment for chainsaws that will reduce a 5 foot tall pile of brush to a 1 foot pile of worth sticks in 15 minutes.  See it in action at

http://www.woodgas.com/brushsaw.htm

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When laying up a pile of brush for further cutting, put ratchet straps on the ground first, and use them to compress the pile by a factor of 2-3 and make the sticks and branches more parallel for cutting. It's easy to cut a pile into 1-3 foot long pieces to be used for burning or charcoal.

<><><>

If you pile these sticks into a dense pyramid and light a fire on the top layer, it behaves like the Toplit Updraft stove and burns down, pyrolysing the wood in each layer to make 15-20% charcoal.  I call this pile a "Pyromid"  ( but this term has been used also for another product).  

Onward

Tom Reed, Pyrologist 

Dr Thomas B Reed
President, The Biomass Energy Foundation
www.Woodgas.com

On Jun 4, 2011, at 7:14 PM, Rolf Uhle <energiesnaturals at gmx.de> wrote:

> I have pelletized and i know how it works.
> It is o.k. as long as you have good clean sawdust at a reasonable price.
> 
> The thing is most people don't !
> 
> I make chips from brushwood and treetops at a reasonable price.
> The chip quality is a bit mediocre, though and I want to refine it so as to 
> keep it from bridging. Cut the long bits short and make it look more round or 
> square, then it will flow !
> I am happy with a density of 400 kg/m³ instead of 650 for pellets as long as i 
> don't have to ship them far away.
> 
> 
> If torrefaction wasn't so expensive at small scale, it would be a good 
> solution.
> 
> Rolf
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Am Samstag, 4. Juni 2011 23:39:42 schrieb Art Krenzel:
>> Rolf,
>> 
>> I do not know why other machines like it were never made.  That was the
>> only machine of that design I have ever seen.  I think the quality of the
>> end product pellets did not make it through the long distance, multiple
>> handling systems sufficiently well to meet the needs of the end user. 
>> They were sort of "heavily squished" rather than extruded with a melted
>> lignin total outer coat.  This left the pellet much more susceptible to
>> handling damage.  The process was operated in full recycle mode until the
>> gears heated up before any product was made to facilitate the heat
>> pressing of the sawdust.
>> 
>> I would seriously review using a hollow cylinder with a piston to compress
>> the sawdust.  It does not do well in the "rock in the sawdust" test. 
>> Most, if not all, pelletizing processes need alot of cleanup of the floor
>> area with brooms and shovels used by minimum wage help.  This swept up
>> material is normally added to the feed side of the system and could cause
>> serious maintenance difficulties.  The gears were spring loaded and just
>> bounced open sufficiently to pass any incompressible foreign matter.
>> 
>> The gear pelletizer system was incredibly quiet.  The loudest noise came
>> from the auger and the loader (when it was running).
>> 
>> Art
>> 
>>> From: energiesnaturals at gmx.de
>>> To: gasification at lists.bioenergylists.org
>>> Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2011 00:16:15 +0200
>>> Subject: Re: [Gasification] Sawdust in Fan TLUD
>>> 
>>> Art,
>>> this sounds very close to what I want to do and I cannot find it done!
>>> 
>>> I want to make pellets without having to pelletize.
>>> After my very good experience with almond shells ( m/l 30 x 20 mm)
>>> passing readily through 3 and 3.5 " (75 and 90 mm) spiral augers and
>>> around bends, I want to stamp wood chips on a rotating cilindrical die
>>> into " coins" of some 15 -20 mm diam.
>>> I imagine some kind of hollow cylinder with holes and a matching,
>>> synchronized cylinder with short hardened steel punches stamping the
>>> chips thru those holes .
>>> The stamped chips fall out of the hollow die and what has not been
>>> stamped runs around for another chance...
>>> 
>>> Why does this machine not exist ?
>>> 
>>> Rolf
>>> 
>>> Am Samstag, 4. Juni 2011 21:19:26 schrieb Art Krenzel:
>>>> Pete,
>>>> 
>>>> Have you looked into gear compression pelletizer? Several years ago at
>>>> the Port of the Tri Cities in Oregon, I saw a sawdust pelletizer made
>>>> of two large gear wheels (about 18 inches in diameter) which were
>>>> heavily spring loaded together and driven by a highly geared down
>>>> electric motor. I believe only one gear wheel was driven with the other
>>>> acting as an idler. They acted as a "nip roller" in the real world.
>>>> They formed a semi solid pellet about two inches long and about 5/8
>>>> inch in diameter.
>>>> 
>>>> Sawdust was augured to a hopper above where the gear wheels meshed and
>>>> self fed into the gears. The gear faces measured approximately two
>>>> inches wide.
>>>> 
>>>> The pellets were not of the same high density as the extruder
>>>> pelletizers make but if your purpose is only to use the straw on site,
>>>> this might work for you. They were handling the pellets with a bucket
>>>> loader and auger. Some of the pellets broke down in handling but the
>>>> bulk of them remained in good shape.
>>>> 
>>>> It was simple, quiet and did not have a very large electric motor
>>>> driving it.
>>>> 
>>>> Art Krenzel
>>>> 
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
>>>>> [mailto:gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of
>>>>> Pete & Sheri
>>>>> Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 9:01 AM
>>>>> To: 'Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification'; 'Thomas Reed'
>>>>> Cc: 'Hugh McLaughlin'
>>>>> Subject: Re: [Gasification] Sawdust in Fan TLUD
>>>>> 
>>>>> Could one possibly semi-pelletize the sawdust directly at the input
>>>>> to the gasifier? I see pellet makers that use a screw extrusion
>>>>> method. If one could get enough compaction to loosely hold the
>>>>> particles together, right at the input point, then there wouldn't be
>>>>> the "spouting" discussed previously. There also wouldn't be all that
>>>>> pressurized air to deal with. The compacted material would also
>>>>> create a "seal" between the gasifier and the outside world, if
>>>>> needed.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Pete Stanaitis
>>>>> --------------
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
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