Baling wholecrop straw
sraw...@cix.compulink.co.uk
providing biomass fuel that does not require huge capital expenditure or
my spending hours shovelling timber into a boiler firebox!
I am still very tempted by a Farm 2000/Dragonheat boiler, sized to take a
couple of conventional bales. The problem is that filling the boiler with
two bales gives about a 1/3rd the energy output of timber for the same
cubic area. Ok, ok, these are rough figures...
Lateral thinking, how to get the energy level of the bales up? Bale the
straw with the grain still in it.
*VERY* Preliminary figures:
Straw @3t/ac 11,000kw
Grain @3t/ac 12,500kw
So if it is possible to bale a whole crop of wheat, the energy value/bale
would double. So, how can I wholecrop wheat @15%? Is it possible? The
whole idea started with the idea of clamping very dry whole crop and using
a chip auger feed into a biomass boiler, but the capital cost was higher.
Thoughts??
Steve Rawlings
Derek Moody
<URL:mailto:sraw...@cix.compulink.co.uk> wrote:
> whole idea started with the idea of clamping very dry whole crop and using
> a chip auger feed into a biomass boiler, but the capital cost was higher.
>
> Thoughts??
Rat magnet?
Cheerio,
--
Burkie
> In article <gq2dnWcIp4guwpHWnZ2dnUVZ8rOdn...@giganews.com>,
>
> <URL:mailto:srawli...@cix.compulink.co.uk> wrote:
> > whole idea started with the idea of clamping very dry whole crop and using
> > a chip auger feed into a biomass boiler, but the capital cost was higher.
>
> > Thoughts??
>
> Rat magnet?
>
> Cheerio,
>
> --
>
>
>
> >> de...@farm-direct.co.uk
> >> http://www.farm-direct.co.uk/
Hello, Steve: I know it's been done here in the USA....and probably
even more in Canada. Here's a good article:
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/eng3127
I think an endless conveyor tunnel to be adapted to feed the bales to
the furnace and carry the ash on out to a dump pile. Your biggest
problem as based on what I've been told is that the straw you bale
gets damp and stays damp.
Burkie
Buddenbrooks
>
> Rat magnet?
>
Run boiler on dried rats?
J B
news:gq2dnWcIp4guwpHW...@giganews.com...
>
> Thoughts??
How would you do it without losing the grain between ear and shed?
Maybe you could wrap it - whoops, maybe not, more expensive!!
--
J B
sraw...@cix.compulink.co.uk
de...@farm-direct.co.uk (Derek Moody) wrote:
> *From:* Derek Moody <de...@farm-direct.co.uk>
> *Date:* Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:19:24 +0000
>
> In article <gq2dnWcIp4guwpHW...@giganews.com>,
> <URL:mailto:sraw...@cix.compulink.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > whole idea started with the idea of clamping very dry whole crop
> > and using a chip auger feed into a biomass boiler, but the
> > capital cost was higher.
> >
> > Thoughts??
>
> Rat magnet?
>
I still have a 200t of sealed silos available ;)
Steve Rawlings
sraw...@cix.compulink.co.uk
wrote:
> *From:* "J B" <j...@invalid.com>
> *Date:* Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:32:31 -0000
That is essentially my query James. Is it possible? Wrapping would
probably be viable if it was OK to burn.... legally that is! Not sure what
the weight of a bale would go to with grain still in the ear?
I was wondering about mowing while still a bit of green and letting teh
swath dry out on teh ground a bit like swathing rape (or stooking even)
but I suspect the shedding would be terrible. Maybe better to bale OSR
than wheat/triticale? Whether the boiler would be able to deal with the
oil content of the bale then, goodness knows.
Steve Rawlings
Tim Lamb
sraw...@cix.compulink.co.uk writes
You get warm twice with a log burner:-)
Why not compact the baled straw further? I guess conventional bale
density is limited by manual handling needs. If you are mechanising the
boiler feed, chopping and bricketting is only a step further. Add a bit
of bitumen as a binder and you have..... coal:-)
regards
--
Tim Lamb
andrew
> That is essentially my query James. Is it possible? Wrapping would
> probably be viable if it was OK to burn.... legally that is!
Technically even burning the plastic string in a conventional bale would
require the burner to be fully WID compliant.
Except if you had grown it specifically to burn then none of it is waste...
AJH
sraw...@cix.compulink.co.uk
(andrew) wrote:
I will be sure to use "proper" string! Biodegradable netwrap anyone??
Steve Rawlings
sraw...@cix.compulink.co.uk
knights...@budweiser.com (Buddenbrooks) wrote:
>
> > Rat magnet?
> >
>
> Run boiler on dried rats?
I can recall one farm I used to vist from College that had free range
poultry and they "ran" their boiler on chickens :)
Steve Rawlings
sraw...@cix.compulink.co.uk
<28558a61-4340-413c...@u7g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
Burk...@yahoo.com (Burkie) wrote:
> *From:* Burkie <Burk...@yahoo.com>
> *Date:* Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:07:51 -0800 (PST)
The farm my Mother was farm secretary for 20 odd years ago had a system
like this running mainly on OSR and wheat straw. The biggest problem they
had was stones jamming the conveyer mechanisms! Over here we are used to
getting bales under cover quickly if the weather looks ropey unless they
are round...
Steve Rawlings
sraw...@cix.compulink.co.uk
t...@marfordfarm.demon.co.uk (Tim Lamb) wrote:
>
> You get warm twice with a log burner:-)
I remember..... I have no wish to return to those days, thank you! :)
>
> Why not compact the baled straw further? I guess conventional bale
> density is limited by manual handling needs. If you are mechanising
> the boiler feed, chopping and bricketting is only a step further.
> Add a bit of bitumen as a binder and you have..... coal:-)
The only mechanising I would consider was having some big square bales
from the NH or MF baler range and having a roller feed to allow 2m long
bales inot the burner. Pelleting would be the way forward to have a simple
to use feedstock, but geez is it costly!
However, I was most taken by this simple bit of kit for easing loading a
big boiler. http://www.herlt.eu/downloads/Herlt_Pp_Stroh.pdf See page
15. Neat.
Steve Rawlings
Jill
but there is already corn starch film for spuds and so on -- can you not use
that or does it not work under such tension for wrapping?
--
regards
Jill Bowis
www.kintaline.co.uk - where we are, what we do: Kintaline Plant and Poultry
Centre
andrew
> The only mechanising I would consider was having some big square bales
> from the NH or MF baler range and having a roller feed to allow 2m long
> bales inot the burner. Pelleting would be the way forward to have a simple
> to use feedstock, but geez is it costly!
In principle one could concieve of a big bale burner where the bale was
pushed into the burner on demand, with the primary air passing between the
bale and the casing. Secondary air added by jets playing on the face and
all working under induced draught. A gravity flap acting as a crude lock
hopper between bales.
It would be best with dense bales rather than round ones because the air
flow through the softer parts might not keep up with the rate of burning
toward the air.
BTW An in field puck densifier was trialled, at great expense, I'm told the
prototype bent a crank on its first outing. All these devices that depend
on plasticising the lignin in the material to act like a thermosetting
binder tend to need capital expensive equipment and small wafers being
added at a time to achieve the force and heat necessary. That said the only
real advantage this sort of densification brings is for transport then
storage.
AJH
Burkie
What happened to some of the posts that were on this thread, Steve?
They seem to have vanished.
Oh well, here's a good one on a shop-built big bale furnace:
http://www.farmshow.com/issues/29/02/290206.asp
Burkie