1 MW straw biomass boiler users

[Chickcatcher]

This gets more and more interesting! so 1 bale (600Kg) is producing 3.64Mw at a sale price into a power station (Ely) of £42 a ton so a bale is worth £25.2. This makes the likes of wood pellet a bit of an expensive way to operate 1 Mw (bale) costs £6,93 1 Mw (wood pellet) costs £50. Am I wrong. @chickens and wheat

 

[chickens and wheat]

£38 but a straw boiler for me would have been complex underground pipes leading to one central boiler, lower tarriff on that boiler, storing the bales stoking the boiler.

Too late to change antway but Im happy with my lot as it is

5 boilers with short pipe runs and a pump each shed, gives me less chanceof a full breakdown too

 

[roadrunner13]

How big is your tank?

That works out at 6 kw per kg?? Sounds very high?!

Is yours approved to burn all the cereals, OSR, linseed etc?

How many kWh on average does your dryer use per hr?

Looks like a nice set up

 

[Hatch1778]

Tank is 70,000 L.

Not sure if it sounds high or not but that's what it's doing. If I only used linseed then 1 bale does 4 MW. (550 kg bales). Linseed also produces far less smoke.

Drier is completely variable, if I'm in a rush and need output we use kerosene to top up heat as drier requires more than 1 MW to work at full tilt, if we are not in a rush we use straw only and thus use 1mw but much slower throughput.

Think it's great for grain drying as your there managing drier anyway, this system does need to be managed, can't just stick a weeks worth of fuel on a conveyor and walk away. BUT as its not going through a chopper quality of straw is not as critical and boiler is more reliable in my opinion.

 

[555]

Chick catcher , Andrew from Manco here. I am based in SG8, we are just about to start an install of a 1mw close to me here, so if you would like a chat / site visit if it is a serious possibility for you. 07507562954 LINKA boilers

 

[Chickcatcher]

Chick catcher , Andrew from Manco here. I am based in SG8, we are just about to start an install of a 1mw close to me here, so if you would like a chat / site visit if it is a serious possibility for you. 07507562954 LINKA boilers

Tried calling no answer

 

[Bluedog]

I think the kW per bale are not correct, looking into bale burning I have the figure if 270kg per MW , are you guys getting tonnes and bales mixed up. I have seen a bale go through and register around 2000kw on the heat meter, this backs up the 270kg/mW.

 

[roadrunner13]

I can only comment on my experiance.

A 195kg round bale of OSR gives me 500 kWh measured after boiler but before tank. Doing the sums that's about 3000kw / ton after boiler inefficiency.

It's pointless talking about numbers of bales because the weights fluctuate so much. Mine are bailed v loose so they burn v well.

 

[Hatch1778]

I think the kW per bale are not correct, looking into bale burning I have the figure if 270kg per MW , are you guys getting tonnes and bales mixed up. I have seen a bale go through and register around 2000kw on the heat meter, this backs up the 270kg/mW.

Stand corrected.......4 MW to a tonne not a bale!!!!!

Sorry!

 

[humblefarmer]

That's still way above the expected output from any straw!

either you grow epic cereals or your weigh scales / heat meters are a bit lean / keen

 

[Hatch1778]

I do grow epic cereals but my maths is not quite as epic!

 

[Hatch1778]

I'm getting same as @Bluedog....

 

[humblefarmer]

are you measuring out of the tank or out of the boiler?

putting on two squares weighing 257kg each and getting 1354 kwh / burn - that's 2.64 kwh / kg of fuel (OSR) measuring out of the tank though so not as accurate.

@Bluedog suggests 3.7 kwh / KG

you are now on 4 kwh / KG

@roadrunner13 is on 2.56 kwh / KG.

huge disparities here, even on linseed - whats going on!?

http://www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk/portal/page?_pageid=75,20041&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

 

[555]

Hello All, Andrew from Manco here. The figures given by bluedog were from me, and were seen on a Lin Ka boiler. As with all things there are variables, moisture content throughout the bale, the heat demand being constant over a good length of time, (grain drying) settings of the boiler and clean internals. Efficiencies are lost if the exchanger tubes are a bit sooty for example. All of which will effect the heat output of a given bale. Straw is a very variable fuel, as is the weight and MC of given bale. So the heat results will also be variable. It's best to look at averages. But it is still the least cost option for biomass fuel!

 

[humblefarmer]

Hi Andrew, I agree on all of those points but even so! in the three years I have been burning and monitoring I have seen fuel variations but only by 10% or so.

what fuel did you see producing that amount and was it measured between tank and boiler or tank and secondary system?

 

[555]

Wheat straw, at 14%. A good grey colour , so rained on, sun dried then baled. The best for burning. We don run tanks on the Linka. Heat meter readings taken, bales through the shredder, then heat meter read again. So really an average. Very similar to getting true MPG results by brimming the tank is suppose. We are seeing heavier more compact bales recently, with the corespondent increase in heat created. Are you grain drying? Floor or flow? What sort of air temps are you seeing after the coil radiator? We are seeing up to 85deg, but finding comparisons difficult to find . That's with a flow temp of around 105deg.

 

[humblefarmer]

its heating all sorts but on floor grain drying at the moment. we are not chasing the heat output but the air drying potential, we don't have stirrers yet so happy to leave the fans on from July to October and get paid to dry the grain slower.

Fan house gets to max 35 degrees from 70 - 80 degree flow. Humidity stat cuts pumps on at around 60% meaning if we keep the tank hot during the day the fans will run all night.

I would dispute wheat straw as the best for burning but I knew you cant burn linseed so will let you off!

indeed comparisons are hard to find - most are in love with wood chip which, whilst it works for many seems daft for farmers with access to their own straw.

 

[555]

Straw is the most renewable source of biomass and the cheapest, and I still meet farmers who are not fully aware of what can be achieved by burning their own straw, or the full benefits of the RHI.

 

[humblefarmer]

It costs me under 0.5p / kwh.

this would be closer to 0.25 if I could bale them as tight as possible!!