Bio extruder

[The Son]

Anyone heard of or is using a Bio extruder from Rika biofuels.

When we installed our plant we installed a Gorator, which promised to do the same sort of thing by breaking down the cell walls, it was way to costly to run, and in my opinion did nothing to increase gas yields, just wondered if this piece of kit was any different?

 

[Still Farming]

Explain Extrude what from what may help ?

 

[The Son]

Supposed to get gas from straw by breaking it down.

 

[thesilentone]

The main principle of any pre-treatment is to break down fiber before it enters the digestion process, this cannot be done without energy consumption, so the first thing is a feasibility study to see if the benefits outweigh the cost. Remember you can only get a pint out of a pint pot, and if your process is working correctly, and your VS is well degraded (over 95%) then there will be little to no additional benefit of any pre-treatment, as the energy required will be more than the value of the extra gas.

But !!!

There are circumstances where an Extruder will add value, and benefit gas production, mainly for grass and straw (or other high lignin or 'woody ' feedstocks) by opening up the fibers to speed up incorporation into the process by providing more surface area for the bugs to attack.

In addition, an Extruder will also benefit in helping to avoid a floating layer on the digester as the fresh material is more likely to be homogenised instead of heading for the surface of the tank.

Look into the detail of the regulations, as you may be able to claim for FiT on the energy required, as it may be classed as Feed-Stock Pre-Treatment as opposed to being part of the process.

 

[Jim Pace]

I only know two people who have them and neither now use them. They do not like stones. We would love to crack the full potential of straw without spending as much as the upside is on milling/ bruising/ processing/pretreatment costs.

We always come back the fact that the Germans are pretty good at optimising, and their favourite feedstock is maize. Providing you are far enough south to grow it reliably, and has to be the feedstock of choice

 

[thesilentone]

I only know two people who have them and neither now use them. They do not like stones. We would love to crack the full potential of straw without spending as much as the upside is on milling/ bruising/ processing/pretreatment costs.

We always come back the fact that the Germans are pretty good at optimising, and their favourite feedstock is maize. Providing you are far enough south to grow it reliably, and has to be the feedstock of choice

Looking to the future, straw and the bi-products from forestry will play a bigger part, however the R&D and commitment is there, the market conditions are not right yet.

In the case of AD the Germans were slow to optimise give their market conditions were very generous, many/most German AD Plants were not operating above 75% efficiency, the didn't need to.

Today however, things have changed, and of course every penny counts.

Maize is a feed-stock that biodegrades well, and provides allot of tons per hectare in a mixed climate, maize seed varieties see it grown well up into Northern Scandinavia. But in Germany there are now areas where there is nothing but Maize, not very appealing to the eye......but then again, who wants to visit Germany unless it's to see a AD Plant