Straw for biomass

[humblefarmer]

Oh and to answer your other question, we can control our fuel source, costs us next to nothing to bake and store it (ignoring oppertunity cost) of storage shed. We will always have a variety of stares to burn so can't see us having a problem unless we get an arson attack or similar fiasco, if this happens then I will have to buy shredded wood in and burn that.

I do not feel comfortable that the UK has a) the quantity of wood to supply the market over next 20 years and b) given haulage costs, why in a few years Time local suppliers will not cartel prices like oil companies can do, then you are buggered!

Bales are round and go in whole, why chop? More moving parts etc, keep it simple (farmers approach!)

 

[Straw-wanted]

I agree, I cannot see the UK having enough supply of wood and then we will be more reliant on imports which will just increase costs to the end user.

 

[humblefarmer]

I have been to enough conferences etc to hear lots disagree with us, sure plenty in here will both agree and disagree as well.

This said I am just looking at two more projects, wood chip / pellet concept for some offices and another building complex. Straw will not work for either due to storage and me wanting a fully automated remote service.

As ever all these systems have a place but if you can supply and thus control fuel sources and costs by using home grown straw or timber then why involve a 3rd party?

The cost of new straw sheds seems good value currently, farmers are not spending, 3 new sheds are going up at the moment here, there are deals out there to be done IMHO.

 

[l'ordinary bonville]

If during the winter you have a constant demand for roughly 100kW and a varying demand of up to another 50kW+ and wish to optimise the RHI payments, what size of boiler does this push you towards for a straw batch system?

How many bales, round or large square would it use per day?

How many would it fit in at once, so how often to fill it?

How big a heat storage tank (buffer/accumulator/dump or whatever you call it) would be required?

Would a bigger tank push you to a bigger burner and just run part of the day?

Currently my piggeries are heated with a mixture of electric heaters and diesel space heaters and the offices and hot water use electric immersion heater in a 500l tank.
House is 50m away and has oil central heating, another house is planned this year.

 

[Farm2000]

I have been to enough conferences etc to hear lots disagree with us, sure plenty in here will both agree and disagree as well.

This said I am just looking at two more projects, wood chip / pellet concept for some offices and another building complex. Straw will not work for either due to storage and me wanting a fully automated remote service.

As ever all these systems have a place but if you can supply and thus control fuel sources and costs by using home grown straw or timber then why involve a 3rd party?

The cost of new straw sheds seems good value currently, farmers are not spending, 3 new sheds are going up at the moment here, there are deals out there to be done IMHO.

I'm looking at a second fully automated system to go with my pellet system. Have you looked into boilers that will burn grain? Oats have the same calorific value as the wood pellets, and hell of a lot cheaper, and I can be in control of my own supply. I will be speaking to my boiler supplier next week!

 

[humblefarmer]

I haven't as yet. In the ideal world you would want to find something that can burn various fuels but I imagine that will be hard.

I am having a meeting with a local team who have already done quite a bit of renewables for us, if we put in two systems with the same fuel source there may be the opportunity to double up on deliveries etc as the sites are only a mile apart? Yet to look into this in great detail.

I suspect pellet may be the way forward as it appears more automated than chip, I assume systems can be set up to email the fuel supplier for a top up as required and just cc me in!?

Straw for me is still the way forward as its a waste product which costs us very little to produce and if I can sell it on at half the price of oil heating costs as well then it's a double whammy.

HF

 

[555]

The Lin Ka's are accredited to burn, Wheat Straw, OSR, Miscanthus, oat husks. All down to the delivery of the fuel. Come and see us at Lamma Stand 500 hall 5 if you are going, if not give me a call to discuss further . 07507 562 954

 

[Straw-wanted]

The Lin Ka's are accredited to burn, Wheat Straw, OSR, Miscanthus, oat husks. All down to the delivery of the fuel. Come and see us at Lamma Stand 500 hall 5 if you are going, if not give me a call to discuss further . 07507 562 954

Are they eligible for the RHI

 

[555]

Are they eligible for the RHI

Yes. All RHI approved. 195-1500kw

 

[555]

Straw for me is still the way forward as its a waste product which costs us very little to produce and if I can sell it on at half the price of oil heating costs as well then it's a double whammy.

HF[/QUOTE]
Have you had a look at the Lin Ka range? Fully automatic. The lenght of time before reloading is only limited by the lenght of the straw conveyor. On a 195kw boiler a bale would last around 10hrs at full power, get a ten bale conveyor, 100 hrs at full power! Would that be long enough?

 

[humblefarmer]

Are you certified to burn linseed and bean straw as well? How about wood?

Thanks

 

[555]

Are you certified to burn linseed and bean straw as well? How about wood?

Thanks

Linseed straw just gets wrapped up in the shredder, and bean straw has a very low heat value, and it a no on the wood side of things.

So we are not certified as we have not tested for the above reasons.

Thanks

Andrew - Manco energy

 

[humblefarmer]

Fair enough, thank you.

Linseed is indeed tricky to deal with but it gives very good heat.

I think we will agree to disagree on the bean straw, bailed 90 acres last summer at about 9% and was pleasantly surprised by it.

 

[Energy Clever]

Hi Humblefarmer

If you are looking to heat more than 1 property, district heating is worth a look http://www.energyclever.com/index.php?solar=biomass-district-community-heating

You'll also find plenty of case studies on our website for its different applications.

This too falls under the RHI.

 

[Chippy]

Put my first square bale of barley straw in my dragon D20 just to see what it was like burning straw instead of wood and it's taking ages to get going? Does straw require something in particular to burn? Also what straw is best if I was to buy a load of round bales?

 

[humblefarmer]

What moisture and colour is the straw?

Did it get rained on before (drying out and then) bailing?

 

[Chippy]

Don't no moisture of the bale and I bought it in so wouldn't know if it was rained on. It's the usual yellow barley straw

 

[humblefarmer]

Invest in a moisture meter - Google big bale North I think, delmhaust or similar.

If yellow then probably fresh, full of potash and thus harder to burn. It goes grey if it's got wet.

Sounds like you have wet potash rich straw, expect an uphill struggle. The first I ever burnt was about 18% and after 4 hours it got pulled out and put on the dung heap. Luckily only bailed 10 as a trial.

In my experience anything over 15% is hard work, if buying in then bear this in mind.

Mine are between 8 -12% on average and burn well.

 

[neilo]

Put my first square bale of barley straw in my dragon D20 just to see what it was like burning straw instead of wood and it's taking ages to get going? Does straw require something in particular to burn? Also what straw is best if I was to buy a load of round bales?

A tyre?

We used to feed straw into a Farm2000 at home years ago. Wheat straw always seemed to leave a lot of ash to get out, bean straw was better, but Linseed was the best, as it left least ash, produced a lot of heat and would almost dry itself in the (small) bale. Cheap too. A free source of wood was much better though.

 

[Chippy]

Got my straw dealer looking for linseed so hopefully he will find some