Wreckers!!

[marco]

Long long ways. It's the getting rid of the resultant digestate that's the issue- all liquid and very very heavy, plus it's virtually all year around.

Can they not use it back out on next year's crop or would it be impossible to store it? Can it be spread safely on grassland?

 

[kill]

40+ mile round trip on red diesel! Got to love the green energy con

A big contractor that supplies a local AD plant around here openly admits that if he put the fuel he uses into a generator instead of his equipment Growing/ Harvesting and hauling to and from the AD plant then the fuel would actually produce several times more electricity

 

[Hard Graft]

Can they not use it back out on next year's crop or would it be impossible to store it? Can it be spread safely on grassland?

there is a lot off grassland On the fens but it’s black grass
and they probably not in a nvz

 

[ollie989898]

Can they not use it back out on next year's crop or would it be impossible to store it? Can it be spread safely on grassland?

You can use it on grass.

Storing the vast quantities involved would be a big ask.

 

[grainboy]

35 miles to Block fen from near here, either beet or maize,
Work it out for your selves,
Someone is making big money on the back of RHI payments, not from the produce.

 

[Barleymow]

My dad managed it with a Ford 7840 with a Bomford B608, except he managed to get the tractor on its roof. He felt the tractor going over on a ditch bank and had time to put the cutting head on the ground but said it just slipped on the cutting head roller and before he knew it the tractor was upside down. One of Roy Humphreys cranes lifted it back up, think it only bent the tractor exhaust.

You've done more damage keeping on 4 wheels

 

[Chae1]

A big contractor that supplies a local AD plant around here openly admits that if he put the fuel he uses into a generator instead of his equipment Growing/ Harvesting and hauling to and from the AD plant then the fuel would actually produce several times more electricity

@DaveGrohl

 

[Al R]

@mtx.jag looks like the crunch bunch have started up again and moved East

 

[stevedave]

@mtx.jag looks like the crunch bunch have started up again and moved East

Crunch wasn't that bad and to be fair there are a lot more banks out west than an the very flat fens.

 

[Bald n Grumpy]

Are these drivers the tenner an hr morons @Hilly was telling us about in the wages thread

A tenner an hour!!! Don't think they're worth that much

 

[fieldfarmer]

A tenner an hour!!! Don't think they're worth that much

No, no, no, they pay a tenner an hr to be allowed to drive the tractor.

 

[Bald n Grumpy]

No, no, no, they pay a tenner an hr to be allowed to drive the tractor.

My mistake
For that they should be driving little plastic tractors with pedals

 

[e3120]

A big contractor that supplies a local AD plant around here openly admits that if he put the fuel he uses into a generator instead of his equipment Growing/ Harvesting and hauling to and from the AD plant then the fuel would actually produce several times more electricity

Not wanting to get in the way of a popular story, but this would be unlikely.

Each acre would roughly run each kW of the plant for a year, say 8000 hrs uptime. That's 8000 kWh generated. A diesel generator at 50% efficiency (generous) would need 1600l of fuel to do the same (1l = 10kWh content). Is it possible to burn 1600l/ac? Even with sub, the economics are dodgy.

 

[fiatf130]

Not wanting to get in the way of a popular story, but this would be unlikely.

Each acre would roughly run each kW of the plant for a year, say 8000 hrs uptime. That's 8000 kWh generated. A diesel generator at 50% efficiency (generous) would need 1600l of fuel to do the same (1l = 10kWh content). Is it possible to burn 1600l/ac? Even with sub, the economics are dodgy.

It might be possible as you have to take into account fuel use for sowing crop etc and also hauling the digestate away. If they are hauling this stuff on 50 mile round trips then you're not long in burning a bit of diesel at 5mpg. Multiply up for number of tractors needed etc

 

[e3120]

It might be possible as you have to take into account fuel use for sowing crop etc and also hauling the digestate away. If they are hauling this stuff on 50 mile round trips then you're not long in burning a bit of diesel at 5mpg. Multiply up for number of tractors needed etc

I did try to see if it could be true. That would be 10gal per load (acre); same again for digestate still only accounts for the first 100l.

 

[Will 1594]

If that's true then the blame lies firmly with the boss.
They are either teaching it or allowing it to happen, either way they're clearly incompetent. Cowboys like that want shutting down, it's how we end up with ridiculous rules and regulations for those that were doing it right all along.

Maybe miss Pretoria , should take a look at it all , she maybe easy on the eye but not on the land or roads

 

[Mouser]

It might be possible as you have to take into account fuel use for sowing crop etc and also hauling the digestate away. If they are hauling this stuff on 50 mile round trips then you're not long in burning a bit of diesel at 5mpg. Multiply up for number of tractors needed etc

Even a fiat stuck in 1st gear wouldn't use that much

 

[Bignor Farmer]

It might be possible as you have to take into account fuel use for sowing crop etc and also hauling the digestate away. If they are hauling this stuff on 50 mile round trips then you're not long in burning a bit of diesel at 5mpg. Multiply up for number of tractors needed etc

I seem to remember doing some calculations on this in my uni days (20yrs ago!) something like 1/2 or 2/3 of the energy use in agriculture is the production and transportation of Nitrogen fertilisers.
We were working on wheat/maize for bioethanol but definitely concluded that growing crops for energy was a good political headline but used more fossil fuels than it saved!

 

[ridger]

Even a fiat stuck in 1st gear wouldn't use that much

5 mpg isnt far away, we used to haul potatoes quite a distance and it was eye opening how much diesel was used

 

[Mouser]

5 mpg isnt far away, we used to haul potatoes quite a distance and it was eye opening how much diesel was used

No it's not, I'm referring to the 1600 litre/ acre diesel use!