Interesting read for wood heat discussion

[mics_54]

http://www.unbf.ca/forestry/centers/documents/WoodEnergy_ChuiGeorge1808.pdf

[Kirk Allen]

Very Informative information. 
Thank you so much!

Now its time to implement some changes and make some money! 

[mics_54]

I'm thinking about how to make a briquette maker and where to get the material locally for free to make the briquettes. Obviously I dont want to harvest material if I can get it for free. Local forests have alot of standing dead and I understand the wood is fairly dry. Chipping whole trees to make material for briquettes is not very attractive to me though. I could buy by products of local saw mills alot cheaper than I could process trees. Whats your thoughts? I wouldn't mind setting up a small fuel briquette operation.

[Kirk Allen]

I know just in my area the farmers would let you take all the tops etc. that the loggers leave behind.  That is a boat Ship load of potential fuel.

The resource is readily available but the next step is tuff.  Processing it to a useable product.

I think Wood Mizer is on the right track with the Biomizers.  The big industrial unit burns much larger chip sizes but the market is limited to commercial operations.

The small unit like I have burns any biomass but it needs to be small.  Smaller the better.  If a person could come up with a way to efficiently make sawdust like material from junk wood the market would be huge.  Not only could you then make briquettes or pellets, but you would have an enourmous customer base.  The challenge has been getting the sawdust sized material. 

The Biomizer would be great for every home owner provided they could find a source of fuel.  I have been racking my brain trying to figure out a way to make sawdust out of the slabs I cut etc., let alone all the tops from just the local logging.  Come up with that and I bet WM would be interested in talking because it would expand their customer base 10,000 fold.   

[mics_54]

Tub grinders are one way to take care of timber operation waste. Only a few years ago local logging operations were harvesting timber here to be exported as  chips to japan. There was a mountain of chips on the Homer Spit to be loaded onto ships. At the time I don't think they were using any of the tops or limbs in that operation either. Tub grinders are expensive. I still think that material obtained from sources that create the material as a byproduct like easment clearing or land clearing would produce material but it wouldnt be machine ready like sawdust and shavings created from milling operations. I guess it all depends on the investment one might incur setting up a briquette or pelletizing system.

[Kirk Allen]

How big is the briquette market?  I guess I am looking more along the lines of briquettes for BBQ but I supose there are wood burners that use them but I have not heard of any. 

Tub grinders are way out of my leage.  To expensive for what you get as far as equipment goes. 

I knew a guy that was making hocky puck size bisquits out of cedar.  It was a mechanical press that made them.  If I recall the cost of the machine was around 10K and nothing ever came of it but I dont recall whether that was because of the machine or just no market for them.

Exporting to Japan must be something our Alaskan founders committed to years ago.  They get most of the oil, or they use to when I lived there.  

[Kirk Allen]

Now take the article you posted about then read Steves post on wind blown timber: http://www.sawmillandtimberforum.com/index.php/topic,85.0/all.html

It makes you sick to think about all the energy that is wasted let alone how much fossil fuel could be saved by using this stuff.

[Stevem]

As mentioned in the article, transportation cost is a real killer.  Making pellets/briquets reduces the mass to be shipped and provides a marketable product with certain advantages.  But even a mobile pellet mill requires shipping the end product.  In Oregon that can be a long way to any where.

My thought is to use the current transportation infrastructure, the electrical grid, and get away from 90% of transport costs instead of the 25-50% the article alludes to.  

Create a mobile generating unit capeable of burning green chips (hog fuel?)  or other biomass and plugging it into the electrical grid at established points.
Waste heat could be used to semi dry the fuel prior burning.  

The unit would be trailer mounted so it could be readily moved depending on the availability of fuel.  That would include a mobile chipper.  

Power companies would establish hookup points along their grid systems on their dime on either private of public land.  The only  things needed would be a flat piece of ground, the electrical hook up and a water source.  Water is still cheap.

You wouldn't have to pay the haul cost for the end product, or the high transportation cost for the raw material.  
Land owners could be paid more for the wood residue which would increase available supply.  
No property tax for the location as you wouldn't own it.  
Would allow the economical reduction of biomass that creates a major fire hazard in the west.  
Would create jobs in rural areas.
Would reduce dependence on oil.
Would not require any great technology leaps.
Easily adaptable to burn urban waste reducing the load on land fills.
Scaleable such that installation of the a small unit could be done at wood product manufacturing sites.
Only a few people per unit would be needed and most would not be highly skilled requiring higher pay.
Minimal startup cost within the reach of small businesses. i.e private sector doable.
Currently tax incentives available if wanted.
Of course you'd high grade the fuel supply for choice sawlogs.  

I sent this idea to the Oregon Wood Innovation Center (OWIC) and got a response something like, "Gee, why don't you try it!"  I replied that since their offices were only 2 miles from the local electrical co-ops main office checking with them to see if they were open to such an idea might be really innovative
Didn't get a response.  Guess they were too busy trying to measure the fumes off of plywood glue.
Anybody see gaps in my idea?
    

[mics_54]

Briquettes can be made in any size you design your equipment to make them and are essentially burnable in any standard wood stove. They burn like cord wood but more efficiently, with less ash, dirt, bugs and smoke, store in a smaller area per HHV and utilize material that would normally be wasted.
 An associate of mine is currently setting up a large pellet mill to use beetle kill spruce to supply pellets to villages for heating fuel. The EPA is holding up the process with permitting issues because the process emits STEAM in their drying process.
 Alaska (to my knowledge) has never exported much oil to foreign countries although the belief was quite common. Some crude is shipped to foreign countries to be refined and shipped back to the US as refined product. I don't recall the exact amounts but the percentage of exported crude seemd to be less than 3%. Exportation of Alaska crude was infact banned untill Clinton lifted the ban during his term in office however the exportations didn't increase substantially after that anyway. We do ship large amounts of LNG to japan from the conoco-phillips plant here in Nikiski next door to the agrium fertilizer plant which just closed because...they couldnt get any natural gas for the plant operations. Many jobs were lost in the closure. the LNG plant is still exporting. 
  Currently heating oil costs have dropped below $2.00/ gallon while road diesel remains at $3.60/gal. Natural gas and electricity have increased substantially in alaska. Split fire wood has increased to $190/cord delivered in my locality.

[Kirk Allen]

I know when I worked with the folks down in Valdez on fire protection for that facility in the late 80's they in fact shipped large quantities to Japan, as you mentioned, for refining but we got far less back than we sent. 

Alaska crude is some of the dirtiest crude in the world and to refine it takes a lot more work than crude from say Texas or Middle East.  Its FULL of benzine and dealing with that increases the cost of production, thus let Japan do it and send us some fuel back.  I still think we came out on the bad end of that stick.

Couldnt get any natural Gas?  That area use to be slam full of natural gas.   

What type of wood are they using?  I used Birch when I was in Anchorage.  Far better than spruce.  Hardwood fire wood is bringing $250/cord here, delivered. 

[mics_54]

Export of oil transported in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System was banned until 1996.  Between 1996 and 2004, a total of about 95.49 million barrels of crude oil, equal to 2.7% of Alaskan production during that period, was exported to foreign countries.  As of August 2008, no Alaskan oil has been exported since 2004. 
 
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/ask/crudeoil_faqs.asp

While it's true birch has more btu per volume spruce has slightly more btu per pound. With the abundance of beetle kill spruce in the area, most fire wood produced commercially or for personal use is spruce. That along with the fact that it doesnt need to be seasoned makes it particularly attractive for heating purposes.
 I'm not entirely sure of the plans my former associate has. He had initially stated the idea was to replace the oil fuel market in the villages with pellet fuel. I don't see how that will work unless heating oil prices remain high because btu/lb is twice as high with oil and shipping costs by air transport are per pound basis. They spoke of a large investment that I assume must involve some subsidy by govt in some way. Anything that happens in the villages costs the tax payers soone or later. I think that drilling gas wells for electric generation would be a better idea but I don't think common sense is really the point.

[mics_54]

I hope I didn't offend in someway by stating what I believed to be factual information. I certainly have noway to verify data and tend to rely upon information that I come across in efforts to become more knowledgable about various subjects. I also know that my direct demeanor tends to rub people the wrong way sometimes.

[Kirk Allen]

mics_54,
Rest assured you have not offended anyone from your post, or at least I dont think you did.

My statement of "most of the oil" was incorrect.  Although it was not most, it was not suppose to happen and it did, prior to the lifting of the ban. 

I found one thing that seems to apply world wide in just about any publication in existance and that was understanding each and every word and why it was used or written a certain way. Politicians have become masters at this.

Knowing some of the inside history on the Alyeska pipe line as well as personal knowlege of some of the players I can tell you this. 

You are correct that:   "Export of oil transported in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System was banned until 1996"

The key phrase is "Oil transported in the TAPS"

Large amounts of south Alaska oil was in fact shipped overseas but what was more interesting was the development of the Arco refinery on the north slope in 1978 that was owned by BP.  You see if they can refine it then ship it down the TAPS they are not shipping crude oil. They are shipping a finished product that can be sold anywhere they want.   

The problems they had with fire protection stemed driectly from the increased hazards associated with finished products.  Large amounts of those went to Japan and Korea. 

Build a refinery on the north slope and instead of shiping "oil" in the pipeline they can ship finished product and circumvent the intent of the legislation banning the export. 

The Federal Trade Commission's files concerning the merger of BP-Amoco with Arco are quite telling.

An FTC economist had concluded that BP-Amoco was selling oil to Asian refineries at prices lower than it could sell to US refineries on the West Coast, in order to manufacture a US shortage. As evidence the FTC had e-mail traffic passing between BP managers who talked about "shorting the WC [West Coast] market" in order to "leverage up" the prices there. Another BP manager called this scheme a "no brainer". The FTC reckoned that this ploy allowed BP to hike prices at West Coast pumps by as much as 3 cents a gallon.

What the idiots at the FTC failed to understand it was not just oil that was being shipped. It was refined finished product before the ban was lifted. 

Supproting evidence?  Two key people within Alyeska worked with my company to work towards solving fire protection problems in Valdez.  The problem was the systems they had in place were designed for crude oil, not gasoline etc.  While in Valdez numerous tankers were being filled, with gasoline and a clalimed destination of Japan.  Something that was never suppose to happen in the 80's   The locals are well aware of it and since its their bread and butter they dont say much about it. 



In regards to the BTU values per lb, I have not done the actual tests to measure the output but I typically refer to this site as my guide on what is the best fire wood. 
http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm

It reflects"
White Birch has 3179 lbs to the cord and 20.3 MBTU per cord
Spruce has 2482 lbs to the cord and 15.9 MBTU per cord
(I referenced Black Spruce since its the highest listed)

I believe Sitka Spuce and Black Spruce are the same but not for sure. 

[mics_54]

That's certainly new information to me and I wouldn't/don't doubt it. Would that I were the shaftor rather than the shaftee. 

I can't remember where I got the information on the btu/pound number. I think it was at some forestry/science/timber industry site. Your numbers do reflect 25 btu per cord more for spruce if I did the math right, which isnt much if I use your figures. Some sources claim  8000 to 8500 Btu per pound for non resinous woods. 8600 to 9700 Btu per pound for resinous woods. There are also many variable in both weight/cord and btu/pound. Spruce will always start better and burn hotter which I like in the middle of the night...but it also burns faster.  Even so...it's 30 degrees below zero here this evening and will be for several days so I broke down and bought some oil for the Toyo stove so I can get a little sleep tonight. Heating oil was $1.91 delivered. I bought 200 gallons. Hopefully it will get me though the cold spells. My cabin isnt very energy efficient. 

 

[Kirk Allen]

Thats pretty cheap for fuel oil.  It was over $2.65 here last month.   

[mics_54]

Yes I was happy to see the reduction in price. I understand that Sarah Palin removed all taxes on fuel oil in the state but there was a sales tax on it for the KP Borough

[Murf]

I would have to do a calc. to see how the efficiency works out, but I would think a simple drum style grinder like those used to pulverize scrap metal (but obviously much smaller) and powered with a small (Volkswagen?) diesel out of a car would make all the slabs you could make into sawdust in short order.

Around here, and in most suburban areas I've seen though, cutting the slabs into 12" - 16" pieces and bundling as firewood brings a lot more $$$ than you could make any other way with that wood.

The wood isn't the cost, it's the labour & time to handle it that kills you.

[mics_54]

Around here, and in most suburban areas I've seen though, cutting the slabs into 12" - 16" pieces and bundling as firewood brings a lot more $$$ than you could make any other way with that wood.

Indeed I don't see much point in converting any material other than what would be wasted such as limbs, tops or saw dust already created by milling. I have an idea that I am considering. I will fill you in when I'm sure it isn't goofy.

[Stephen Wiley]

How is your idea progressing

My only concern about using 'milled by products' is the concern of phenoxy compounds from treated wood and other contaminants that become toxic upon burning.

Fungal infected material may also require special handling.