Dear Peter I wish I could be a fly on your wall. Best of luck on your project.
Tom Reed Thomas B Reed On Jul 16, 2012, at 9:55 PM, Peter & Kerry <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Tom R, > > 13 steps eh? After missing the first one the rest just followed naturally... > Did you find you experienced a little time distortion? When I was hit by a > truck back in 96' I recall having more than enough time to reflect on what > was happening even though from start to finish it was less than a handful of > seconds. > > Very glad you are recovering and still thinking of the future. > > A few years ago before he retired Jim Arcate in Hawaii used to have an > excellent website on Torrefied wood as a coal replacement with detailed > engineering calculations on energy balances etc. I still use some of his > original spreadsheets. Together with the late Thomas Stubbing (Airless > Drying) the three of us had many interesting and detailed discussions on > technology approaches and applications. We were a bit ahead of time in terms > of markets though. Plus ten years on my wife and I are are finally beginning > to realise these plans over here in OZ. We are just setting up to do > commercial trials of biocoal (torrefied wood) from wood chips for a client > with lots of wood waste and customers asking them specifically can they > tailor a product to suit their coal boiler applications that doesn't require > anything in the way of modifications to their existing plant? > > A happy convergence of need, knowledge and resource. The recently introduced > Federal Carbon Tax is also spurring interest. One of the keys to doing this > successfully at scale is a well designed gasifier, to provide the process > control, heat and emissions management for a dedicated continuous retort. The > former we have been working on ourselves with some success, and the latter we > are partnering with another old contact who focused his efforts on pyrolysis > instead, with equal success. > > We do plan on using engine exhaust from an on site IC engine generator > similar to what you suggest only for the initial moisture reduction (starting > mc for the feed stock is 50%). This will allow the retort itself to run at > optimum on pre-dried chips and lift the gas output quality from this so it is > easier to capture its energy. The generator will run off the gasifier and be > used to power the wood chipping and material handling etc. The plant design > allows flexibility in product output, from simply drying wood chips (uniform > gasifier fuel) through biocoal (enhanced boiler fuel) to biochar (soil > amendment) as required. The first plant for this should be commissioned > before the end of the year near Canberra using radiata pine plantation > residues as feed stock. > > We are just 25 minutes from the Canberra Airport and we intend to make this > plant will be available for viewing when commissioned. > > Keep on recovering, the world needs more wisdom. > > cheers, > Peter > > "When I was young I started with nothing, and now that I am older I still > have some of this left..." > > > > On 17/07/2012 5:00 AM, [email protected] wrote: >> BIOCOAL (290-310C) is a very specific product of WOOD TORREFACTION >> (200-310C) which may become the ideal end product for wood fuel in the >> future. >> >> Heating wood to 300C drives off all water and some excess H2O and CO2, >> giving an increase of energy content from ~ 8000 to 10,000 Btu/lb, a friable >> product easily reduced to face powder particle size for coal-like >> combustion, pelletization use, and conferring a waterproof nature. The >> emitted gases are combustible, and more than adequate to provide the process >> heat for roasting, crushing and briquetting. It is superior to coal In >> lacking suffer and high ash. >> >> I wish I was younger and richer. I believe I would jump into Biocoal with >> both feet. Conventional COAL is such an ideal fuel in many ways, and >> Biocoal fixes the problem areas of sulfur and ash. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Gasification mailing list > > to Send a Message to the list, use the email address > [email protected] > > to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page > http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_lists.bioenergylists.org > > for more Gasifiers, News and Information see our web site: > http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org/ _______________________________________________ Gasification mailing list to Send a Message to the list, use the email address [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_lists.bioenergylists.org for more Gasifiers, News and Information see our web site: http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org/
