I currently dry about 12 tons of pits on an asphalt parking lot and store them in apple bins. But to heat the greenhouse I would need 120 tons and that is just not feasible. I am beginning to think that this project may just grow too expensive to get the ROI I am looking for (around 2 years).
I was under the impression that gasifiers could benefit from the moisture content in that the steam can contribute to hydrogen production if present at the correct phase. I think I may just build a small scale gasifier for the fun of it and find out for myself what can and can't be done. On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 6:57 PM, andy schofield <[email protected]>wrote: > > Hi Derek, > > I have a little experience with cherry pits. Are you on Michigan? > Do you know what it costs to heat the green house with natural gas? > > Burning the pits while wet, will use up much of the energy that is needed > in the radiation, and convection sections of your boiler. > The energy used to evaporate water in the wet fuel will just go up the > stack, rather than go into your circulating water. > > To dry cherry pits I use a box that is large, easy to fill, and empty with > a tractor-loader. > > The floor of the box has screen where unheated air from an electric > blower pushes upwards through the bed. Bed depth is around one meter. > > In usual Michigan late summer weather conditions, 5 days is enough time to > lower pit moisture content to around 15%. > Electric use of the blower is tiny, compared to the chemical > potential-energy in the pits. > > Chip Energy of Illinois has equipment right off the shelf. These are the > top-lighted updraft type (T-LUD). > Cherry pits were tested, and found to be a very nice fuel for these > boilers. > http://www.chipenergy.com/images/pdf_docs/FlashBoiler.pdf > > Hope this helps, > > Andrew Schofield > Renewable Fuel Systems > > > > > > > I have a large supply of wet cherry pits and I want to burn them to > produce > > hot water for heating my greenhouse. > > > > I have a 200,000BTU natural gas boiler I would like to run 24/7. The hot > > water would enter a large storage tank for immediate or later use. > > > > My thought was to make an updraft top loading gasifier. The hope being > that > > this would dry the pits sufficiently for burning. I would run the > producer > > gas through a rad to remove as much moisture as possible and then pump > the > > dry gas into the boiler. > > > > I understand that an updraft style gasifier will not crack the tars. > Will > > this require frequent cleaning of the boiler? Reduce efficiency? > > > > I understand the basic principles involved, but would love some input > before > > I start chopping and welding. > > > _______________________________________________ > Gasification mailing list > [email protected] > http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_listserv.repp.org > http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org > http://info.bioenergylists.org > > UNSUBSCRIBE HERE; > http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_listserv.repp.org > _______________________________________________ Gasification mailing list [email protected] http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_listserv.repp.org http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org http://info.bioenergylists.org UNSUBSCRIBE HERE; http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_listserv.repp.org
