Has anyone tried to press chip into briquettes?

[njc110381]

I've been thinking recently that as a fairly small scale chip producer, perhaps I could try to turn my arb waste into wood briquettes? All I can see available are machines that work with sawdust... Does that mean that it can't be done with chip? Maybe it's too coarse? Has anyone tried and to what tonnage?

 

If it is too coarse, what would be the cheapest way to process it further? I've looked up hammer mills etc, but they seem quite expensive and also quite large. Can you get such a thing as a mill that will run off of a pto or small engine? I'm looking at doing this as a personal use thing so don't want to spend thousands on it. I was kind of hoping I could make something out of some heavy steel pipe and a large hydraulic ram then run it with my little tractor, but there's no point starting if it won't work!

[peatff]

Have a look on youtube at briquette presses there are quite a few. Some kind of mincer arrangement might get the chip size down.

[scraggs]

I would have thought getting a consistant moisture content would be a problem.

[njc110381]

I've watched a load of videos and just baffled myself even more. Most seem to press the blocks straight out, and some have to be cut to length once made. I think that could be a bit too complicated for a DIY job and I'll most likely try to do it with a big ram and a strong tube to ram it into. Getting it back out.... Well I haven't worked that bit out yet!

 

Edit... Re the moisture, could they not just be stacked to dry if they were a bit damp? Or do they not stick if not just right?

[woodworm]

Try the pelheat website

Pellet Mills For Sale and Complete Pellet Plants | PelHeat

 

Everything you need on there and its in plain English.... yee haa

[renewablejohn]

I do both briquettes and wood pellets and yes you can use your chip but theres a few things you need to do first. First your wood chip needs to be fine so high chip speed and low infeed speed on your chipper. Next problem it will be far to wet typically 35-55% when for briquettes you need max 15% and wood pellets 12%. Once down to that level you then need to pulverise the chip in a hammer mill to reduce it to a powder. Then put through your briquette or wood pellet press at a mere 80 bar pressure. Simples

 

Only problem is cost of the kit min 50k for cheap chinese or 90k for something that works.

 

Any other questions fire away.

Edited October 6, 2014 by renewablejohn

[renewablejohn]

Try the pelheat website

Pellet Mills For Sale and Complete Pellet Plants | PelHeat

 

Everything you need on there and its in plain English.... yee haa

 

Briquettes are far easier than pellets. Looked at Pelheat when we bought ours and they struggled to get it to work as it was very similar to the chinese garbage I had already purchased as a trial machine. I still have it but only use it for trial mixes as its rubbish. If anyone wants to borrow it there quite welcome but I am sure it will put you off making pellets as its so sloooow.

Edited October 6, 2014 by renewablejohn

[cornish wood burner]

I've watched a load of videos and just baffled myself even more. Most seem to press the blocks straight out, and some have to be cut to length once made. I think that could be a bit too complicated for a DIY job and I'll most likely try to do it with a big ram and a strong tube to ram it into. Getting it back out.... Well I haven't worked that bit out yet!

 

Edit... Re the moisture, could they not just be stacked to dry if they were a bit damp? Or do they not stick if not just right?

 

Had a tour some years ago. As far as I remember sawdust is pushed down a very long tube and fuses together with the heat. Ram stroke a metre or two and the tube 10 metres or so as a rough guide. Starts fairly dry and comes out very hot. Just falls into random lengths not cut.

I was looking at buying chip at the time and was shown the brickette

production as a matter of interest so didn't take a lot of notice.

[renewablejohn]

 

Edit... Re the moisture, could they not just be stacked to dry if they were a bit damp? Or do they not stick if not just right?

 

I am afraid it does not work like that the MC has to be below 12% MC then the high pressure of 80 bar glues the lignin in the wood to make a solid briquette

[njc110381]

Kind of like a hot glue gun then? Too much water stops it from bonding and perhaps stops it from building enough heat. 12% is low moisture though, very low!