Firewood Cordwood vs. Biomass Chip

[andy26]

Reading through a few threads, it seems there is a lot of resistance to rising Cordwood prices. Often biomass is cited as one of the reasons forcing demand for wood thus giving the market a higher bottom than its used to.

 

After all for Biomass, quality, diameter and straightness of timber are less of a consideration. Thus if you want straight Ash cordwood with a diameter of 6-10" then surely this has to command quite a premium?

 

When I'm producing G30 wood chip, the contractor arrives at the site with an industrial sized chipper, at no point in the system is anything handled by hand.

 

Cordwood delivered to the yard by artic, offloaded by crane into stack.

 

Chipper with mounted crane, chips from stack straight into store. The chip is then out-loaded with a telehandler.

Chipper works out at approx. £6/t, usually use lower grade softwood, but if selling by the kwh can use hardwood that would otherwise be destined for firewood.

At £55/t delivered to the yard, left to season outside for a year, this will deliver 3750kwh/t.

 

So say at £95/t that's approx. 2.5p/kwh.

 

For comparison mains gas is about 2.9p/kwh.

 

My point?

 

The biomass system takes the labour out of the system and the end user buys by the bulk lorry load.

 

Firewood will follow suit, that is professional companies processing in bulk, everything handled by machine. Yes, some are already there.

 

As an industry could really do with some firewood processing contractors, with processors able to handle large diameters of uneven timber and of course a mounted crane to load themselves.

 

Thoughts?

[Alycidon]

Comments on Pinosa are interesting, presumably this was pre Fuelwood getting involved, they have a good reputation/

 

Pro companies processing in bulk, agreed, mounted on a big trailer complete with generator ( or PTO I suppose). Pull it with 120/150 BHP of FWD tractor, elevator tall enough to offload into big 18 ton bulk grain trailers. Most framing contractors already have the associated kit such as bulk handling tele-porters, trailers etc.

 

Pull the machine onto site, process straight into bulk grain trailers and transport back to base as logs.

 

Cost would I suppose be an issue, cant be to many folk able to sell the volumes that such a machine could get through when used day in day out. Most combine harvesters are used around 30 days a year, cost 200K + but can cut £60,000+ worth of grain a day. I suppose there might be an equivilant there, maybe I am down the wrong lane completely.

 

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[andy26]

Most farming contractors already have the associated kit such as bulk handling tele-porters, trailers etc.

 

Pull the machine onto site, process straight into bulk grain trailers and transport back to base as logs.

 

Most combine harvesters are used around 30 days a year, cost 200K + but can cut £60,000+ worth of grain a day. I suppose there might be an equivilant there, maybe I am down the wrong lane completely.

 

A

 

Your comments above are exactly my line of thinking.

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You wouldn't find a farmer cutting with a sycthe or even a binder.

 

I would love there to be a firewood processing contractor, operating on the scale of the chipping contractor (£300k outfit) or agricultural contractor with a £250k combine, with the output and efficiency to match.

 

Comes in a few days throughout the year and blitzes a few hundred tonnes all handled by the processors own crane, and loaded straight into trailers or bulk store.

[Alycidon]

Sounds nice, but processors currently will only handle up to around 450mm logs at tops ( I think !!). I have 3 ash trucks to process for winter 12-13, chainsaw into short lengths, split down then process, be far easier to wack the whole trunk into a big machine. Maybe I need a bigger splitter !!.

 

Looking at the farming side there are few farmers who use contractors for harvesting as timing of harvesting is vital but increasingly farmers are joining together and forming co operatives, this allows bigger machines, cuts labour and reduces overall costs per acre. Maybe thats the way the firewood job should go, maybe get four or five localish companies, each put in say 40k for equipment and see where you go. Works for grain farmers, no reason why it would not work elsewhere.

 

 

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[dent]

i think a little more kit would be required than one machine though if handling big stuff or arbwaste

such as SplitMaster 30 on skidding trailer

 

or this Gigant 40 - Holzspalter, liegend 40t

to get the big stuff small enough to go through a processor

and even then only the largest posch and bindenberger machines are properly self contained with no human interaction other than the controls

[Alycidon]

From the link it looks like Posch have most of the equipment, food for thought.

 

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[dent]

i think a redesighn of the prossesors would be required so that they could handle a bigger variety of timber without any human interaction

i think the main thing would be to use infeed rollers as on a chipper or harvester head rather than a conveyour i think this would lead to less jam ups and the ability to process a bigger variety of timber

[MikeTM150]

i've often thought this would be a good way of making more use of our big tractors in the winter, but unlike chippers there doesn't seem to be any machines out there designed for high productivy of large material that requires a large hp tractor?

 

would like to know if anyone knows of a machine out there? but like farming is going now, alot of people seem to like there independance so are preffering to use there own smaller kit and do it exactly as they want? don't know if this would be similiar in the firewood trade?

:confused1:

[Alycidon]

Looking at the big US made gear on another current thread here they use integral engines of about 75hp to power hyd motors. So the old NH wont find much use there !!.

 

On the firewood side as processing is not that critical give or take a week or two then maybe contracting may be a way forward, but you would want to see some serious work in front of you to invest 100k plus in one of those machines.

 

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