Seasoning Woodchip

[Farmwood]

Anyone any ideas how to season and store softwood woodchip that is chipped fresh 80/90%, in 100/125 cube pile to season to 25/30%

[DN22 Gardening]

would've thought your main problem would be to stop it composting

[david c]

Hi I think the most important thing is to have it stored in a well ventilated shed. If you have the means to move it around and stir it up do this when it starts to steam and look mouldy just below the surface. We did this with hardwood and softwood chip mix and it turned out just fine.

[Farmwood]

The heating and the mould will be a big problem right enough. I just thought with the wet weather being more the norm these days some one may be doing this.

 

I dont even know if layering it between pallets in the heap would be enough at that moisture, it may need some forced ventillation of some description

[Daniël Bos]

Have a look at Ten Cate Toptex, they do a special fleece for chip-piles which allows good ventilation, but sheds rainwater.

Some interesting research,

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.swwf.info%2Fimages%2FToptexstudy.pdf&ei=Lcy3UJSPIMKe0QWXroGgCA&usg=AFQjCNGTq6YR2OXCba73u1SZEmEYGsGuOg&cad=rja

 

The people that make the stuff

TenCate Geosynthetics | Royal Ten Cate Divisions EMEA

 

The UK importer

Ground Stabilisation - Artificial Grass - soakaway boxes -Erosion Mats - Agricultural Products

[farmer rod]

Anyone any ideas how to season and store softwood woodchip that is chipped fresh 80/90%, in 100/125 cube pile to season to 25/30%

 

Better drying is achieved by larger chip size/absence of fines/lower stack heights

 

Getting airflow through the chips is the obvious answer, how you achieve that (economically) is a mystery to me. Renewables John is the guru on here, but he plays his cards close!

 

I have opted to stack the wood and sheet then chip after some seasoning, chips came out at 30% but still heat and blow damp patches on the top of the stack.

[Steve999]

Season the logs first, then chip!! Joking of course, we're talking waste from the chainsaw aren't we. Need to keep the surface are as large as possible and maximise air flow.

On a constructive note, try seasoning in smaller amounts, 1" thick by as large a surface area you can make it, season then repeat?

[renewablejohn]

As others have suggested yes we do this all the time and charge a premium for dry woodchip at below 20% MC. As such we do keep our cards quite close to our chest as the big power station chip suppliers would love to move into this premium market. That said I dont mind pointing people in the right direction but for that you will need to supply more details of your operation in particular source of material. ie forest brash or cordwood. Also expected tonnage per week and the sort of budget your expecting to spend to achieve it.

[Farmwood]

It is all lodgepole pine that has shot the Xmas tree market. I intend to install a 40 or 50kw chip boiler for the house pretty soon, so will need the equivalent of 10Tons of pellets which I calculate to be around 70 to 80 cube of chip per annum.

 

I have enough storage for around two years of chip so would like to chip it all in oner. As mentioned trouble is getting the stuff dry enough to store, I tried sour felling and ring barking but the moisture drop in 8 months is next to negligible as it wont stop raining! The only good thing is the needle drop for all that is worth.

 

I am open to options as it will be a long term investment so may have to spend a bit to dry it, as it seems daft going out and buying chips in when I have 200 odd acre staring at me!

[renewablejohn]

On that small a scale you could get away with a solar dryer using mesh conveyors. For each M3 of woodchip you would require 100 m2 of drying mesh which sounds a lot but if stacked 10 layers high would only take up 10 mtrs by 1 mtr. The aim is to get the woodchip below 20% MC at which point it can be stored long term without going moldy. If you need to speed up the drying even more than an industrial dehumidifier can be used but then it gets costly on electric. If you want to know more I can put you in touch with a man who used such a system for drying green mulched herbs.