Help - How many tons of wood would an average log supplier get through in a year ?

[Duffryn]

Hi,

 

I am new to the forum and so sorry for one of my first posts being a request for some advice.

 

I am researching the viability of a business leasing log kiln drying equipment to firewood suppliers. There needs to be a minimum level of throughput through the kit to make this work. I wondered if members, would be able to give me an idea of how many tons of firewood the average log supplier gets through each year ?

 

Any help would be much appreciated

 

Thanks in advance

[Alycidon]

How long is a bit of string, some members here do a few tons, others 1000s.

 

Another thing to consider is logs coming in from the Baltic already kilned at costs which are not that much higher than its costs me s a smaller operator to buy in cord, process and store it.

 

I would not be interested in leasing your equipment thanks, I am quite happy to let take its course with my current volumes. Others may be.

 

Perhaps an explanation of what your kit consists of, what it might cost to hire for say a six month period, its throughput ( always a tricky one, depends on the MC of whats going in) and the likely cost per cube to operate it might help.

 

Not actually sure if you are allowed to promote yourself in this way though, talk to the moderator first.

 

A

 

A

[Duffryn]

Thanks for the response. Please don't miss understand me. I am not trying to promote a business ( hence no link, costs or promotion) I am trying to do a little market research into a new business that may well benefit members.

[Duffryn]

It might help if I rephrase the original question.

 

What are members views on the percentage of firewood suppliers have a throughput of 1,000 tons plus a year ?

[renewablejohn]

I can quite easily throughput 1000 tons a year through my solar kilns achieving a moisture content less than 20 % so where is the business model to pay for drying.

[Duffryn]

We would finance and deposit a bio mass kiln free of charge (subject to a minimum useage agreement ) and get our return through RHI income. Greater throughput in shorter time than solar for the firewood producer and no capital expenditure required, though there would be the biomass fuel cost.

 

For the the model to work it would need 750 tons a year plus in terms of throughput - hence my original question. I am not trying to sell the concept here just trying to establish an estimated annual throughput for firewood producers ?

[john k]

There are a lot of small firewood producers, but far fewer doing it on a large scale.

 

I'd suggest that any sort of average figure won't be much use to you. A better question would be "How many companies process more than 750t of logs a year".

[renewablejohn]

We would finance and deposit a bio mass kiln free of charge (subject to a minimum useage agreement ) and get our return through RHI income. Greater throughput in shorter time than solar for the firewood producer and no capital expenditure required, though there would be the biomass fuel cost.

 

For the the model to work it would need 750 tons a year plus in terms of throughput - hence my original question. I am not trying to sell the concept here just trying to establish an estimated annual throughput for firewood producers ?

 

I could do with a new woodchip dryer to process 10000 tonnes per year it will cost approx 600k but I never thought it would be eligible for RHI. I would be very interested if you could finance that but to me it does seem an abuse of the RHI system.

[farmer rod]

I could do with a new woodchip dryer to process 10000 tonnes per year it will cost approx 600k but I never thought it would be eligible for RHI. I would be very interested if you could finance that but to me it does seem an abuse of the RHI system.

 

I recall reading somewhere in the RHI literature that drying woodchips is expressly excluded from the scheme

[Duffryn]

All systems would be RHI approved though as I said earlier we would retain any revenue from this. Unfortunately we would only be interested in supplying smaller systems (up to 2,000 tons pa)

 

The idea behind this is not only adds value to unseasoned cord but it avoids having to tie so much cash and space up in drying logs by air. Plus the capacity and turnaround time means that it is easy to met changes in demand.

 

As a rough guide the system would dry 40 tons a week (from 40% to 20%) at an approx fuel cost of £12.50 per dried ton.

 

Thoughts and feedback appreciated