Making charcoal from "needle" tree wood?

[Thermal]

Hi all,

 

My first thread on this forum after long time lurking. Me and my brother have taken over the family farm (agriculture and forest)

 

We dont do any farming, the farm land is rented out to the neighbor but we still work the forest, roughly 90 hectares. Up to last year the "big house" was heated with a wood boiler but now it is replaced with a geothermal heat pump. So, that means that we have stupid amounts of firewood, both cut and split and also tonnes ready in the forest. Most of the fire wood is residues from the normal forest work, IE thinning out (most go to the paper pulp industry) and timber cutting. And as we are located in Sweden, 80% of the trees on the land are needle trees, pine and spruce. The leaf trees are a mix of aspen, oak and birch.

 

Getting in to the fire wood market here is more or less futile, it is over saturated so we are looking into charcoaling instead. So after the rather long introduction it is time for the questions!

 

Does anyone have any experience of making charcoal from needle trees? Especially pine has a lot of resin in it, would this affect the final product?

 

I am very keen on the Exeter Retort, however it is way to expensive for us but after a lot of reading and image searches on google I am fairly confident that I could convert some old diesel tanks into something similar. Am I way to cheeky to ask if someone could disclose how the wood gas is fed back to the burn chamber?

 

Over 90% of the charcoal is imported, so I am sure there is room for a small scale production. Both me and my brother have "real" jobs so we are not living on this but a small side income would be nice.

[the village idiot]

Hi Thermal,

 

I have an Exeter retort. I haven't tried softwood in it, but I know a man who has, and I believe he gets on fine. I'll dig out his contact details for you and send them in a personal message.

 

The charcoal produced will be light, fairly quick burning and very hot. Best to sell it by volume methinks!

 

The Exeter is essential made up of two cylinders, one inside the other, with a space of about 10" in between them. There are two cylindrical chimneys from the internal 'charge' chamber that extend up through the outer cylinder. These chimneys release the water vapour and wood gas from the charge.

 

On each chimney, between the two cylinders is a metal tube which follows the curve of the cylinders and terminates just short of the fire underneath the inner chamber. These tubes channel the flammable wood gas to the fire when the two chimneys are capped.

 

Hope that makes sense? I'd draw you a picture but my mum has confiscated my crayons.

[10 Bears]

Hello Thermal,

 

I watched a program about charcoaling - in Sweden too I think, a while back and it was something that folks are doing - but perhaps only on the small scale as you suggest.

 

I recall though, they were certainly using pine because it was resinous. The people doing the charcoaling had a way of tapping the resin from the burn chamber (without it combusting) and they collected it for later use. Apparently it is useful as a natural product to seal wood, anything from skis to shed roofs. 'Pine oil' I think they referred to is as.

 

Anyway, I thought I would mention it as it could be an additional product that you use yourself or perhaps produce enough to sell on? I will see if I can find a copy of the video and post again.

 

All the best...

[10 Bears]

Cant seem to find a video, but people also call it, Stockholm Tar, Pine Resin Tar, Pine Tar etc. It was also used for maritime applications, protecting rigging and boards etc.

 

The best source I have found is here, with a description and diagram: Pine Tar; History And Uses

 

Hope its of use.

[Homegrown]

Hello Thermal,

 

I watched a program about charcoaling - in Sweden too I think, a while back and it was something that folks are doing - but perhaps only on the small scale as you suggest.

 

I recall though, they were certainly using pine because it was resinous. The people doing the charcoaling had a way of tapping the resin from the burn chamber (without it combusting) and they collected it for later use. Apparently it is useful as a natural product to seal wood, anything from skis to shed roofs. 'Pine oil' I think they referred to is as.

 

Anyway, I thought I would mention it as it could be an additional product that you use yourself or perhaps produce enough to sell on? I will see if I can find a copy of the video and post again.

 

All the best...

 

That pine oil we know as stockholm tar

[10 Bears]

Cant seem to find a video, but people also call it, Stockholm Tar, Pine Resin Tar, Pine Tar etc.

 

Yes, I found that out after I did a couple of minutes searching. Do you have a schematic or video about it for the OP?

[matelot]

I have an Exeter retort. I haven't tried softwood in it, but I know a man who has, and I believe he gets on fine. I'll dig out his contact details for you and send them in a personal message.

 

I'd imagine softwood from Sweden would have growth rings tighter than a mouse's waistcoat....

[matelot]

We dont do any farming, the farm land is rented out to the neighbor but we still work the forest, roughly 90 hectares. Up to last year the "big house" was heated with a wood boiler but now it is replaced with a geothermal heat pump.

 

 

At the risk of going off topic, I'd be interested in how you are getting on with your heat pump? How many units of energy do you get out for each unit of electricity?

 

Good luck with your charcoal venture anyway

[Aunt Maud]

Here you go.....it starts at 18:00

 

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAQLcg8d9Y0[/ame]

[Thermal]

Hope that makes sense? I'd draw you a picture but my mum has confiscated my crayons.

 

Hope that makes sense? I'd draw you a picture but my mum has confiscated my crayons.

 

Thanks for the reply. I attach a drawing, and as you can see I am very proficient in cad Have I understood you correctly? Are the two curves connected to each other as I have drawn or are they separate? And dimension, roughly 2" pipe? I think I might be able to assemble something like this,,

 

My hope is to bag and sell the charcoal locally, there should definitely be a market for small scale production. But I doubt I will be able to make a living of it.