Sawdust disposal

[jim king]

Does anyone have an idea how to burn cleanly shavings and sawdust so it does not molest the neighbors ¿?  I have about 10 cubic yards a day and my shop is in town.  Open burning is a real mess.  Is the solution a type of furnace ?  A very tall smoke stack so the ash does not go out the stack ?¿

Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated.

[farmerdoug]

Jim,  Check out this thread.

Sawdust burner

Farmerdoug

[Tom]

Jim,
The mills down here that burn sawdust for fuel in the boiler, do it with air injection.  The old timers, who called it White Dynamite, were proficient at throwing it with enough force with a shovel as to disperse the particles.  If the the fire is already quite hot, it burns very fast.  That's why they named it White Dynamite.  It was generally used only when the boiler had cooled off sufficiently that a lot of fast heat was needed.  The basic fuel was bark and chips.

You might tinker around with developing a sawdust/air injection system that would get it burned in a hurry and just feed it constantly, but a little at a time.

[Ron Wenrich]

I helped to site a co-gen plant, and we used a fluidized bed boiler.  Basically, its like Tom has explained.  You want to keep the particle in suspension during the combustion phase.  That lowers the amount of smoke, and burns it pretty quick.  They are still buying green sawdust for that plant.

The only other thing to do is find an alternative use.  We get rid of a lot for animal bedding.  In your area, maybe you can give it to the charcoal makers and let them take care of it.  Save a few more acres of trees.

[jim king]

What would happen if I built about a 6 foot dia burner out of brick 8 foot tall and shot the dry shavings fron the dust collector direct into it forming a vortex type burn.  It works great outside like this but makes to much ash in the air.  How tall of a chiminey would I need or would I be creating a bomb ¿?.

[kelLOGg]

Do you have gardeners in your area? Before I got my sawmill I and other gardeners went to a local mill and loaded our trucks and tilled it in our garden to break up clay soils. It requires a lot and diasppears fast in a garden. Even though it does not have much mineral content it is still good for making friable soils.
Do you have a brick plant in your area? Our sawdust source dried up :-[ because the sawyer contracted with the plant to haul it off to add to the clay before firing to lighten the brick. Just my $.02 worth.

[Ron Wenrich]

I'm far from being a pyrotechnic expert, so take things with a grain of salt.   ;)

It seems to me that you will need to have some way of bringing air in from the bottom.  The burners I've seen have had some sort of forced air that helps keep stuff in suspension and introduces enough air to get a rapid burn.  Your open air burn has an unlimited amount of outside air to keep your vortex.  Building an oven would block all incoming air.

The question I would have is how are you planning to ignite this stuff?  Wouldn't you need something burning in the bottom to burn the stuff in suspension? 

As for flyash,  the old wigwam burners that I had seen had a screen across the top to lessen the amount of flyash and burning embers.  Their design helped with the updraft.

[jim king]

The incoming air would be supplied by the dust extractor system going in to create the suspended burning.  I would have some sort of adjustable air ecsape to prevent a pressure build up.

I was thinking overlaping baffels under the stack as well as a removeable , cleanable screen above the baffels before the stack to keep the ash from escaping.

I dont think getting it started will be a problem.

We dont have any composters or animal industry that could use this helical head sawdust, the ones we have say it is to fine for use for animals.

[Tom]

Jim,
You might have to "market" the business, but sawdust rots pretty fast if tended.  You have to get it started and then turn it regularly and you would have a soil amendment in no time at all. I'll bet you could bag it and sell it.

A bit of ground for several piles and a tractor to turn it (or a fellow with a shovel) and you're in business.  You could even let people bag it themselves and save you the labor.  :D

[jim king]

Tom:  We live in the upper Amazon basin of Peru and we have no farming as you think of it.  The people here have not yet learned to till the soil and we are still in a hunter -gatherer society where slash and burn is the only farming method used.  I just thought that fact may be interesting to you.

I am going to start building a burner tomorrow. 

[Ironwood]

Jim,

Thanks for sharing your specific location. I have been in the upper Urabumba area (Machu Pichu). Cool stuff, any chances your trucks pass thru Tinki on the way out of hte jungle? Thanks Ironwood

[jim king]

Reid:   We are located in Iquitos, the largest city in the world with no road leading to it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iquitos

[Ironwood]

Thanks, say cool, and dry!


            Ironwood

[cantcutter]

I wouldn't build a burner unless you could use the energy in some way. Giving your location I don't think you need the heat. The next thing you will need to think about is what to do with the ash? Your city doesn't have a compost facility or a landfill you can throw the sawdust away at?

[Porta mill]

   

    give it to farmers near by great bedding for horses and cattle

[Ironwood]

Did you guys see where he is ? You mean Lamas, and no they don't need bedding (that I am aware) most just stay outside.  ;D