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utilizing logging slash

Started by rcanderson1968, March 25, 2010, 07:20:10 PM

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rcanderson1968

Hey Foresters and Loggers,

Recently I've been doing some biomass fuel supply studies for folks thinking about building biomass-fueled cogeneration plants.  Most of these potential projects have been in the Western US.  Since its common practice in the west to process whole trees into logs on landings, one potential fuel supply source that's always investigated is utilizing the logging slash that is now typically left on landings and later burned.

I've measured slash piles and read numerous publications and have found that the amount of slash on the landing is generally between 0.5 and 1.1 bone dry tons per thousand board feet of timber harvested.  Does any one have any experience tracking this type of thing?

Thanks,

Roy
"...It's a good rifle - and killed the bear that killed me.  Anyway I'm Dead.  Yours Truly, Hatchet Jack"

Louis

We are trying to find a home in central idaho for 8 in and small tree's  and slash. We find 4-6 tons per acre where we are working now. That chages per job to job. We are working very hard to find a no burn solution. Need Money!!  Louis.

rcanderson1968

Hi Louis,

Unfortunately biomass power plants are very expensive, upwards of $3.0 million per MW of capacity.  It also helps to have a user for the steam.

Are post and poles an option?  Another thing people have been looking at for that type of timber are shavings machines to convert roundwood straight to shavings for use as animal bedding.  It can be a good business in areas with a lot of poultry production or horses.
"...It's a good rifle - and killed the bear that killed me.  Anyway I'm Dead.  Yours Truly, Hatchet Jack"

captain_crunch

It is a waste to see all that heat go up in air when you could heat your house for years with it. But so far no one has been able to do it cost effective and now here in Oregon they want to ban wood stoves beings us hillbillys is chokeing all them fine folks in the city with our wood stoves. Oops got to go one of my cows is F**ting again and will get a ticket ifn I don't get it stopped ;D ;D ;D
M-14 Belsaw circle mill,HD-11 Log Loader,TD-14 Crawler,TD-9 Crawler and Ford 2910 Loader Tractor

DirtForester

Any logging slash left on the landing will be of little use for biomass purposes.  There will be too much mud, grit, rocks, etc mixed in that would play havok on the chipping knives, I would think.

Even here in NH, where we have a large biomass industry, there is a lot of slash left on the landing.  Many limbs break off while tops are being piled or fed in to the chipper.  They do make for good brush piles which are very beneficial as a wildlife habitat feature.
If it's a good tree, grow it!
www.smithandwessonforums.com

rcanderson1968

DF,

You are right that dirt, rock, etc. can be a problem.  A fuel buyer at a plant in MT told me that last fall he had one chip van load come in that measured 30 percent dirt as a percent of the dry weight.  Not many BTU's in dirt.   

Despite having to deal with dirt and it being a more expensive fuel than mill residues, utilizing logging slash as boiler fuel is a fairly common practice, especially since many lumber mills are curtailed, which means there is less bark/sawdust available for use as fuel.  Also pellet plants, particleboard and MDF mills, and beauty bark contractors are all competing for those same mill residues. 

Most contractors dealing in logging slash use a tub grinder rather than a chipper to process the material.

Roy
"...It's a good rifle - and killed the bear that killed me.  Anyway I'm Dead.  Yours Truly, Hatchet Jack"

Bobus2003

The Company out here tahts Chipping for Bio-Mass and Particle board runs a Chain flail pre Chipper to knock off the dirt and most the bark.. The saw mill i worked at used roughly half of the Chips and Sawdust to fuel the Kilns, rest was sent to a reload facility to be sent to Oregon and California..

I see after so of the larger operations are done they leave 20ft high by 3-400 feet long tops piles to be burned by the USFS.. Lots of wood in those piles that could be salvaged out if you went too cutting 8's,10's,12's and 14's  instead of only cutting 16's. I leave very little slash when i get done, I cut lots of firewood out of my tops pile, and burn  or chip the leftovers

junglejim

The company that i work for is using a horizontal grinder to grind logging slash into "hogg" fuel. It is being burned in a cogen plant to produce electricity. I think the future of biomass heat and electricity is very promising. And I agree with captain_crunch. Biomass for heat has been working ever since we figured out how to rub two sticks together. I have kept warm, cooked food, and heated water with firewood for 28 out of the 30 years that i have been on this earth.

As far as dirt in the piles, that can be solved by the technique used to make the piles.
And maybe we should not use 100% of the "logging waste" as is it not really waste and it contributes to forest health.
But there is a lot of energy in just 50% of the "logging waste".

Another issue is transportation of the fuel from forest to plant to homes. There is a lot of really smart people thinking about this very subject. I was just reading about a company that is developing a processes to make briquettes that are water resistant and can be feed directly into coal fired power plants with no modifications.

Black_Bear

Quote from: DirtForester on March 26, 2010, 01:08:40 PM
Any logging slash left on the landing will be of little use for biomass purposes.  There will be too much mud, grit, rocks, etc mixed in that would play havok on the chipping knives, I would think.

Even here in NH, where we have a large biomass industry, there is a lot of slash left on the landing.  Many limbs break off while tops are being piled or fed in to the chipper.  They do make for good brush piles which are very beneficial as a wildlife habitat feature.

There are grinders in the North Country that grind the slash that we purposely pile up. You'd be surprised at the tonnage a 100 acre job (for example) can produce in grindings. Of course, not all jobs produce grindings because many times the bulk of the slash is placed on the trails.

Louis

Roy,
Yes, We do send product to post and pole mills as well as just sind on for animal beding but we need something closer and year around. Louis

madhatte

I'm starting to be critical of this process as I watch it on the property where I work.  Historically, we did almost exclusively lop-and-scatter with our slash, but the prospect of selling it as biomass ended that.  Well, it doesn't sell for much at all (about a buck a ton locally) and the fixed nutrients bound up in the woody material leaves the site.  I'm thinking this will be a long-term detriment to soils. 

I guess I'll keep watching this story unfold.

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