Burning paper products or newspaper

[machinistbcb]

After seeing the large amounts of used paper that goes into the trash when I am at the office, I was wondering how well large amounts of sheet paper or newspaper would burn in a gasifaction boiler. I have heard of people wetting newspaper and compacting it into tight logs that burn quite Has anybody treid it ?

 

[Nofossil]

I expect it would work fine if you could get tight enough 'logs'. Maybe a lot of work and ash per BTU, though. I've wondered about biomass composites - paper pulp as a binder for wood chips and sawdust.

 

[jebatty]

I have lots of old business files that needed to be shredded ... or burned. This fall I will mix 500 sheet or so ream thickness stacks in with wood and see what happens. If they burn, then all my hard work for past 34 years will have worthily gone up in flames.

 

[leaddog]

I have lots of old business files that needed to be shredded ... or burned. This fall I will mix 500 sheet or so ream thickness stacks in with wood and see what happens. If they burn, then all my hard work for past 34 years will have worthily gone up in flames.

You will get lots of ash with paper and cardboard but will burn fine as long as it is mixed with the wood.
leaddog

 

[Jim K in PA]

I was wondering the same thing about old phone books. Pull the glossy covers off and there is a good chunk of energy there.

 

[jebatty]

And most recyclable paper (pull the glossies)? Is it better to burn in a gasifier for heat, rather than burning wood, or better to recycle?

 

[machinistbcb]

I would think that is better to use it for heat in a gassifier, as almost all recyled paper is shiped out of the country to be recyled again as paper.

 

[Nofossil]

And most recyclable paper (pull the glossies)? Is it better to burn in a gasifier for heat, rather than burning wood, or better to recycle?

This leads into one of those endless 'angels on the head of a pin' debates. If you burn it, then you're offsetting the burning of something else. If you're avoiding the use of fuel oil, that's a stronger argument than if your alternative were dead wood that would rot and go to waste otherwise. Between those extremes are all sorts of gray areas. If you recycled it, then there's all of the transportation and handling costs, plus the extra processing that the mill has to go through in order to avoid using a tree to make paper. Of course, you just burned that same tree in order to get the heat that you didn't get from the paper.

And would the mill have generated more or less harmful byproducts in the processing of your paper than you would have in burning it? How about compared to the tree alternative in each case?

This quickly becomes an impossible question. My answer: If you can get some benefit from it without unsatisfactory side effects, burn local and avoid all of the transportation costs.

 

[chrisfallis]

I found junk mail was horrible in my gasifier. The ash content was just too much. Newspaper was just about the same. Old glossy magazines were the absolute worst. Too hard to clean the ash clogs from the firebox outlet and the heat value was pretty low. It smothered my wood coals as well. Better to toss it in the recycle bin rather than trying to burn it.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

I use junk mail and newspaper to start fires, but not sustain them. At least in my experiance with the GW, paper doesn't "work".