I'm sure i am not the only one whose thought of this.....

[simplicity2012]

Let's talk about how i'm sure deep down we all wish we could make our own pellets in our garage on friday nights for fun.

Now seriously though I would like to see someday in the future prehaps technology will simplify the process of simply compressing biomass into a pellitzed form that anybody willing to take the time to do it.....can do it for less than the thousands of dollars it costs currently. unfortunately making it not cost effective at all for the home grown do-it-yourselfer.

thoughts??

 

[Arti]

I have thought of it however locally corn is very affordable at the moment. $110. a Ton.

 

[TimfromMA]

If were talking future technology, why not a personal fusion reactor that will heat my home for 10,000 years on a gallon of sea water.

 

[jintoreedwine]

Even though woodworking is a hobby of mine, I highly doubt I'd generate nearly enough of my own sawdust to make creating my own wood pellets a worthwhile operation, so for now it is just a dream I entertain from time to time .

 

[simplicity2012]

Haha yes good point on the future technology part. At that point pellet stoves will be something in a museum a kid looks at behind a glass and asks his parents "whats that?"

 

[Bioburner]

Haha yes good point on the future technology part. At that point pellet stoves will be something in a museum a kid looks at behind a glass and asks his parents "whats that?"

Right along with a 8 track player and a tube type tv

 

[TimfromMA]

Dot matrix printer, TV guide, rotary phone, leaded gasoline, black and white television, payphones, bunny ear tv antenna.....

 

[tmarch]

Let's talk about how i'm sure deep down we all wish we could make our own pellets in our garage on friday nights for fun.

Now seriously though I would like to see someday in the future prehaps technology will simplify the process of simply compressing biomass into a pellitzed form that anybody willing to take the time to do it.....can do it for less than the thousands of dollars it costs currently. unfortunately making it not cost effective at all for the home grown do-it-yourselfer.

thoughts??

NOT if you own a BIG sawmill. LOL

 

[drizler]

I have thought of it however locally corn is very affordable at the moment. $110. a Ton.

I burned corn for 3years and didn't really mind it. I tore down the bunker in my cellar when ethanol ruined the market . With no pellets around stall now and the high prices I've heard I guess it's time to return to the corn . Gonna give em a call locally and see how much it is here in the NE and go toss the tarp in the bed of the truck. Too bad my screen rack is buried in the back 40 under a foot of snow.

 

[Wilbur Feral]

It's ot the shredding and the compressing / extruding that's the problem. It's the drying. Too much moisture and a pellet is just a mess. Every year we see someone on here who knows somebody trying to make their own, or sell pellets used for soaking up spills as a heat source (they see cheap, and go for it). I see the same thing locally, with somebody who buys a press and tries to make and sell pellets. And every year they're gone after the first batch.

 

[Bioburner]

Price of corn is very close to what it was the end of January 2014 when I went and filled up the gravity box as we had a day at freezing temp compared to the weeks of near zero. Figured I needed some more fuel as winter was working hard at proving Gore wrong and wood pellets were getting hard to find except for horse bedding and that was at that time more expensive.
Will be screening and barreling this seasons leftovers for next season. May not need to buy any fuel for next season.

 

[tiger]

If were talking future technology, why not...

... simply out-migrate to a warmer planet?

 

[TimfromMA]

... simply out-migrate to a warmer planet?

Or we could just terraform this one.

 

[jss227]

I have fun making methanol for our race truck. I can't give the leftovers away fast enough.

 

[Bioburner]

I can't get straight ethanol here in MN. Only E85 and that's going to be hell to burn in a fireplace or stove. Several nice stoves and fireplaces that burn it but no way going to burn it at $8 quart. E85 was $1.29 gallon yesterday

 

[jss227]

$120 a 55 gallon drum here for methanol. A lot cheaper than race gas. I got bored and made a small device with some copper tubing to make my own for fun. Not cost effective but the byproduct makes my friends happy.

 

[Bridgeman]

We are terraforming this one to a warmer planet. That being said, NH is going to have the coldest February ever recorded and the second in snow accumulation. It was -15 this morning an last year on the same day it was 50. The stash is rapidly getting used up.

 

[Bioburner]

Better get some good steel trash cans with locks. I hear polar bears are hard on garbage cans.

 

[latichever]

If were talking future technology, why not a personal fusion reactor that will heat my home for 10,000 years on a gallon of sea water.

Someone's been there and done that. http://phys.org/news/2013-03-teen-compact-nuclear-reactor.html#jCp

Eighteen-year-old Taylor Wilson has designed a compact nuclear reactor that could one day burn waste from old atomic weapons to power anything from homes and factories to space colonies.

The American teen, who gained fame four years ago after designing a fusion reactor he planned to build in the garage of his family's home, shared his latest endeavor at a TED Conference in southern California on Thursday.

"It's about bringing something old, fission, into the 21st Century," Wilson said. "I think this has huge potential to change the world."

He has designed a small reactor capable of generating 50-100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power as many as 100,000 homes.

The reactor can be made assembly-line style and powered by molten radioactive material from nuclear weapons, Wilson said. The relatively small, modular reactor can be shipped sealed with enough fuel to last for 30 years.

Plus, your choice of pellet mills on eBay. Around $2k and up.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...d+pellet+.TRS0&_nkw=wood+pellet+mill&_sacat=0

 

[Bioburner]

There was a great article on truck transportable nuclear plants that would basically be buried deep to prevent terrorist attack etc. They want to use them for remote towns and villages in Alaska. And as said above the active material would be in the form of glass marbles if my memory serves me right.

 

[SidecarFlip]

The rub with a pellet mill, if you want to call it that is there are 2 types. A a ring extruder and a squeeze type. The ring extruder are commercial units costing upwards of half a million and take serious power, like 200+ to run, not something you can do at home from an extension cord.

The squeeze mill (aka: Chinese pellet mill) is the one on flea bay and elsewhere and they make pellets but not of consistemt length and not quickly, IOW, making pellets probably takes longer than roasting them....... The pellets have to be dried and the feedstock has to be hammermilled prior to pelleting.

I think if I was to really go into bio-diversification, I'd build a round bale stove that took a full round bale at a crack and burned it in a controlled atmosphere and have hot water heat from that. They do it in Eueope, typically a round lasts a week.

What we should do is get about 100 posters or so, form an LLC, pool our funds and buy a pellet making facility complete and offer pellets at cost to the members and sell the balance retail. That way, the investors would have their fuel and we'd make a profit (LLC) for operating expenses, etc., from the retail sales.

I'd throw a couple grand toward that, no issue.

 

[TonyVideo]

I am in for 2k. Next.

 

[Wilbur Feral]

Great concept Flip, but we can't even agree on having an OAK or not (as a group). I can't even imagine a board meeting of that crew...

 

[TonyVideo]

Make that OAK and 2k. I want to be with like minded.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Great concept Flip, but we can't even agree on having an OAK or not (as a group). I can't even imagine a board meeting of that crew...

We'd contract an attorney to draw up the terms and incorporate the holding company as an LLC so everything would be in writing and all the investors would be contractually bound by the agreement. I happen to know of a complete, turnkey plant thats for sale..............

If there was an actual, viable, small pellet machine available that would make uniform pellets for a reasonable cost, I'd be all over it. I generate a couple tons of wood chips every year from my trees on the property. I have about 70 acres of trees total and thats a lot of wind blown down limbs plus take downs from storm damage, almost a full time job keeping the woods in shape (for hunting).

I run the heck out of my pto wood chipper and keep a couple chainsaws busy. I could be hammermilling all that and pelletizing it and have enough for myself and some to sell. Least with the chipper, I've gotten rid of the burn piles for the most part. The really big stuff I cannot chip (8" diameter maximum) so the big stuff gets piled up and if no one comes by and takes it, it gets roasted.

When I was younger, I heated with wood but every year it got progressively harder, you spend all summer cutting, hauling, spltting and stacking for winter and it seems like wood in the house equals bugs in the house, all those sleeping critters come alive in the woodpile in the house. Pellets are simpler and easier to deal with, plus, unlike out east, I have field corn at cheap pricing (for now) and the storage capability for it.

100 participants at 2K each equals 200K which is a reasonable downpayment on a mill of industrial capacity.