Pellet Making Idea?

[Czech]

So this idea has been bugging me for a while, mid summer and I real start tossing it around. We've all seen the cheapy china mills for a few grand and even some really nice homemade mills that work pretty darn good, heck the farmer down the way had a heck of a set up. Challenge with the routine mill is it is a pretty darn big undertaking, pushing saw dust through dies at a huge pressure is daunting and even getting quality raw material is hard these days, and then the dies that need replacing every so often and a drying process to boot. That and a hammer mill to get product processable is some case where dust is not available. So, here it goes, bare with me. And this is not a 100% replacement for a true machine made pellet, more of a supplement to supply like the dog and horse food I burn occasionally and cherry and olive pits and snowy nut shells. So anyone have one of the kitchenaid stand mixers with the attachments to grade stuff like cheese? Basically a conical shaped drum with round sharp cut outs around the sides, by pressing a block of cheese down into the side of the drum you get shredded cheese tumbling out the inside end due to the cone shape. By changing out the drums you can get thicker diameter shreds or thinner, length is controlled by how much pressure you bear down on the block of cheese. So why not one of these on steroids for the larger diameter dry oak branches in the back 40? Heck, it'd be a wood chipper that would make pellet sized shreds of whatever wood you put through it, no hammer mill, no saw dust, just the stuff you're putting through a chipper anyway. Screen it and you're good to go, mix it in with your normal supply. I realize it would not be as compressed as pellets (and therfore not s much btu's) and you may need feed adjustments accordingly, and maybe here is an example where hardwood would make a difference over softwood. But us backyard creative burners need something to use that is less than a few grand and able to process normal yard stuff into burnable sized fuel. So who's up for making the first die, just use the kichenaid one for the idea and blow it up some and make it really tough. I've got a side shaft 12 horse ready to turn it and the dry oak and screen! Thoughts gang? I printed this and sent a copy via snail mail, but I really don't think that matters! I 'd be happy with seeing a working model and getting a discount on the drum part!

 

[nayslayer]

first thing that comes to mind is that they would essentially be wood chips, not pellets. I would think the ask content would be through the roof and when you dried them they would probably curl, causing a log jam in your stove. I'm a newb so who knows, but just what i was thinking

 

[jtakeman]

The biggest reason for using a mill is compression of the fiber. Straight chips probably wont provide the heat of a compressed pellet. Might need to increase amount of fuel feed to stove. Moisture is something else to watch. Pellets are generally under 6% MC. Season wood is usually around 15% or more.

There are some chip feed boilers out there. I'll see if I can find a link to one I was looking at last year.

 

[Czech]

Again guys, not to replace an 8500 btu pellet, but just something to use as a filler and get rid of yard waste and not mortgage the house to do it. Ash would be worse with pellets, more density there, so that would depend on how clean your feed is (a nice dry barkless oak branch should create no more ash than a oak pellet). The spring augers on the Quads are pretty forgiving, the bottom screw augers should push anything, right? So shoulder season yard clean up only.

 

[jtakeman]

I know snowy said her quad and the spring auger didn't like nut shells. Hopefully it will handle the chips for you.

Maybe try mixing with pellets 50/50?

 

[Czech]

I need to make the steroid kitchen aid mixer first! I can see shells being a problem with the Quad, could get pinched and bind. My dad has a chipper than makes pretty small chips, maybe I'll screen some of those and see if a mix feeds and burns for starters. I just keeping thinking to close the circle for many of us would be to process our own fuel during the summer, kind of like cutting wood for the wood burners.

 

[jtakeman]

I know a guy that has his own mill. He has been doing his own pellets from grass clippings and the fall leaves. Leaf pellets produce more heat than the grass pellets so he is blending them 50/50 and then adds 25% wood pellets to the mix. He almost gets enough for the whole winter. But he does burn straight wood pellets during the cold spells for more heat. His fuel cost is less than $500 and half that is the wood pellet cost, Other is fuel to make his own pellets. He figures he will pay for the mill in about 5 to 7 seasons. He's hoping to get his own hammer mill to make his own softwood pellets somewhere down the road. Grass and leaf's contain more ash, So wood is more favorable! I tried them, But I am too spoiled with clean wood pellets, But will burn something like this if pellets get too pricey.

I like what you are up to, But just think the chips alone might not produce enough BTU's. Mixing with some pellets might be the ticket to get by with it. Start with all chips and see how it goes, Add a percentage of wood pellets to raise the BTU as needed. It just might work.

I'll be a watching for your progress!

 

[tjnamtiw]

It's certainly worth a try for early and late season where btu's are not all that important. Your biggest hassle could very well be 'bridging' or blocking across the feed opening at the bottom of the hopper. Go for it! I would think dry, dead limbs fed into my chipper would give some welcome free btu's too.