Briquette maker for wood chip.

redzerologhlen

Just wondering did any of ye ever hear of or see one of these. Was talking to a man there the other day who had cut a lot of light hazel for the burren life scheme. Instead of burning the bushes now he is going chipping it. Its really dry clean stuff and just a small bit coarser than calf crunch. First thing I thought actually is that it would be great bedding for cattle but I have no doubt it would be great firing if you could put it into the form of a briquette and the amount he has to do is going to fill 2 bays on the lean-to of a hay shed. Would I be right in assuming a machine to do this would be very expensive. Would be a shame to just let it rot considering the price of fuel.

sh1tstirrer

Around €2000-€20,000 depending on output. Not an investment for 2 bays of woodchip.

redzerologhlen

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Around €2000-€20,000 depending on output. Not an investment for 2 bays of woodchip.

I know but we were just talking about it and I have never seen the machine that does it. The same man has a hundred of acres of hazel standing all the time and is always cutting a bit away when times are quite but was just wondering if there was even a machine that could do it with that kind of chip. Its a shame to be letting them rot on the land if it could be put to some use if you get me. Just doing a bit of research on them out of interest more than anything at the moment.

sh1tstirrer

Thats a different story if he has a constant supply it would be worth looking into. here is a sample of a few machines. http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/wood-chip-briquette-making-machine.html

reilig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bj4NsfmYE8&feature=related

I've a neighbour with a joinery with one quite similar to the above. He paid €1500 for it secon hand about 4 years ago. He makes briquettes from the sawdust and shavings for his own use and they fully heat his house.

Any wood that would go into them would need to be extremely dry as it will not dry once briquetted. If unseasoned material is used, you will have smouldering blocks of crap.

A smaller operation is one of these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrFI7OyKDoo&feature=related

Can't testify to its ability though!

redzerologhlen

reilig wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bj4NsfmYE8&feature=related

I've a neighbour with a joinery with one quite similar to the above. He paid €1500 for it secon hand about 4 years ago. He makes briquettes from the sawdust and shavings for his own use and they fully heat his house.

Any wood that would go into them would need to be extremely dry as it will not dry once briquetted. If unseasoned material is used, you will have smouldering blocks of crap.

A smaller operation is one of these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrFI7OyKDoo&feature=related

Can't testify to its ability though!

Thanks reilig. The chips are plenty dry as the timber has all been cut since last year. Hazel is a fairly hard wood anyway so its easy enough to dry. He has been filling those small white plastic shopping bags with the chip and burning it in his stove and there is fairly good heat off and it flames up it so it must be pretty dry. I would be a bit concerned about how it would bind together in a briquette. Like I said it would be a small bit coarser than calf crunch and there isint much dust in it. Its a fairly clean kind of a chip. Would love to try out a few bags of it in one of those machines and see how it works though. The hazel has to be cut for this scheme anyway because the burren is getting taken over by it but when you hear of people planting willow to chip it I would imagine there must be some use for it rather than letting it rot into the land. I would imagine it would be better firing than willow too.

reilig

redzerologhlen wrote: »

Thanks reilig. The chips are plenty dry as the timber has all been cut since last year. Hazel is a fairly hard wood anyway so its easy enough to dry. He has been filling those small white plastic shopping bags with the chip and burning it in his stove and there is fairly good heat off and it flames up it so it must be pretty dry. I would be a bit concerned about how it would bind together in a briquette. Like I said it would be a small bit coarser than calf crunch and there isint much dust in it. Its a fairly clean kind of a chip. Would love to try out a few bags of it in one of those machines and see how it works though. The hazel has to be cut for this scheme anyway because the burren is getting taken over by it but when you hear of people planting willow to chip it I would imagine there must be some use for it rather than letting it rot into the land. I would imagine it would be better firing than willow too.

The pressure the machine creates when pushing out the log creates heat. This binds the material in the log together. It will bind pretty much any dry material (except really dusty stuff). Sawdust from saws works fine in it.

redzerologhlen

Heres a picture of the chip

Oldtree

have a look here for some ideas on video from these innovative people:

http://wn.com/Homemade_small_briquette_press

watch a couple of the videos and I'm sure you'll come up with your own design that wont cost €1500, fantastic

what I'd like to do is connect one of these to a pto shaft!

GY A1

there was a similar thread recently on saw dust briquetting, http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056353668

most of these industrial briquetters seem to be for saw dust or very small shavings, would you have to re-chip or grind your chips smaller or have you came across any that can take wood chip straight.

redzerologhlen wrote: »

Just wondering did any of ye ever hear of or see one of these. Was talking to a man there the other day who had cut a lot of light hazel for the burren life scheme. Instead of burning the bushes now he is going chipping it. Its really dry clean stuff and just a small bit coarser than calf crunch. First thing I thought actually is that it would be great bedding for cattle but I have no doubt it would be great firing if you could put it into the form of a briquette and the amount he has to do is going to fill 2 bays on the lean-to of a hay shed. Would I be right in assuming a machine to do this would be very expensive. Would be a shame to just let it rot considering the price of fuel.

GY A1

i have wood chip which is slightly bigger than yours down to dust, i put some in a plastic bag a few times into my stove and i found that it spread out and smothered the flame. this resulted in a lot of smouldering smoke which has the risk of a smoke gas explosion in the stove when the smoke eventually ignites :eek:

making it into briquets would be better and safer

may2001

What diameter is the material being harvested?

It would not seem to make sense to spend money and energy chipping a material and then trying to put it back together again in the form of a briquette. I would have thought that it would make more sense to chop it into lengths which can be mixed with normal logs in a fire or stove.

redzerologhlen wrote: »

Just wondering did any of ye ever hear of or see one of these. Was talking to a man there the other day who had cut a lot of light hazel for the burren life scheme. Instead of burning the bushes now he is going chipping it. Its really dry clean stuff and just a small bit coarser than calf crunch. First thing I thought actually is that it would be great bedding for cattle but I have no doubt it would be great firing if you could put it into the form of a briquette and the amount he has to do is going to fill 2 bays on the lean-to of a hay shed. Would I be right in assuming a machine to do this would be very expensive. Would be a shame to just let it rot considering the price of fuel.

redzerologhlen

may2001 wrote: »

What diameter is the material being harvested?

It would not seem to make sense to spend money and energy chipping a material and then trying to put it back together again in the form of a briquette. I would have thought that it would make more sense to chop it into lengths which can be mixed with normal logs in a fire or stove.

Most of it would be from about an inch down, Kindling really, too small for firewood.

redzerologhlen

GY A1 wrote: »

there was a similar thread recently on saw dust briquetting, http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056353668

most of these industrial briquetters seem to be for saw dust or very small shavings, would you have to re-chip or grind your chips smaller or have you came across any that can take wood chip straight.

To be honest I dont know, Thats why I asked here. I know its a subject not too many people would know about but you would never know. Someone on here usually knows something!!

redzerologhlen

GY A1 wrote: »

i have wood chip which is slightly bigger than yours down to dust, i put some in a plastic bag a few times into my stove and i found that it spread out and smothered the flame. this resulted in a lot of smouldering smoke which has the risk of a smoke gas explosion in the stove when the smoke eventually ignites :eek:

making it into briquets would be better and safer

Agree 100%

djmc

Buy a wood chip boiler and burn it the way it is some cheap second hand ones on done deal from time to time
I brought one in 2006 and never looked back burned wood chip for 2 years
last year and this im burning wheat and barley

reilig

redzerologhlen wrote: »

To be honest I dont know, Thats why I asked here. I know its a subject not too many people would know about but you would never know. Someone on here usually knows something!!

The briquette press that my neighbour has would have no problem with the size of chip shown in the picture.

Ford4000

Oldtree wrote: »

have a look here for some ideas on video from these innovative people:

http://wn.com/Homemade_small_briquette_press

watch a couple of the videos and I'm sure you'll come up with your own design that wont cost €1500, fantastic

what I'd like to do is connect one of these to a pto shaft!

Certainly wouldnt be hard to design a hydraulic one !!!!!

GY A1

hello
any update on the briquetting or using the wood chip