[Bioconversion] Grass Pellets

Thu Feb 9 21:42:08 EST 2006

Roger,

I think a lot of what you say makes a lot of sense, especially about the 
grain ethanol and large central bio-energy plant concepts, and I think what 
I am offering fits well with what you are saying. I believe in great fuel 
flexibility and distributed/decentralized energy.

I'm working to empower the rural sector from the individual farmer who is 
having a hard time surviving to the small town in farming country that is 
having a hard time surviving.

I want to empower the individual farmer who is scrounging for a way to use 
what he has available to reduce his fuel bills by using some crop residues 
in baled form or some dead trees or tree stumps or even scrap tires he has 
laying around that he wants to use to add heat to his operations where it is 
needed. My tall upright furnace can be picked up with the three point hitch 
on the back of a tractor and moved to a new location on the farm in just a 
few minutes anytime he needs to move it and if he wants to use whole square 
or round bales or pellets or cubes or briquettes or tires or used oil or 
railroad ties or whatever he has he can do it in a simple and 
straightforward manner. To see the kind of system I propose can do this just 
go to www.aaecorp.com .

I also want to empower the small town that is under stress from having to 
import all its energy and having to export all its money to pay for it to do 
essentially the same thing as the farmer in the above situation. That is to 
use trash or biomass from local farming operations to replace energy that it 
has to import. To see the kind of generation system I propose can do this 
when coupled with steam or combustion turbines just go to 
www.aaecorp.com/ceo.html .

I think we all know the head of our government is dedicated to doing the 
bidding of the big energy companies and doesn't give a hoot what he has to 
do to the rest of us in the process.

Les Blevins
AAEC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roger Samson" <rsamson at reap-canada.com>
To: "'Jeff Davis'" <jeff0124 at velocity.net>; 
<bioconversion at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 7:01 PM
Subject: RE: [Bioconversion] Grass Pellets

> Jeff
>
> I am all for diversity but the shotgun approach or multiple stream 
> approach
> to biomass development hasn't work very well to date. Given the emerging
> energy and climate crisis I think we need to do go after what can produce
> the most net energy gain without much subsidy. If we had a few more 
> planets
> and a lot less people I might be more sympathetic to your suggestion.
>
> Many engineers are seduced by the complexity of biorefineries and liquid
> fuels, but the technologists dream is the energy analysts nightmare. 
> Copying
> the fossil fuel energy plant concept is the single biggest mistake. We 
> need
> to largely create a decentralized energy production system with biomass as
> it is a disperse low energy quality resource. The more we do to change it 
> to
> a high quality fuel the worse we do from an energy balance standpoint.
>
> Energy is the currency of sustainability and when you have a mature
> technology that needs a lot of outside currency (subsidies) when oil 
> prices
> are $67 a barrel, it is time to throw in the towel. Corn ethanol as a
> technology should go the way of the 3 stone fire. All annual grains and
> oilseeds should be taken off the Bioenergy roadmap. When you use farmland 
> to
> produce energy you can't due much worse than a grain to ethanol fuel 
> cycle.
>
>
>
> Roger
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bioconversion-bounces at listserv.repp.org
> [mailto:bioconversion-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Davis
> Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 7:19 PM
> To: bioconversion at listserv.repp.org
> Subject: Re: [Bioconversion] Grass Pellets
>
> Dear Roger and Les,
>
> Could it be possible that in the near future that there will be room for
> all of our tools and processes, facilitating the various biomass feedstock
> streams? Many situations need as many tools as possible!
>
> -- 
> Jeff Davis
>
> Some where 20 miles south of Lake Erie, USA
>
>
>
>> Roger & List,
>>
>>> The main advantages of densification are better control on combustion
>>         I'm not suggesting no densification. I'm suggesting the farm 
>> baler
>> densifies the material and this makes it easier to gather from the field
>> and
>> if you can eliminate further densification (as in pelletizing) you can
>> save
>> not only the time it takes to handle the material again but also the cost
>> of
>> the pelletizing equipment and the energy cost of pelletizing. I believe
>> the
>> baler densifies at the rate of around 10 to 1 and you pretty much have to
>> do
>> that anyway.
>>
>>         My furnace can be manually stoked with bales or can be
>> automatically
>> stoked with bales, can be equipped with an auger feeder that can feed any
>> size material such as sawdust, wood shavings, corn cobs, aspirin or 
>> larger
>> sized pellets, cigar shaped pellets, beverage can size cubes, or 48 oz.
>> juice can sized logs. It can also burn rolled up newspapers, scrap wood,
>> tree trimmings, waste oil, scrap tires, railroad ties etc. It doesn't 
>> have
>> a
>> pot, doesn't generate clinkers, stays outside and can heat the whole
>> house,
>> household water supply, greenhouse, poultryhouse, swinehouse, shop,
>> furrowing house etc. I can put two big bags of Christmas present 
>> wrappings
>> in it and then turn around and put the whole Christmas tree in it with 
>> its
>> one use decorations still on it. As I said it doesn't use a pot, only the
>> burner/grate I designed and made myself and it doesn't ever need 
>> cleaning.
>>
>>> (less emissions and better efficiencies), ease of feedstock handling,
>>> and
>>> less storage requirements.
>>
>>         These attributes are of course more important in the city than 
>> out
>> in the countryside. I can store wood and so on beside the furnace and 
>> just
>> throw a plastic tarp over it to keep it dry. I also look forward to the
>> day
>> when I get a complaint that my furnace is too efficient for someone who 
>> is
>> getting paid to take the fuel for it.
>>
>>             Sam; Say Blevins your furnace is too damn efficient for my
>> liking.
>>             Me;  How's that Sam?
>>             Sam: Well I'm getting paid by the ton to take this wood waste
>> fuel off of this guys hands because he can't
>>              get rid of it without taking it to the landfill and they
>> don't
>> want it any longer so he pays me to take it off his
>>              hands.
>>             Me:  So?
>>             Sam; So I'm gettin ten dollars a ton to take it but your
>> furnace
>> is so damn efficient I can't burn more than
>>                     about two tons per week. Do you suppose if I take the
>> insulation off of your furnace it would cut the
>>                     efficiency down to where I can burn mebbe three tons 
>> a
>> week?
>>
>>> Risk of fire is a major issue with bulk herbaceous materials.
>>         I haven't had my fuel supply spontaneously catch fire yet.
>>
>>> The energy costs associated with densification are modest.
>>         What about the other costs? How much does a pelletmill cost? 
>> Where
>> does one put it? How much is the
>>          maintenance on it? Is there any chance it might catch on fire?
>>
>> Ending here
>>
>> Les Blevins
>> AAEC
>> www.aaecorp.com
>>
>
>
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