[Gasification] making wood pellets

[gasman]

Second message:


Sorry, Mark!

You are obviously meaning 30 mm, not ~1' logs, as for big stoves?

Max

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Ludlow" <mark at ludlow.com>
To: "'Jeff Davis'" <jeff0124 at velocity.net>; <gasification at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 7:16 AM
Subject: Re: [Gasification] making wood pellets


> Jeff and List:
> 
> It seems as though the production of suitable gasifier feedstock may be one
> of the core criteria of successful gasifier operation from woody feedstocks.
> (Forgive me for stating the obvious!) Most of the methods of consolidation
> into forms that do not bridge upon feeding and form suitable char beds upon
> gasification that have been discussed on this list seem energy (and
> capital!) intensive in themselves.
> 
> Straw and sawdust can be pelletized with a 'California Mill' type of
> machine, but not a great rates-per-horsepower of shaft power. Small blocks
> of wood are hard to create; the mechanical properties of wood that make it
> so valuable as a construction material also make it difficult to shear,
> split and compress.
> 
> It made be appropriate to revisit the fundamental assumptions of gasifier
> designs that specify a tightly regulated form factor for feed. Energy spent
> chopping logs into 30cm chunks is not conserved.
> 
> Mark
>