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Dear Designer Makers
I was talking to Matthew Collins last Friday about converting his wood
waste into fuel, and he suggested that I contact you because he thought that
many of you may have a similar problem to his own - disposing of your wood dust,
saw chips and shavings.
The waste can be mechanically compressed (without any additives or binders)
into briquettes which can be used for fuel on wood burning stoves and cookers;
in wood fuelled boilers; on barbeques and in chimineas.
We are in touch with a number of organisations who all report that, with
the steep rise in oil prices and increasing awareness and concern about global
warming, there is a growing interest in fuel from sustainable sources.
Just to give you one example:-
Matthew Woodcock, Forestry Commission - South east England Conservancy is
proposing to organise a "Firewood Campaign" in which he hopes to make the public
more aware of wood as a fuel, and also to compile a list of all the people in
local areas who can supply wood fuel in whatever form, e.g. low grade wood,
off-cuts, briquettes etc.
He would also intend to highlight the benefits of using wood for
fuel:-
~ As well as being carbon neutral (which all wood is) when burned, the
kiln-dried timbers which you use have a much lower moisture content than normal
timber.
~ This in turn means that the timber is much more suitable for
converting to briquettes rather than converting to pellets, which requires wood
with a higher moisture content.
~ A properly formed briquette is often as dense, or denser, than the parent
wood. This is especially true of the softwoods from which most firewood
comes.
~ The dryness and higher density of a briquette means it has a higher
calorific value.
E.G. If "normal firewood" has a value of 10 KJ/kg,
the value for a hardwood briquette would be about 18 KJ/kg.
By way of an introduction of ourselves, and although I doubt that we
qualify as members of DMOU, we have many similarities with yourselves.
We are a small, innovative, family run engineering company who design and
make bespoke engineering equipment in our own workshop.
Recently we successfully designed a briquetting machine for a small company
who are manufacturing oak products and, because other SME's around them
have shown serious interest in the equipment we thought, with encouragement from
Matthew (Collins), that it could be something which would be helpful to others
of you in a similar situation so that, rather than pay land-fill charges, you
may be able to develop a small revenue stream.
I would like to send each of you some more detailed information in the hope
that you may find it helpful.
If you receive this e-mail but do not receive any information in the next
few days, it is because I don't have a correct postal address.
Therefore if you think the concept may be of interest, please e-mail me
with your contact details.
Many thanks
Terry |