[Terrapreta] Niels Bech's flash pyrolysis

[Tom Miles]

Jeff,

The sawmill is a good analogy. We designed the Mighty Mite portable sawmill
in the 1960s.
http://www.mightymitesawmills.com/
It consists of a frame with a moving saw. It wasn't the first of its kind
and there are many more like it today but it is a good design based on a
good concept and there are hundreds of Mighty Mites in operation around the
world. The purpose of the mill was to take round packages of biomass - logs
- and convert them into higher value rectangular pieces. They were well
designed, expensive but affordable, reliable, and make a good wood product.

The manufacturer asked us to take their basic patented concept and design a
new mill that was different from their prototype. We knew the domestic and
overseas applications very well. Using high quality engineered components we
were able to meet their weight and modularity requirements and our own cost
and production goals. ($1/1000 board ft/day, 10,000 bf/day, $10,000/mill).
We designed different models for different applications. We designed the
mill so that it could be moved from place to place. The heaviest piece of
the early mills was designed to be carried by two small men. One of the
early models operated in Vietnam for several years during the war. We also
designed the mill so that it could be operated by two men - one loading logs
and the second running the mill. In developing countries many more people
are often employed for cultural, social and economic reasons. 

After the first five years when the manufacturer had built about 60 mills we
found that many of the mills were not moved from site to site but were
placed so that they could be fed logs for several months. They became
semi-permanent or permanent installations. I see many today in permanent
installations. While the initial attraction was portability the main benefit
was modularity. It is a prefabricated module that can be purchased and
installed easily. But it's a rugged production machine. It most cases the
heavier models are used in situations where the value of the product
justifies the expense of the mill.  

Take the analogy to making biochar. I believe that if any of the companies
producing biochar technologies can build a process that has high reliability
and can benefit from modularity it is likely that the modular system will
find a permanent home. But the value of the product has to justify the
investment.

Back to the sawmill. There are about 85 different models of portable
sawmills on the market. You can find dozens of ads on the internet, in trade
magazines, and rural newspapers. Many are priced and built for the
entertainment of the owner. They are used by rural dwellers to cut a few
logs a year. They are not used very many hours per year and they are
designed and manufactured for low use. They are "justified" by values to the
owner that are not often monetized.

So there may be two markets for modular pyrolyzers - production and
entertainment. The challenge for system manufacturers will be to find the
balance between design, construction and cost that will meet the needs of
the market. That will be more difficult for a charcoal machine than for a
sawmill because the process is more complex and the value of the end product
is lower. 

See some suppliers at: http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/company


Tom Miles
        

  

 


-----Original Message-----
From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Davis
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2007 8:33 PM
To: 'terra preta'
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Niels Bech's flash pyrolysis

Tom wrote:
> We've seen various mobile cubers and briquetters. The ones that survive
>grow "roots" and are operated in a stationery mode. Even at the small
scale
> it's all about operating efficiently.  It costs money to move around.

Same goes for sawmills. I would never want to move my mill around. But it
is nice to have the option to reconfigure your set up. Roots but not too
deep.


Jeff





-- 
Jeff Davis

Some where 20 miles south of Lake Erie, USA

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