Biomass?

[1bush2hog]

We had a biomass (pellet) manufacturer go belly up right in my neck of the woods. I think machine breakdowns and trucking costs sank them. I've seen a few plants for sell. The concept is fine but it is also competing with relatively cheap natural gas in my areas.

I would love to find a way to turn our cedar trees into cost-effective biomass for fuel but Texas already has relatively cheap energy and very few rail lines to make transport economical. I talked to some engineers from Europe who were going to invest in biomass burning powerplants but they too were looking at expensive trucking costs to get the fuel to the plants.

Not sure how big your cedars are but there may be a better market for that product

 

[Rustyiron]

Way up here there is a market for chips for a lot of building heating, schools etc. as well as electrical generation. From what I hear, there's not a lot of money in it but still selling what is basically waste anyway (after the slasher) and after fuel it will put a few bucks in your pocket.

 

[redprospector]

Biomass, Hahaha.
They've been talking biomass here for years. We don't have access to natural gas in our community, so we have to use propane.
The Forest Service has been talking about heating public, and commercial buildings with biomass. They were really pushing people to go that way. The US Forest Service built a new 3+ million dollar facility here in my community, and another one just like it 20 miles away. What are they heated with? If you guessed biomass you would be wrong. They chose propane & electricity to heat their buildings.
They did this after telling the school board that their new school building should be totally heated with biomass. Which is also heated with propane & electricity.

Andy

 

[Rustyiron]

Sounds like "shovel ready" make work BS. Typ govt. spending.

 

[MarkV]

There is some biomass being used here. This is pulp wood country and the pulp mill now buys chips to run there plant. They get credits against the pollution the plant puts out by burning the chips to produce energy. We had 70 acres logged last year and the loggers run a chipper for all the slash to sell to the mill. We didn't get anything from the sale of the chips but were left with a very clean logging site.

MarkV

 

[creekbend]

Most of the loggers around here chip up all the branches and debris and sell them to Paper Mills in SC and Ga. The prices for the chips bring the same price as the pulpwood. Utilizing this technique, most definitely, aids in the clearing process.

 

[ShearHeadMS]

Still looking into this biomass stuff, the company down the street is one of the biggest chipping company's in MS, looks like ill be getting a lot of competition if I try to get into mulching and chipping, but these guys don't have a lot of good employees and they are new to mulching, so I might live after all