Tales from the Wild Wood

Just watched an episode of this, chap managing an overgrown woodland near to Chitting Kaz.

Thing that grabbed me was some guys who have developed an oven that drives the moisture out of the wood by kilning it for 8 hours.

Most firewood has 25% water in it, they got it down to 1 to 2 %, the resulting fuel is much lighter to transport & gives of a far better calorific value when burnt.

Hazel normally burns at 200c, after drying it can burn upto 400c. practically smokless too.

Now i'd be interested in that.

 

It was waste wood from the woods they were coppicing, the kiln was mobile, resembled a small steam train.

If it means they can make fuel from woodland that is otherwise abandoned, yes, its worth doing.

They are managing & coppicing the woods so it will bring it back into sustainable use, good for the trees, wildlife & us.

 

I did some research into this a while ago. I'm not claiming to be an expert, but here's some of what I picked up.

Apparently when you burn wood, much of the ethanol is lost, just carried away in the smoke and steam before it gets chance to burn.

I saw a charcoal making oven design where wood clippings go into an outer chamber surrounding an inner chamber that is effectively just a drum with a sealed top and a hole in the bottom. No oxygen can get into the inner drum, because the only hole is at the bottom, so any oxygen would have to pass through the burning fuel in the outer chamber, so it would get burnt off on the way. The heat generated in the inner chamber is enough to break down the chemical bonds on the wood (or any organic matter) in the inner chamber, so that ethanol is released. Having nowhere else to go, and now under pressure (because of expansion of gases due to the heat), the ethanol then comes out of the hole in the inner chamber, fuelling the burn in the outer chamber, thus sustaining the process. When it dies out naturally, the inner chamber is just charcoal, to be used as clean solid fuel.

 

Cool Dave or should I say Hot?

The guys that were doing this have been managing woodlands for a quarter of a century. They realised 2 things.

Fossil fuels are only going to go up in price.

You can't saturate the market with pea sticks & hurdles.

We used to fuel the country with woodland products, with fossil fuels running out, we will have to do it again.

This product is about the most efficient sustainable fuel available. I'm interested, should GC be clubbing together & buying some woodlands?

 

Its just a drying kiln in the woods, the ash from it goes back to the woodland floor and provides nutrients. probably cook your lunch on it too.

There are so many other countryside activities that involve burning stuff that won't get used.

 

I don't know if you're joking or not, but I'm listening.

 

For once I was being serious,

http://www.woodlands.co.uk/

Prices for fuel will only go up, can't see a headine that says "Massive new oil field found, petrol will be too cheap to meter" coming up any time soon.

Even if we bought some woodlands now, there are already groups out there that will help to manage them to bring them back to sustainable production. This takes time but once they are up and running we will have the power houses of the future.

You might say i'm mad, but some Skandinavian countries have already got this up and running.

 

Needs some thinking about.

 

what woodlands was that then Zigs ?

 

We'd need a man in a Caravan to stay on site and look after it! Any volunteers?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01nj48s/Tales_from_the_Wild_Wood_Episode_2/

 

Don't forget it will be free of tax