This may be a question for the boilers but its a wood question...does anyone burn hog fuel? The term was recently discovered searching the contents of pressure-created fire logs that have no wax binders.
Yeah it sure does come to mind with that! Its actually wood that is classified differently because its a variation of cut. If you look at it, you can see that its not chipping or bark or the saw dust consistency.
You'll see this stuff next to a mill or maybe in a horse stable. I inquired what it might be used for and its often used to power mill boilers. They'll use this fuel with natural gas and burn it in a boiler to get rid of it and possible to make electricity or run a certain machinery. The moisture content is often 35-65 percent.
You won't see that in a horse stable unless it's a whole lot drier than that. I'm assuming you mean that it's used as stall bedding..................that stuff at the moisture % you say it is wouldn't be good for bedding.
Yeah likely if it was just dry or maybe used as cushioning but I was figuring the moisture content was acceptable for the boilers but anyone could likely burn this if they had a way to drop it in without some blowback and be able to dry it out on a tarp at least. Otherwise it's likely to become mulch.
Ya they burn it in boilers at lumber mills to help produce heat and steam to dry the lumber in the dry kilns. I dont claim to be an expert on residential owb's , but i dont think green hog fuel would really be the ticket for a homeowner.
I buy it for my chicken coop by the yard. It's just waste wood (Stumps,tops, etc.) after being run through a tub grinder. It's nice because it is cheap and doesn't fly out of the pickup bed on the way home! Like most wood chip products it is too wet to use as a fuel unless your equipment is big enough to also dry the chips before burning it. In other words, a shovel of hog fuel onto a firebox would snuff the fire. Pretty cheap like 13$ per cubic yard when buying one at a time. Landscape bark mulch is way over twice that.
No I don't reckon green would but perhaps seasoned to a point? I mean I could only see it done if someone had massive amounts of it, space to dry it and a machine to keep it moving. A mountain of it and you use a tractor with a loader or trailer and he dumps that for the night burn and gets maximum coverage.
That's what they said, its not landscape bark but can be something used like that. The part about using this as landscape stuff is it turns grey after a while.
Don't even know if it is available around here but I would not burn it or even attempt to burn it. In the early 80's, (or so) worked night shift using that type of junk as fuel and it was always a chore to keep the boiler pressure up. Always wondered why the stuff didn't combust spontaneously with all the heat coming out of it before I had to drag it down to the feed chain!
Exactly. I experienced something like that earlier. Last week I asked a landscape business that was going out of business (found out 2 days ago) if I could have their logs out in their pile. Consisting of grass clippings and chips I pulled some out and these logs were extremely warm. You might as well have put them on the stove at full boil! Luckily pulled them out at the right time to cool but the thermal reaction of decomposition is quick.
I'd love to get a tandem load of that stuff every year for my gardens. Cheaper than wood chips or bark mulch, but it's not easy to find in my area. I'm guessing the term loosely refers to the end product coming out of a large recycling grinder, which is also called a "horizontal hog" in the industry. Same stuff would come from a tub grinder too. It's more 'shredded' than 'chipped'.
I have talked about this stuff before on here, but I call it by a different name: Bio-Mass. Same stuff; we use the terms bio-mass and hog-fuel interchangeably. On commercial boilers you have the option of buying boilers that can burn this stuff, or "clean chips". Most burn clean chips like our local school. It is a big place, per-kingergaden to 12th grade and has about 2000 kids or so, and when they built the new 52 million dollar school they said the heating costs were down 50% over oil. They even put pex tubing in the sidewalks and melt the snow off that way. However with all the smart boards and electronic gadgets, the electric bill was twice what it was.
You certainly have a good way of explaining how this is. Normally when I see biomass Im thinking of those wood or paper mulch briquettes. Its a product made from waste, not much process to it and its still a very efficient item. Cheap to make and use. Most would not do this as a feasible fuel unless they had A Lot of it. If they do, then they are reaping benefits like this school. Energy is in many different forms and if we can use it that way, it would be great if we could power our schools more with wood products. They are plentiful and you speaking of your market, there is a market for this. Just someone needs to create a feasible reliable way to make it happen. Of course its not easy but we seem to substitute too much ease or convenience over efficiency. Theres so much waste product that is wood that would be better off reduced as a char than in a landfill that doesn't incorporate renewables. Just sit there forever. The feasible plan? Not many see this as one.
