Corn drying
(Continued from Page C2O)
adapted a pickup truck to experimentally,
wood-gas and operated it DeKalb’s interest in
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utilizing corn cobs as fuel
has resulted m a production
size cob gasifier at Water
man, and others are planned
for construction soon at
other seed plants the com
pany operates. Early test
runs indicate that the system
works well, and that cobs
make excellent fuel.
Cobs contain about 7200
BTU’s per pound compared
io 8800 from oak. While
considerable research has
been done to refine wood
gasification techniques,
DeKalb’s gasifier is one of
the first successful designs
using cobs.
Chuck Lindhart, seed
operations manager for
DeKalb, explains the cobs
are not burned for heat
directly because such a
system would require very
large equipment.
Also, a heat exchanger
would be needed, because
heat coming off burning cobs
is not clean enough for direct
use. Using a heat exchanger
would reduce usable heat by
about 30 percent, and the
total loss of energy through
direct combustion would be
50 percent.
According to Lindhart, the
cost of drying seed com with
cob-gas is considerably less
than when burning propane,
even at today’s prices.
Comparing the two fuels,
propane’s cost (at 50 cents a
gallon), using a drying
system already installed and
paid for, is 56.6 cents per
bushel of seed com dried.
Drying with the cob
gasification system, in
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eluding capital outlay ex
penses, will be only 28.6
cents per bushel.
The technology of com cob
gasification is simple.
The cobs are “burned”
(pyrolosis) in a limited
oxygen environment which
produces a gas. A small
amount of ash remains. The
gas is burned, and the
resulting heat is mixed with
outside air.
The warm air, 110°F., is
forced by a fan through the
seed com ears to be dried.
The seed drying process
dries the cobs as well as the
gram, and then the cobs are
ready for use as fuel.
The process is somewhat
similar to making charcoal,
says Lindhart. In com
parison to natural and LP
gases, the gas from corncob
gasification is low grade,
containing only a fraction of
the BTU’s per cubic foot.
The gasification chamber
m the Waterman system is a
hopper-bottom box about
four feet square and made of
heavy sheet steel, and lined
with refactory.
The problem of tar
buildup, normal m cob
gasification, has been
overcome. As shown in the
drawing, the burning gas
enters a combustion
chamber. There, it swirls m
a cyclone fashion, providing
a long dwell time so that
most particulate is burned.
According to Lmdhart, a
land of “perpetual motion”
exists when drying seed com
with cob gasification.
“There are about enough
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cobs in the crop to dry the
crop,” he explains. “When
we get rolling we will pur
chase very little propane or
natural gas.”
The company is con
cerned, he explains, about
supply interruption of
petroleum-based fuels,
especially during the drying
season. “Seed com won’t
wait until they turn your fuel
supply back on,” he says.
Another reason for using
cobs is to help conserve
exhaustible supplies of fossil
fuels. A third reason for the
conservative measure is to
save money. The long-range
economics of cob
State urges farmers
to set fuel supplies
HARRISBURG - Penn
sylvania Agriculture
Secretary Penrose Hallowell
today urged the state’s
farmers to establish regular
sources of supply for
gasoline and diesel fuel
purchases. He said that this
was important to protect fuel
supplies in the event that the
Department of Energy
would change the base year
for making farm fuel
allocations.
“When the gasoline crisis
struck m 1979, many farmers
faced irregular supplies and
shortages from their regular
dealers. To supplement farm
fuel needs, farmers often
turned to purchasing needed
fuel at the curb,” Hallowed
said. “Farmers who have
continued to purchased fuel
supplies at the curb may find
themselves on the short end
of allocations if a new base
year is selected.”
Hallowed said, “I would
urge any farmers who stid
are purchasing gasoline or
diesel fuels for farm use at
the curb to return to their
major suppliers without
delay to protect themselves
against changes in the base
For Information, Contact:
C.M. DAVID
400 N. Race St.
Richland, PA 17087
717-866-7588 (Call
717-272-8580 Collect)
-OR
HAROLD C. FOSTER
80x96A
Star Route
Huntingdon, PA 16652
814-643-0248
(Call Collect)
gasification are very
favorable, he says.
“It will take several com
cob gasifiers to provide all
the heat needed at this plant
if we convert completely,”
explains Lindhart.
He adds that cob
gasification may be adap
table to on-farm use in
drying feed com and possily
other crops. The challenge is
to develop a system for
saving the cobs as they leave
the combine.
“I know of no farmers
domg cob gasification,” says
Lindhart. “But it certainly
has long-range potential.”
year or the farm allocation
procedure.
“Pennsylvania's family
farms rely heavily on
gasoline and diesel fuels,”
Hallowell said. “Right now
farmers are receiving
allocations at 100 percent of
use for the 1977 crop year but
we cannot expect this
system to continue in
definitely . Any interruption
in the farm fuel supply at
any stage of production
could prove to be
economically disastrous.”
Hallowell said that
petroleum-based fuel con
sumption on Pennsylvania
farms totaled more than 120
million gallons in 1977. At
least 60 percent of gasoline
used on farms that year wait
into dairy enterprises and
production of com and
forage crops which support
the dairy industry.
) have a
nice weekend...
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Mm lttl 'W KH Uff
ftk ** Uff tw BH
I
Cslovernorv)
energy r*«ourc* cantws
458-8011
, p o box 24, uwchland, pa 19480