compressed sawdust charcoal

[topknot]

Years ago i worked in a timber yard, they had a sawdust burner like the greenheart two fills a day packed tight with sawdust and shaving from the plainer and the workshop was warm all day,
and a kettle on top for drinks.

 

[demographic]

After reading this thread last year, I got a paper briquette maker for my birthday in September and have been religiously making briquettes from all our scrap paper since then.

I started just soaking it all, but after a while it seemed easier to make up briquettes that would stick together if I shredded the paper first where possible. I finally got around to burning some yesterday (takes a long time for them to dry out over the Autumn /Winter).

Overall, I was a bit disappointed with the results of this first attempt. The briquettes didn't seem to be self-sustaining. I had got the fire going with wood, but after adding three briquettes, the fire gradually faded away, though it took some time to do so. The briquettes didn't really burn, mainly just glowed, and they did leave a lot of paper ash by the morning, although they had charred all the way through to their centres.

I'm wondering whether I need to be more selective over the paper I use for the briquettes. I chucked in everything, primarily junk mail and envelopes, and I'm wondering whether all this coloured printed paper isn't too good for burning. I think I need to do a bit more experimentation with the composition of the briquettes, although one of the aims of the briquette maker is supposed to be to let you make a good use of junk mail, which is the biggest constituent of our paper waste.

Anybody else done much on this?



Geoff

Pretty sure it will be the glossy paper that knackers the job up, if I remember right its got Kaolin clay in it.

Its a bad job when junk mail paper won't even heat your house isn't it

 

[Toddy]

Hadn't thought about the kaolin, but it seems awfully likely.

How about adding a small amount of Saltpetre to the paper mash? That's what is used to make charcoal discs fire through. It's easily bought, sausagemakers sell it in small quantities that would work for a trial.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[demographic]

Hadn't thought about the kaolin, but it seems awfully likely.

How about adding a small amount of Saltpetre to the paper mash? That's what is used to make charcoal discs fire through. It's easily bought, sausagemakers sell it in small quantities that would work for a trial.

cheers,
Toddy

Have just hit Google with the keywords of *kaolin clay glossy paper* and theres some research into how radioactive Playboy magazine is due to its Kaolin (and therefore uranium and thorium) content.


The link is worksafe by the way and doesn't contain any naked ladies

Tickled me anyway.

<Edit> I forgot to add that I doubt the saltpeter will make much difference to the amount of ash that the glossy paper leaves, Its just an oxidising agent and helps the carbon burn but the clay will stay on the fire and clog it up.
As a kid we always used the Yellow pages to make fuses and never Cosmopolitan

 

[Toadflax]

Thanks for the latest ideas.

Latest plan is to try and just briquette with selected paper. We have green box recycling, so all the coloured, non-personal stuff just goes into that and I'm shredding all personal paperwork and adding the free newspapers. Going to be some weeks before I get any dry briquettes from this, though, by which time we may well be past open fires until next winter. Briquettes ought to be able to take card, but it needs to be torn /shredded and that's a lot of work for the return, so card just goes into the recycling bin.


Geoff