Wednesday’s Wayne Conservation District meeting included talk of a mobile pelletizer proto-type.
The mobile machine would convert switch grass into a heating source. “It’s a new energy source. Instead of wood, switch grass is a perennial grass. It grows back every year, highly productive,” said Wayne Conservation District Manager Bob Muller.
Muller, a member of the Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation and Development Council, recently visited a farm in Columbia County for a proto-type demonstration. He says the Indiana-based engineering firm, name not disclosed, is one of the first companies to come forward with a prototype that actually works. Muller says they’re hoping to enter into a contract with the company in the coming three weeks. Council will be using an energy harvest grant they secured for development of a mobile pelletizer.
Muller says it’s exciting news. “Instead of taking the raw product to a central location, we’re able to take the processing system to the farm ...They could produce energy on their farm, fairly reasonable,” he said. Muller says if a farmer were to plant even a couple of acres of switch grass, it would provide enough fuel for his home. Farmers could also sell what they didn’t need for extra profit.
Muller said there’s a company in China that actually made a mobile palletizing unit, not just a proto-type, but the output is extremely low, just a couple hundred pounds (of pellets) per hour. “Our goal in this project is to get one ton per hour— 2000 pounds per hour — significantly more,” he said.
The proto-type is a scaled-down model, Muller said. He said the actual unit would need to be towed by a one-ton truck.
