Wood gasifier in Germany | References

Organic farmer benefits from heat & electricity from wood chips

Organic farmer Josef Braun from Bavaria’s Freising district is one of the first to operate a Spanner biomass CHP with an output of 30 kW_el and 80 kW_th. Josef "Sepp" Braun harms 57 hectares of land to produce feed for 22 dairy cows through organic farming. The 85,000 litres of milk are processed at his own cheese dairy, and sold at the farm shop. The heat from the biomass CHP is used to dry 25 hectares of clover, while the electricity is fed into the public grid.

Wood chips for energy generation come from nearby forests

To operate the system for 5,000 hours a year, Josef Braun needs an annual volume of between 600 and 700 cubic metres of woodchips, some of which he produces himself or gets delivered from nearby forests.

Wood chip drying:

The wood chips are spread over a sloping surface in a so-called sloping floor dryer, and dried from the bottom up with hot air. Wood chips which still have not dried are moved back to the top using a front-end loader, while dry wood chips are sent to the warehouse or Biomass CHP.

Technical data of wood gasifier reference:

• System: Spanner HKA 30 biomass CHP
• Output: 30 kW_el and 80 kW_th
• Start-up: April 2009
• Annual operating time: 5,000 operating hours
• Woodchip consumption: 600 to 700 cubic metres
• Wood chip source: Nearby farmers & lumberjacks, partly in-house production

Gallery: (Click to enlarge)