Miscanthus - Biomass, briquettes and BBQs

I wouldn’t describe myself as an eco-warrior, in fact far from it. But on my placement year out from Harper Adams University College I have discovered a different mindset. UK farmers and landowners are ultimately the custodians of our great British countryside and care passionately for its existence.

There are many farmers that have come up with wondrous ways of eco-friendly farming and carbon saving production that will also pay financial dividends through the conservation of their valuable resources.

For the placement year out I am working at an Agricultural Consultants based in Cheshire that has clients throughout the North West. It has been an extremely enjoyable experience to date, and I’ve learnt a lot about the difficulties and challenges that the everyday farm business faces as well as a broad look at the economy of farming. It’s been really interesting to see how some of the systems compare to what Mum and Dad are doing back home in Durham.

I’ve been involved with lots of projects on my placement, but one has stood out. We have a client who grows miscanthus, a perennial grass that once established can last for up to 20 years without any inputs or treatment. He was persuaded to grow the crop on 65 acres by the new market from power stations, who were eager to use it for energy production due to its low emissions and the positive impact on their carbon credits.

Five years later, one power station that used to buy 50% of the miscanthus bales is no longer in a position to take them. We have been working with our client to look at utilising the other 50% of the yield for the free market. Many ideas were thrown forward but we have settled on the theory of producing biomass briquettes from the crop for use on home fires and barbeques.

There’s one problem: the capital costs for setting up are very high. To produce briquettes, a farm needs a shredding machine (to make the crop more compactable), a briquetting machine and a new building to store the kit.

Yet, the briquettes have three times the burning length of a similar size wooden log and produce a gross calorific value of 17.8 megajoules per kilogram (MPK) compared to only 16MPK for wooden logs. The logs are also virtually smokeless, ideal for keeping windows on woodburners clear. It is also worth considering that the carbon cycle of the briquette is only 12 months, whereas wood and coal could be 20 years and millions of years.

It is innovations such as these that can offer a new income for farmers that also help us to move towards a ‘low carbon’ economy. We hope we’re on to something: the future of domestic fuel.

Tim Sedgewick is studying Business Management and Marketing at Harper Adams University College.  He has recently been on placement with HarveyHughes Independent Rural Consultants based in Dunham Massey in Cheshire who specialise in providing professional support and technical advice to agricultural and rural businesses throughout the country.

Read our Biomass factsheet here