Paper/Biomass Briquette Press

[SA Friday]

I will definately post up some stats on burn times and dimensions of the finished bricks along with pictures of the finished product. The price of the materials was minimal as I used scrap 2x4s from other projects, and I went an bought a cheap 2 ton bottle jack from harbor freight.

I plan on using scrap paper only (newspaper, junk mail without plastic windows on the envelope) and/or mix in some lawn waste like cut grass and/or leaves to see how it goes. The paper will be shredded and soaked in water, until it is the consistency of spitball material (only way I can describe it effectively). Apparently it takes a week or two to 'cure' and dry.

What I plan on doing with it? I don't have a fireplace, but I saw a few videos of people using them for bbq-grills, but I want to test them out first to ensure there are no wierd green flames coming off them. As far as being prepared and in a semi-urban environment, it is always handy to have fuel of some kind on hand for cooking when the gas grid would go down.

I work shift this weekend so the rest of the project will have to wait until Tues/Weds. Since I am bored at work right now, I will update the original post with some sort of supply list.

Green flames would show you have an excess of one of four different chemicals mixed in with the paper. The most obvious would be phosphorous, the next would be boron. Stick to non-glossy papers with no fancy dyes on them and you should be fine. Bright orange, pink, greens with blues... All from chemicals in the paper. The biggest threat would be aerating heavy metals possibly mixed in with the dyes, a common one is Titanium Oxide or a Ti chelate used to make a white dye, very common. 3M calls one of their industrial white dyes a Ti lactate. It's actually a compound that mimics an enzyme and traps Ti molecules. Aerating the heavy metals from this in small doses wouldn't be a problem. Regular exposure would be a health risk and excessive exposure could be terminal, especially for kids. The mass majority of dyes are safe, but the fancy ones can be dangerous if burned.

So, if you DO get an odd color when it burns and there are dyed papers in it. Don't use that type of paper again. Any dye used in a newspaper should be safe. I'm more concerned about fliers and junk mail adds, the fancy stuff produced in high end machines.

[rbeau30]

Green flames would show you have an excess of one of four different chemicals mixed in with the paper. The most obvious would be phosphorous, the next would be boron. Stick to non-glossy papers with no fancy dyes on them and you should be fine. Bright orange, pink, greens with blues... All from chemicals in the paper. The biggest threat would be aerating heavy metals possibly mixed in with the dyes, a common one is Titanium Oxide or a Ti chelate used to make a white dye, very common. 3M calls one of their industrial white dyes a Ti lactate. It's actually a compound that mimics an enzyme and traps Ti molecules. Aerating the heavy metals from this in small doses wouldn't be a problem. Regular exposure would be a health risk and excessive exposure could be terminal, especially for kids. The mass majority of dyes are safe, but the fancy ones can be dangerous if burned.

So, if you DO get an odd color when it burns and there are dyed papers in it. Don't use that type of paper again. Any dye used in a newspaper should be safe. I'm more concerned about fliers and junk mail adds, the fancy stuff produced in high end machines.

I'll probably end up segregating the materials that I use the briquettes for. Newspaper/grass/leaves for cooking possibly, and everything else for heat in a well ventilated situation.

[hatidua]

Green flames would show you have an excess of one of four different chemicals mixed in with the paper. The most obvious would be phosphorous, the next would be boron. Stick to non-glossy papers with no fancy dyes on them and you should be fine. Bright orange, pink, greens with blues... All from chemicals in the paper. The biggest threat would be aerating heavy metals possibly mixed in with the dyes, a common one is Titanium Oxide or a Ti chelate used to make a white dye, very common. 3M calls one of their industrial white dyes a Ti lactate. It's actually a compound that mimics an enzyme and traps Ti molecules. Aerating the heavy metals from this in small doses wouldn't be a problem. Regular exposure would be a health risk and excessive exposure could be terminal, especially for kids. The mass majority of dyes are safe, but the fancy ones can be dangerous if burned.

So, if you DO get an odd color when it burns and there are dyed papers in it. Don't use that type of paper again. Any dye used in a newspaper should be safe. I'm more concerned about fliers and junk mail adds, the fancy stuff produced in high end machines.

With so many beetle-kill trees in CO, it seems like simply getting a permit to take some wood off Nat'l Forest land (which is easy to get), would bypass many of the chemical concerns and provide for a bit of meaningful time outdoors.