West Pine is excited to be leading The Future Farms Project which is exploring the use of waste crop residue for bioenergy production.

The Krone Premos 5000 is the first mobile pelletiser in the world and is capable of producing up to 6 tonnes of product per hour. The machine is able to be run either in the field on combine/windrower/hay rake windrows or in stationary format shredding high density square bales.

The primary objective of the project is to determine the economic and environmental feasibility of ‘at source’ biomass fuel production from a range of crop residues. Of particular focus are crop residues that do not hold value for stock feed or would otherwise be burned in field. Currently the machine is approved for use in cereals, hay and lucerne. It is hoped that the Future Farms project will be able to identify a range of new materials suitable for reuse by pelletising. Tasmania offers the competitive advantage of enterprise and late season cereal harvest which makes it an ideal location for a substantial portion of this project.

The attraction of this technology is the ability to be able to move the machine to a range of regional energy ‘hubs’ to leverage the straw resources of each area. There is a clear need for a solution capable of capitalising on often unused energy potential in our production systems.

In the EU this particular machine model is also being used for applications in the bedding and feed industries. We would welcome any collaborative opportunities to investigate alternative usages for pelletising technologies.

Image:

The Krone Premos 5000 at Red Hill Farming, Sisters Hills, Tasmania pelletising wheat stubble. Tractor supplied by Troy Wright Holdings.