PracticeMore business, brighter future

TestCrambo in Purgatory

Future

We have a dream

magazine 1/2010

Curiosity seems to be one of Rupert Waitl’s essential qualities. You literally feel that his ideas that nothing is moving are almost uncanny. This is not only true for his machines. Rupert Waitl is always moving. A characteristic that he probably inherited: in 1962, his father and grandfather went out with their first combine into a new business at that time — contracting labour. Today he uses several combine harvesters, crushers, presses, barrels of liquid manure and other agricultural implements, offering a wide range of services.He never questioned his decision to continue with contracting and

The day after tomorrow is already yesterday

2

How can one find the real chippers? Rupert Waitl: I hadn’t known the name of Komptech before, and to be honest, I was already on the road to a competitor. Since I had a contract to grant and therefore I used Chippo. I looked closely at the machine, and later tested it myself and made my calculations.

The investment was higher than planned. But as contractors we are accustomed to expect operating costs, and ultimately Chippo won out.

What is a good solution?I think that the disintegration system is managed really well. The rotor is massively built. I can put in an additional setting with the knives and installation and removal for regrinding can be carried out with a reasonable amount of effort. The machine draws in very well, gives good throughput and yet the fuel consumption of my John Deere is seldom greater than 45 litres.I also like the RPM setting with the blower. If I fill a loading wagon, I reduce the speed. If I blow into a storage room, from time to time I need full speed.

And what could be improved?Although I’m often working at full speed and operate the 80 mm basket, I sometimes need to work with larger chips — maybe Komptech has an idea. I had another idea with the chipping table; I’ll see if I can convince the engineers of my solution.

We can’t live in the past. This could describe the success formula for Rupert Waitl. The farmer in Loiching, Lower Bavaria, often has the future in his sights. He told us how he can make good money.

The practitioner speaks

Thoughts from the developer

The mystery of tensioning ducts

I had not heard the name Komptech before

3

The day after tomorrow is already yesterdayagriculture into the third generation. Together with his father and strongly supported by his wife, Sylvia, his services in the contracting firm were built up, always with a curious glance outside the box. That‘s what happened when he was bidding for a newly-constructed biogas facility for renewable resources. Simply put, the contract was to “feed and clean up” after the always-hungry microorganisms; this was associated with investment in a shredder for corn silage and manure wagons for transportation of residual materials.

“From one biogas plant we’ve now grown to five, and accordingly have increased the number of our machines.

Everything runs as it should, and the investment has paid off,” explained Waitl. Can he relax now? No, it’s time to do something new. Rupert Waitl had already played with the idea of chip production for some time, but then opted for biogas. But his curiosity was peaked.The idea wouldn’t let go, and now a big green chipper is on his farm. But there are lots of green chippers, so why this one? You get a clear answer to this question:

“If you start in something that others also do, then you must be better.” This machine makes perfect chips, an argument which

helps me to win new customers.” Of course, Waitl also had the advantage of his good reputation, which he had established for reliability and high-quality equipment.

“At any rate, our chipper was a topic at our usual table, “recalled Waitl,

“and word of mouth in this area is still the best way to get contracts.” Nevertheless he was surprised by the many inquiries he had received within a short period of time. His clients now include communities and power plant operators with whom he secured large contracts to use the machine.

Our development goal has always been optimal chip quality. The whole machine is constructed for this. This begins with the pull into the machine. Our system consists of two overhead rollers which grips both branches and roots well. Cross-pulling and resulting chopping parallel to the fibres is therefore prevented. This cross-pulling can produce large fragments; in the worst case, the rotor can be stopped,

and product quality deteriorates due to oversized chips.We opted for massive blades for the hacking rotor. This makes it possible to have a broad advance, and therefore creates a larger chip. In order not to crumble them immediately, it was important that the tension ducts — “the escape route” for the chips, is in place so that they arrive as quickly as possible without striking the knife holder from the shredding chamber.

Had we brought the chips directly to the shredding chamber, then I would bring them in this state out of the machine. This is why a conveyor belt option is also offered in addition to the blower. There is no additional shredding, no additional noise or dust pollution, and a conveyor requires less power than a blower. I have more strength available for chipping.

Heinz Leitner

Bio energy supplies from domestic sources are sufficient in theory to achieve targets and double

the share of bio energy in Germany by 2020. However we should not overlook the fact that import of biomass has become increasingly important and a supply exclusively from domestic biomass is not realistic for competitive reasons. One should therefore avoid having the development of b iomass production for energy recovery conflicting with food security, the right to food and the protection of the environment and nature. To what extent the development of biomass will make sense will be determined from the economic conditions, for example energy price changes and the situation in the markets for foodstuffs and animal feed, as well as technical progress and innovation in our economy. The Federal Government can only set framework conditions with the instruments it has available, and provide incentives

Ideas from today create reality for the future. What is the picture for today’s innovative ideas in the year 2030?

In 2030, the paradigm changes in the energy system will already be well-advanced in 2030; The demand for heat and fuel will be reduced, and renewable energy will cover over 60% of needs. The consumption of heat and fuel will be reduced by more than half the present consumption, and with it greenhouse gas emissions. Among renewable energy sources, biomass will continue to play a dominant role and cover about one-third of energy needs. More than two-thirds the biomass will be used for heating. New technologies will be on the market: electricity and heat from small installations in houses and heating plants, biogas as a fuel, including propellant materials from cellulose as well as advanced gasification technologies. The base of raw materials will be significantly expanded. The heating supply will be dominated by district heating, biomass and solar thermal. In short, the new energies will determine the energy supply, with biomass being at the fore.

Were the meagre results from the climate conference in Copenhagen a victory of the pragmatists over the dreamers? We say: No! The idea of renewable raw materials will be an essential part of the much-cited

“better world.” Five people describe their dreams here: What will be the value of biomass in 2030?

4

Dr. Norbert Röttgen is the German Environment Minister.Source: www.bmu.de Dr. Heinz Kopetz

is Chairman of the European Biomass AEBIOM.

Mankind has used in a breathtakingly short period of time biomass in the form

of fossil fuels which were formed over 100 million years by storage of solar energy and released the CO

2

produced by the energy into the atmosphere in an uncontrolled fashion. For this reason, at this time there are at least two mechanisms which will force humanity to abandon its previous habits. The finite nature of current energy sources, and the extent to which we negatively affect the global climate on the other.Even without a disaster scenario in the next 20 years, there is a probability bordering on certainty of future oil price shocks which will help more modern forms of renewable energy to achieve a breakthrough.The sun provides 6,000-fold our daily global energy consumption. Renewable biomass is stored solar energy which can, in contrast to solar, wind and water are stored and then used as needed.Therefore biomass, in whatever form, will be one of the most important sources of renewable energy in 2030.

Ing. Josef Heissenberger is the founder and CEO of Komptech GmbH.

By 2030, the role of biomass as a revenue stream within the forestry industry will be on par

with that of roundwood harvesting and sawnwood production. The growth phase of the biomass sector, driven by the politicisation of human induced climate change, will be over and the industry will be well established. Raw biomass products like slash bundles will be regularly traded. Equipment suppliers will deliver specialised, sophisticated machinery to contractors following 30 years of development aided by money previously devoted to harvesting technologies that more or less matured around 2000.

The role of biomass in global energy terms will probably double but remain insignificant. Roughly 7% of the world’s energy comes from renewable sources such as biomass and even if the amount of renewable fuel used were to double in the next 20 years it would stil l not increase that percentage based on the energy requirements of predicted population in 2030. Meanwhile, resources like coal are abundant, cheap and clean coal technology is coming along at an impressive rate.

5

Frankly I had no idea until now of what biomass was really about. We had heard something about it

in school, but there’s a lot that I hadn’t learned about it. Now environmental protection is suddenly a topic everywhere. Newspapers are filled with all kinds of ideas, such as electric cars, for example. Nevertheless ? believe that older people in fact do not always behave as if nothing will happen and that they don’t have to do anything if there’s no more oil. And they aren’t going to do very much to prevent us living in a tropical climate in a few years.

It would be necessary for us to think for ourselves what we can do in order to prevent this and to try all possible ways to prevent that and to check all possibilities in order to find cleaner energy. The sun is always there, the water produces no contamination, and the forest grows back. There are surely a lot of possibilities there. And it is our dream that we will still see the sun in twenty years, the water is clean and the forest is there.

Kathrin Jungwirththoughtful student

Chris Cann is the editor of the international trade magazine “International Forest Industries”

66

7

It was an extraordinary picture which the Komptech development team offered in November last year in the Schoberpass, in Upper Styria. At the end of February, a huge avalanche at the peak of the Great Schober loosened at 1,895 metres and raced in the direction of the valley. It took everything with it that stood in its way. 200,000 cubic metres of snow rolled downwards over 1,000 metres in altitude towards the valley. During the fall, the snow track compressed to about 100,000 cubic metres and cleaned more than five hectares of forest on its way. This thick mixture of snow, debris and wood was finally distributed in the value over five hectares of forest. Several metres high of the avalanche ball were not an obstacle which buried a railway running through the valley with up to eight meters of detritus. The main railway connections of Austria were interrupted for several days. The rail dam was responsible for ensuring that the “Grieshof,” an adjacent land and forestry operation, was not harmed. The massive detritus stopped only a few metres from the stables.

When the snow had melted by the end of April, 2009, the full extent of the disaster was visible. 5,000 cubic metres of wood were scattered over the meadows in the valley, waiting to be sorted out. 2,000 cubic metres of which could be sold directly as fibre and fuel wood, while 3,000 cubic metres of remaining wood and root stock with sometimes large fractions of soil remained. This was a godsend for the Crambo 5000, the new slow-speed shredder which can be driven directly from the lorry, from the Komptech Company. In one work step, the machine processes the material with a built-in star screen with a 100 mm mesh into bio fuel. The soil components are reliably removed with the bui l t- in fine screen and then used for composting. The resulting fuel was then brought to the “Bioenergie Gaishom” heating plant ten kilometres away in which two boilers generated more than four megawatts of electricity and ten megawatts of heating in a combined heat and power production operation.

During the extreme testing, the development team from Komptech learned even more. “The deep soil is very difficult for the heavy machine,” says Reinhard Meisenbichler about his experience. “It would be better to use a tracked chassis for such conditions,” he says, speaking of the need for “salvage” using loaders and a chain.

“Also, the specific fuel consumption with its narrow screen basket is not optimal.

Learning in the border area

“One has to go to the limits of

one’s capacity in order to know

one’s limitations.”

Says Reinhard Meisenbichler,

Komptech Test Director.

So he ventured out with his

CRAMBO into the eye of the

hurricane.

A field report on the extreme art

We must move forward aggressively to achieve greater energy efficiency,” he says with a note of self-criticism. And he moved afterwards to quickly incorporate the knowledge gained into further development of the machine.

7

8

The elk test for biomass

In Sweden, 250 of 290 towns have a biomass power plant — the northerners have passed the elk test with flying colours A report from the Eldorado of sustainability.

Sweden is well on its way with these measures to meet its ambitious goals in terms of the development of renewable energy. They are planning to be independent of oil and other fossil fuels: Thus the use of non-renewable energy, both on the road and in industry, must be massively restricted. This will also be necessary for Sweden and other countries to meet the new Renewable Energy Directive of the EU to 2020 of 49% of energy demand being covered by renewable energy sources. Therefore we are undertaking all efforts in the northern climates. We created a tax for undesired emissions (for example carbon dioxide and sulphur tax), and created a certification system which gives an energy producer a certain quota (“green certificates”) in renewable energy needed to feed into

the grid. Surplus allowances are traded on the market — a system which works very well, and (see above) achieves the desired effect.

In addition to water and wind power, biomass in forest-rich Sweden is massively important. Sweden is one of the largest biomass markets worldwide, with a pellet demand of 1.6 million tonnes per year it is the overall international leader. Already more than 28 percent of the bio energy produced in Sweden is produced from biomass. In 2006, this was 116 TW hours and growing rapidly. Then the district heating network, which was already operated in 2004 with 61% renewable energy, is very well developed in Sweden. The use of wood for district heating production has increased fivefold

since 1990. Large power plants with KWK (combined heat and power) to produce electricity and heat: in 2010 this is already 10 TW hours, with the potential for 2020 estimated to be twice as high.The largest Swedish energy producer, Vattenfall, plans to hire 6,000 new employees over the next few years in order to increase the share of renewable energy in its production.

All these measures mean that Sweden is increasingly developing a

“paradise of sustainability” and also a model for other European countries, most of who are complaining about the directive’s high targets and their alleged inability to achieve them. Instead, they should put it to the elk test.

Publisher:Komptech GmbHKühau 37A-8130 FrohnleitenT +43 3126 505 - 0F +43 3126 505 - 505info@komptech.comwww.komptech.com

Editors:Andreas Kunter, Joachim HirtenfellnerLayout & graphics: Komptech GmbHPhotos: Komptech GmbH, Kathrin Jungwirth page 1 and page 5: Bigshot/Christian JungwirthDr. Norbert Röttgen page 4: www.bmu.deDr. Heinz Kopetz page 4: Dr. Heinz KopetzChris Cann page 5: Chris Cann Flash pages 6/7: photocase.deElk sign page 8: iStockphoto.comFrequency of appearance: periodically

More business, brighter future

Komptech is looking for:A company which would like to test one of our electronic drum screens for six months for free. You can expect up to 70% energy cost savings. Our Sales Manager, Erich Cordie, will discuss what we would like from you in return His mobile telephone number is +49 171 6810460. Or at the Bauma trade fair, at the Komptech stand

D-59269 Beckum, Zementstraße 112 | T +49 2521 2990 30 | info@komptech.de