FOREST SERVICE FOREST SERVICE OPERATIONS • Used for Fuels Reduction, Post Fire Clean-up. • Added control aids communities in Urban Interface Management. • Good containment, could be used in High Fire Danger areas. • Trench Burners or Fire Boxes can be used for burning land clearing debris. • High thru-put means less time on the job. • A true reduction in waste means lower transportation costs. • Low capital investment, machines price range $30,000 to $595,000. • Green trees are fine, no drying time is required. • Most root balls can go in whole no splitting required. ENVIRONMENTAL S-116 - Full Operation at Lake Tahoe, California Air Quality Open burning averages 60% to 80% opacity (smoke plume); Air Burners average 10% opacity. Air Burners can be used in closer proximity to existing structures. Forest Impact Dropping of slash and clearings has a biological impact on the forest floor. There is generally enough natural dropping to support the ecosystem without adding man made droppings. High Mass Reduction • Decreasing the load on local landfills or impact on forest floor. • S-Series machines have a 96 to 98 percent reduction rate so 20,000 lbs. of wood waste will reduce to between 400 lbs. and 800 lbs. of ash. • Reduced transportation, less dust and engine emissions • Trench Burners or Fire Boxes can be used for burning land clearing debris. • Our machines have thru-put rates of between 2 and 12+ tons per hour depending on machine size ECONOMICS FOREST SLASH DISPOSAL Air Curtain Burning vs. Chipping vs. Landfill Dumping Compare Cost of Forest Slash Disposal: Firebox vs. Chipper vs. Landfill Dumping (Printer Friendly) Cost Comparison Example for the Disposal of 100 Tons of Forest Slash Air Curtain Burning vs. Chipping vs. Landfill Dumping   S-220 Air Curtain Burning Chipping &  Landfill Disposal Direct Landfill Hauling & Disposal Cost of Machine $88,500 $201,370 - Lease-Financing Cost per Month $1,850 $4,300 - Rental Cost per Month $8,500 $17,500 - Fuel Cost (S-220: 13 hrs; Chipper: 6 hrs) $106 $495 - Maintenance and Repairs (S-220: $0.60/hr;  Chipper: $16.00/hr) $8 $96 - Hauling of Residual to Landfill (50 Miles @ $4.00/mile with 20-ton Dump Truck) $200 (1 load) $2,400 (12 loads) $5,000 (25 loads) Tipping Fees at Landfill  ($30 per Ton) $90 $2,940 (Note 4) $3,000 Total Disposal Cost for 100 Tons (1 Day) $404 $5,931 $8,000 NOTES: Individual results may vary. Chipper: approx. 400HP, Diesel fuel consumption: approx. 30 gal/hr. It is assumed that chips cannot be reasonably sold for beneficial re-use. Chipping process and chip handling produces large amounts of particulate matter (PM) in the form of wood dust that can cause serious illness in exposed workers.  Wood dust is a proven carcinogenic (cancer-causing). Chipping losses, mostly in form of wood dust, are approx. 2% or 2 tons in this example. Only 98 tons of wood chips are deposited into the landfill. Air Curtain Burner residual is 3 tons of ash, hauled by 1 truck, but is usually land-applied on site;  Chipper residual yields no weight reduction, but does provide significant volume reduction.  In this example, waste is hauled by at least 12 trucks, each carrying approximately 22 cubic yards or 5 – 6 tons. Direct hauling of land clearing wood waste to landfill will require approximately 25 trucks. The S-220 is a medium size above ground refractory walled firebox.  Larger and smaller models and trench burners are also available.  See www.airburners.com. Rev. 0807b   No Landfill Fees • S-116 at Forest Lakes, Arizona, Urban Wildland Interface Slash Collection & /Disposal Site (Operator Certification: January, 2002) (FRED = Fuel Reduction Eradication Disposal Site) At a rate of 8 tons per hour of clearing the average landfill fee is $320 per hour (8 tons at $45 per ton) an 8-hour day would cost $2,560.00 and 5 to 7 truckloads. At the same rate of 8 tons per hour the Air Burner would generate an average of 700 lbs. of ash. If the ash had to go to a landfill an 8-hour day would cost $126.00 and one truckload. The Air Burner delivers a savings of more than $2,434.00 per day. • Less time (labor) than open burning • At a rate of 8 tons (26.6 cubic yards) per hour of land clearing per day (600 lbs. per cubic yard) you would generate an open burn pile that would be approximately 10 foot long by 10 foot wide by 7 feet high every hour, or in one day the pile would be 40 feet by 20 feet by 7 feet high.  An Air Burner model S-321 could burn this pile of 64 tons down to 1.3 tons of ash in approximately 9 hours. Open burning would take approximately 24 hours and would require constant managing. Print cost comparison of air curtain burning to chipping (pdf) Top of Page Previous Page