Air cannon power gets material flowing
A Louisiana utility uses internal-valve air cannons to discharge rice-hull fuel from a 400-ton storage bin.
Agrilectric Power of Lake Charles, La., burns rice hulls, a by-product of milling, to produce steam and electricity. The power is then supplied to the nearby Farmer's Rice Mill or sold to the Gulf States Utilities power grid. The utility burns up to 300 tons of rice hulls per day. The hulls are stored in two 13-gauge steel bins; each has a 400-ton capacity and is 40 feet high and 36 feet in diameter. Screw conveyors in the bottom of each bin transport the hulls into the generating plant.