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  • From: Alliums <garlicgrower AT earthlink.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Burning Used Agricultural Plastics (!!)
  • Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 09:16:49 -0500

Hi, Folks!

I just had a chance to read the January 2004 issue of the Penn State "Small Fruit and Vegetable Gazette"  Check out this article!

Burner Unit for Burning Used Ag Plastics Arrives
Jim Garthe, Department of Ag and Biological Engineering
Mike Orzolek and Bill Lamont, Department of Horticulture


We just received shipment today of a burner from South Korea that uses used plastic (polyethylene) as a fuel source that heats water as an energy source and can be use in a high tunnel, greenhouse, storage building, animal structure or residential house. The burner with 2.5ton water tank is 8 feet long and 4 feet wide. It will produce approximately 250,000 BTUs when the plastic is burnt in the furnace. We are in the process of constructing a 30' wide by 96' long high tunnel from Ledgewood Farms and will be heating it using the Korean Plastic Burning unit. Jim Garthe, the Ag Engineer on this project has developed a densifying unit for all used plastics (plastic mulch film, drip irrigation tape, plastic greenhouse covers, plastic pots, hay bale wraps, and silage bags) which will produce a plastic nugget "plastofuel" similar to a lump of coal. This "plastofuel" will be burned in the Korean unit and evaluated for efficiency and air emissions. In the next several weeks, we hope to place this information with photos on our Center for Plastculture website http://plasticulture.cas.psu.edu.


Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden

A mission of
St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street, Phoenixville, PA  19460


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