Burning books

[geraldthehamster]

A friend of mine has a bookshop, and has recently come into a very large quantity of ex-library books, most of which are unsaleable and of no interest whatever. He wondered what I thought of his idea of getting a wood-burning stove and burning them for fuel. I was a bit unsure about this, due to the difficulty of burning books - they tend just to char round the edges. I suspect a high temperature would be required (clearly at least 451 Fahrenheit ;-) ). Anyone have any views on the feasibility?

Before you judge me a complete Philistine, I work in a library, and find the idea of book-burning as reprehensible as anyone. However, I also appreciate the problem of disposing of unwanted books that nobody wants...

Regards Richard

[Clot]

Rip off the covers and briquette?

[James Salisbury]

Some of the second hand book vendors that work with Amazon buy books by the container load... are your books fiction or non fiction?

[geraldthehamster]

Mostly heavy old non-fiction. We thought we might have to use some light fiction as kindling.

He's stuffed all the Oxfam book banks. I told him he probably wasn't doing them any favours, but book dealers don't like Oxfam, apparently.

Regards Richard

[James Salisbury]

See if

want them.

[geraldthehamster]

woodburner.

I think he just wants to burn them as they are, covers and all with a minimum of pre-processing. Will a woodburner generate and contain enough heat, is the question? Could he use any old burner or would he need something specific, or is it a daft idea?

Regards Richard

[Owain]

Just make sure he checks them for first editions of Harry Potter!

Can he sell them by the yard to interior designers?

Owain

[Clot]

Burning them as they are could be an issue! He runs a business and as I understand it, you cannot do that! Environmental regulations regarding watse disposal. It could quite legitimately be construed to be commercial waste and the EA could pounce with serious costs.

If he anticipates a regular delivery of such matter, then wo(ul)od make sense to use for heating purposes!

An independent business such as this, I suspect,has time to strip the covers and briquette for their own heating purposes. Used in a furnace or fire for heating purposes - and I stress that- would not be construed as waste disposal.

[geraldthehamster]

Nothing as formal as that - this is for domestic purposes and they haven't really come into the business in any commercial sense.

Interesting discussion, but I note that nobody seems to know the answer to my question ;-) I guess it could just be a case of suck it and see. It's just one of his mad ideas that he fancies, probably wrongly, will save him a small (but significant in Yorkshire) amount of money.

Regards Richard

[AJH]

I think he still could incinerate them at a rate of less than

40kg/hour in an exempted device.

Ash is the main issue, it will prevent air getting to the remaining pages and cause them to smoulder rather than burn completely. I can't see a big problem with a book at a time on a blazing log fire. Even with a small incinerator I'd prefer to add one at a time to the top and maintain a good flame.

As you say the books will pyrolyse at above 270C but there will still be substantial tars formed in the remaining char, so I'd guess you'd have to maintain conditions in the furnace above 700C and maintain primary air flow to give a good burn out.

I used burn the yellow pages on my log stove but it inevitably meant I had to de ash immediately after, with wood this is only a weekly event.

AJH

[nightjar]

I would first check whether a recycling company will pay for books.

Colin Bignell

[Stuart Noble]

If your library is anything like ours, there is a policy of buying in pulp fiction and making feeble attempts to promote it. Not a single Dickens on the fiction shelves last time I looked. He now comes under "non-fiction" sub-section "literature"

[David in Normandy]

Would they throw the book at him? :-)

[Steve Walker]

I know someone who tried one - used it once, threw in back of garage. Very time-consuming to make bathfuls of papier-mache...

[Andy Dingley]

Not in comparison to the even longer time needed to deal with "logs" of papier mache and the interminable period needed to dry them.