Choosing the correct trailer to carry Silage at 44 tonnes on UK roads is quite simple. You can use either a walking floor trailer to carry the volume required for biomass feedstocks such as or silage or a larger volume tipping trailer. Maize silage crops in the UK are now a solid part of the Biogas and A D Plant world. 1 hectare of maize can produce 10,000 cu mtrs of methane gas. This is higher than any other UK commercial crop. It is unusually for the UK a C4 plant and more efficient at converting Sunlight energy into carbohydrate dry mass. Maize silage also stores well which allows 365 availabilty for the AD Plant. The industrial process is to create the perfect environment for bacteria to feed and to release the sunlight energy contained in the molecular bonds of feedstock. Basically reproducing the stomach environment of say a cow on a large scale. As the bacteria and fungi rejoice in the warm mash they release gases such as methane that are piped away and burned to generate electricity. Once eaten the wet slurry of digestate is piped away and used as fertiliser to go back onto the fields. A D Plants are now making a significant contribution to the renewable energy sector.
Of the 12 million tonnes of Maize harvested in the UK in 2023 about 1/3 goes to Biogas and 2/3 to forage . Forage is fed to dairy livestock. About another 40 million tonnes of grass sillage is grown annually.
Newton Trailers current first choice trailer for the transport of Feedstock is:
Recommended First Choice Trailer Knapen Agricultural Walking Floor with Liquid Bag Interior for removal of the digestate.
Recommended Second Choice Trailer Knapen 130 cuyd Walking Floor
Recommended Sales Options: Automatic Sheet System; Automatic Door; VWS Weigher and TASCC logger
Harvest: September October
Seasonal Hire: September/October harvest but AD Plants need feedstock year round
Tascc Product: Yes for biomass
Product Density: Wholecrop silage density 550 kgs/m3 to 650kg. From field 650 to 800kgs/m3
Trailer Volume: 70 - 130 cuyd Bagged volume: 26 cu meter digestate slurry
Region: UK & Eire
50 millon tonnes of grass silage was grownin the UK
AD Plant feedstock are a seasonal crop in the UK. Sunlight and plant photosynthesis lock Carbon-Carbon bond energies into molecules. Humans kindly transport these molecules to large plants and employ bacteria hidden from oxygen to crack open these molecules releasing gases that we burn in the presence of oxygen to suddenly release all of those sunlight stores. Alternatively similar energy stored in food waste molecules can also be cracked open in a similar way. Food wastes and the potentially dangerous viruses, bacteria and fungi that inhabit them are neutralised in this process - thereby cleaning up the waste from household refused foods and industrial waste foods and byproducts. Even the energy from a banana skin is sufficient to power an Apple Iphone 17 twice!! Well done Caribbean sunlight!!
A trend apparent in silage, and biomass transport is to use the improved payloads and volumes of the walking floor trailer. Avoiding the small volumes and dangerous instability of tipping trailers. So field chasing agricultural floors running at 44 tonne on the roads is really the only way to go. Speed is important. With potential wet mass of 18 to 20 tonnes/ha. Higher speed Powerspeed floors mean discharge times of 4 minutes help efficiency during the harvest hiatus.
The semi - liquid digestate from the Biogas process needs removal and manufacture into fertilizer and/or transport to field. New Knapen walking floors transporting inbound biomass and outbound bagged digestate are just starting to enter the UK market following on the trend seen in Europe for efficient two way logistics. Knapen Walking Floors and Exeler Liquid X Liners carry 26 cu meter of bagged digestate with onboard pumps. They take approximately 8 minutes to charge or discharge. Arguably they are a game changer in load handling.
If you want to learn more about feedstock this is a good link: Click Here
Biomass grows in the fields. With 640 scale AD Plants in the UK almost any arable farm may be a supplier. Larger scale A D Plants will draw biomass from a 40km radius. Eventually distance travelled defeats the value of the biomass. Once compacted and clamped silage may reach 50% dry matter by mass. Distance to AD Plant may rule out Agricultural tractor trailer combinations and promote legal HGV and trailer transport at 44 tonnes with 29 t payloads. Silage clamping to dairy and beef herds is often more local and may not require HGV commercial transport. However a Walking Floor chaser will be able to do this on farm.
Anaerobic Plant FeedstockSong: insert MP3 here.
Anaerobic Plant Feedstock/DigestateTrailer Option: Two transport is the Holy Grail of any logistics operation. Knapen Trailers work with Exeler of Germany to produce a trailer that will take your outbound biomass and return with 26 tonnes of digestate. Newton work closely with Exeler to produce high quality products using industry standard components for reliability.
Newton Trailers supply 44 tonne UK road going trailers. Commercially walking floors made by Knapen Krone or agricultural chasers by companies such as Fliegl have the tyre sizes to move on top of fields. It will not really be used to run from Farm to Processing Plant as the payload on the public highway over distance has legal complications: CLICK HERE to go to Fliegl Agricultural
If you really are weird and bored you could try listening to our sugar beet trailer song:
If you really enjoy your work and love our trailers then you could indulge yourself or perhaps that special person in your life with a sugar beet T shirt. Follow the link: Silage clothing - what better clothing for the STAS silage tipping trailer driver
This was a trickier recipe to find than many others- so went with this - not one for everyone but: Click here
| Best Match | Options | Volume | Payload | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | Knapen Agricultural Moving Floor Trailer | Change to Hydraulic Rear Door from Barn Doors on Agricultural Trailer | 96 CuYds (73.4m3) | 28475kg |
| Used | 2013 Legras Biomass Moving Floor Trailer | 120 CuYds (91.7m3) | 28000kg | |
| Also See | New Knapen Agricultural Moving Floor Trailer | Change to Hydraulic Rear Door from Barn Doors on Agricultural Trailer | 90 CuYds (68.8m3) | 28475kg |
| Also See | New Knapen Biomass Moving Floor Trailer | 130 CuYds (99.4m3) | 27850kg | |
| Also See | New Knapen Biomass Moving Floor Trailer | 140 CuYds (107.0m3) | 27770kg | |
| Also See | New Knapen Agricultural Moving Floor Trailer | Change to Hydraulic Rear Door from Barn Doors on Agricultural Trailer | 101 CuYds (77.2m3) | 27500kg |
| Also See | New Knapen Biomass Moving Floor Trailer | 120 CuYds (91.7m3) | 27930kg | |
| Also See | New Knapen Biomass Moving Floor Trailer | 120 CuYds (91.7m3) | 27900kg | |
