Crop Drying

As LPG is a clean burning fuel that burns completely there is no chance of grain combustion, water ingress or fuel sediment. It can safely power a direct fired burner and will further reduce costs by prolonging the life of your equipment. Maintenance is also reduced as there is no sooting up. As a bonus, it’s virtually pilfer proof too.

LPG is the most adjustable and economical fuel source around. Burners powered by Shell Gas are thermostatically controlled and will consume only the minimum fuel necessary to maintain drying temperatures whether for grain, soy beans or peanuts.

Controls can easily be set to fixed limits over a wide temperature range. Response to automatic control is almost instantaneous and start up is far quicker than diesel. This makes it easy to locate mobile dryers close to tank sites.

When mobility is not required, choose a bulk storage tank which reduces labour time and enables you to keep a large volume of gas on site during the drying season.

But what about a practical example of what we can do?

Italy is one of the major producers of tobacco and the drying process is usually carried out by the individual producers.

Until recently, many dessicators have used agricultural gas oil as the fuel. However, with the introduction of new air vein gas burners, tobacco producers have found that tobacco can be dessicated more quickly, on average 5.5 days rather than 7 days, and more cheaply using LPG fired ovens.

Shell Gas Italia has signed technical - commercial agreements with companies producing air - vein burners and with companies building the dessication ovens.

In order to supply the most complete service to the customer, SGI can offer a package that includes the supply of the new burners with the consequent change to the ovens. In addition, SGI can offer technical support at the design stage and also help with the administrative red tape.

To find out more about how Shell Gas can help with your agricultural needs contact your local Shell Gas team.