Methods in Paper Fireballing
Jeff Davis, September 5, 2006

OLD METHOD:
1. Soak paper in water.
2. Process through disposal.
3. De-water.
4. Ball in cement mixer.
5. Dry.

NEW METHOD:
1. Soak paper in water.
2. Place wet paper w/rocks in cement mixer (Rock & Roll).
3. Remove rocks after agglomerations have formed and ball some more for
final shape.
4. Dry.

The paper is first soaked in water. Here I am using a plastic 55 gallon drum. I have found that this drum has poor ergonomics, it's too deep for one to remove the last third of the paper. My solution, as can be seen in this picture, was to cut off the top third of the barrel and use that section underneath the remaining portion in order to raise the barrel to a proper working height.

Note: Click thumbnail images to enlarge.

This is the sink and disposal that was used to re-pulp the paper. {This has been obsoleted by the "rock & roll" method}

This is the sink, disposal and bucket that was used to re-pulp the paper. {This has been obsoleted by the "rock & roll" method}

This is the watery slurry from the disposal.{This has been obsoleted by the "rock & roll" method}

Here we are dewatering the slurry. This is a plastic 55-gallon drum with the top cut open and a screen mesh fasten over this opening. The slurry is poured on the screen and the water is collected in the drum.{This has been obsoleted by the "rock & roll" method}

This is a picture of the wet paper fibers after the dewatering. The fibers are still vary wet. From this point there was three methods to produce paper fireballs in the rotating drum/agglomerator. (1) If the moisture was just right the pulp/fibers would b

Here is a picture of the Kill-A-Watt meter that I used to measure the electric used for these experiments. This device will display volts, amps, watts, volt/amps, Hz, power factor, kWh and hours. The cost is about $35.00 US.

This is the specifications of the cement mixer/agglomerator that I used.

Kill-A-Watt data:
No load, just the cement mixer running with nothing inside.
V = 119.3
A = 5.7
W = 202
VA = 676
PF = 0.29

mpf9: A picture of the rocks used for the ball milling.

Kill-A-Watt data:
With rocks.
V = 118.5
A = 5.65
W = 246
VA = 667
PF = 0.36

Two kitty litter pails full of water soaked newspaper. I processed one bucket at a time. A five-gallon bucket is somewhat larger than a kitty litter bucket and the cement mixer has no problem processing a five-gallon bucket load if not more. It seems that

This is the start of the ball milling. Starting to break up the paper.

More affects of ball milling.

Agglomerations starting to appear.

More ball milling and agglomerating.

Kill-A-Watt data:
***1st bucket (kitty litter)***
(For this test I did not break up the paper any by hand)
Ball milling paper (paper with rocks)
V = 120.4
A = 5.76
W = 288
VA = 694
PF = 0.41
Hz = 59.9

Balling paper (just paper, final shape)
V = 120.4
A = 5.73
W = 270
VA = 692
PF = 0.38
Hz = 59.9

Total kWh = 0.08 @ 18 minutes

Kill-A-Watt data:
***2nd bucket (kitty litter)***
For this test I broke up the large clumps of paper by hand.
Total kWh = 0.09 @ 20 minutes
No other data available for this test.

Kill-A-Watt data:
***5-gallon bucket***
Ball milling paper (paper with rocks)
V = 117.3
A = 5.52
W = 250
VA = 647
PF = 0.36
Hz = 59.9

Balling paper (just paper, final shape)
V = 115.3
A = 5.33
W = 251
VA = 616
PF = 0.40
Hz = 59.9

Total kWh = 0.08 @ 20 minutes

The rocks have been removed at this point.

The drum is rotating hence the start of the final shaping.

Close-up of the final shaping phase.

Just out of the mixer, in need of drying.

This is a picture of a batch done a weekago, almost dry. This is the amount from a five-gallon bucket.

I will add the dry weight of the fireballs when I get the data.

Jeff Davis
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