Wood

From GEO BIOCHAR STOVE
From GEO BIOCHAR STOVE

* About 30% biochar production
* 3 to 4 days for a batch of charcoal production
* Continuous hot water access (pot 1)
* Highly suitable for institutional cooking and as well making biochar
* Additional heat generated by flaring the pyrolysis gases, used for cooking
* Mitigation of the emissions during the pyrolysis by flaring
* Costs about Rs. 3000 for a 2’ width x 5’ depth x 6’ hight (in feet) “GEO Biochar pit stove”. (cost including, tin sheet for cover, digging the pit, three pot stove and chimney.)

*_"GEO BIOCHAR STOVE" is designed by Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy, CEO, GEO. Demonstrated to farmers under the project Good Stoves and Biochar Communities Project, being supported by GoodPlanet.org, France

I've attached a diagram of how I'm now planning to build the grate and throat area. (I took the liberty of modifying the GIZ diagram Crispin kindly sent to explain an appropriate layout)

As I'm only going to be burning wood and in my experience of wood stoves all the wood burns to a light ash which would easily fall through the grate I am planning to have a stationary grate. Am I making the wrong decision here?

--- next email --
Getting close to completing this stove now.

Some photos are attached.

I've also attached a drawing of how things stand now (not to scale)

The door and hatch are made and have fire rope seals. These will be fitted once everything else is together.

I've used a cast iron grate from an old coal stove that was the perfect size.

A couple of things I'm wondering

*At the moment all the secondary air is going in through some square section pipe with an internal diameter of 20x20mm that enters at the rear of the combustion chamber above the ceramic blocks. (shown as blue square in stove2-7.jpg). Is this going to supply enough air or should I put a similar sized secondary air inlet on the front of the stove also?

*Crispins GIZ design has an area where the combustion chamber tapers wider (an expansion chamber?). I've drawn this in green in stove2-7.jpg . How important is this? I could make these sloping walls from sheet steel or I guess buy some refractory material sheets (my x partner who is making this with me had some jewellers heat mats that would appear suitable although she appeared reluctant to give them up) Is this a crucial detail? What effect does it have on combustion? what would happen if I leave them out?

Thanks in advance for any pointers. Hopefully I should finish and test fire it in the coming week.

Dear Friends

Further to Darren’s efforts, a reminder that the original drawings for the combustor and one of the stoves that incorporates it is in the Library at New Dawn Engineering at the very much enlarged (this week) website. That is not to say there is so much there, just that we can now make very large files such as high-res video originals available. As time passes more will be available.

Gustavo Peña, November 2011

Tom varios amigos me han escrito que no reciben el documento aqui te lo mando, si lo van a poner en la web por favor agregar los siguientes comentarios

  1. Està fabricada con làmina de 3 milìmetros en la parte exterior y la càmara interna es de tubo acero al carbòn de 5 milìmetros
  2. tengo varios modelos en pruebas con gente que la usa todos los dias y los resultados hasta el momento son los siguientes
  3. A- en nuetro medio un negocio comun es la venta de tortillas, una de las usuarias ha logrado producir 800 tortillas con 10 libras de leña.
  4. B- la primera estufa con 2 quemadores tiene ya 8 meses de prueba y las condiciones de la càmara son exelentes no se ve deterioro alguno, esto nos da un parametro de vida de mas o menos 4 años de uso diario.
  5. C-los usuarios que estan haciendo las pruebas estan muy contentos por el desempeño y el ahorro, pues antes gastaban $7.50 usd en gas licuado (LPG) y con este modelo ahorran $5.00 por dia con un ahorro total de $1,800.00 usd por año
  6. D- los resultados finales con relacion al peso de la leña en comparacion de estufa tradicional estaran listos en 2 semanas.

Aqui van las fotos y los dibujos de la càmara, en el power point puedes ver los modelos que estoy produciendo, la Ecocina es la lider en ventas, al final del power point veras una estuva de metal con protector amarillo para evitar quemaduras la he nombrado HOPE y espero presentarla a una universidad de Africa en unas semanas.
la estufa HOPE esta equipada con la nueva càmara de combustion
cualquier pregunto por favor estoy a la orden

Paal Wendelobo, October, 2011

The Peko Pe TLUD project in Zambia is going well.

Paal describes it best:

" The main principals for our projects I will call it community based participation both for fuel and for stove productions. Utilization of local resources with other words.. The Peko Pe is designed for production by local tinsmith with the tools they might have. They only need a template and a model; they have the knowledge how to make it.

" First of all we discuss the need of changes, and then on the fuel side we start up with registration of alternative biomass for fuel for briquetting, energy forestry for fuel production. We always start with the fuel .to be sure there is sufficient quantities and to an affordable price.

"The charcoal business, which represents about 15 % of the adult population, has to be involved from an early stage of the project. All kind of activities on the household energy sector will in one or another way have an influence of their business, and with biochar we don’t know what will happen, but that is one of the ting we will try to find out. Any how for the charcoal business it is just to change from charcoal to alternative biomass for household energy.

"The energy loss by production of biochar for soil improvement is almost equivalent to the energy needed for the farmer to cook if you include the African way of thinking time is coming not like by us time is running That is a big difference. A household need about 2,7 kg charcoal a day for cooking. Form about 10 kg of dry wood you will get 2,7 kg of charcoal for one day cooking and no biochar. From .10 kg of dry wood you will get 10 kg of woodchips and that will be for 2 ½ day of cooking into a TLUD-ND. and about 2.7 kg of biochar. The pilot project will tell us if this is right or wrong."

" A common Miombo forest in Africa will give about 3 ton wood per ha a year. 3 ton of dry wood will give 800 kg of charcoal. A household of 5 consume 2-3 kg charcoal a day or about 800 kg a year. To produce 3 kg of charcoal you need 10-12 kg of dry fire wood in a common kiln. That will give one day cooking on a charcoal stove, and almost no biochar. 10-12kg dry chopped wood will give 3 days of cooking on a TLUD-ND or another FES and 2.5 kg of biochar
Energy forestry using just the sprouting every year can give up to 10 ton wood per ha a year, easy to cut to appropriate fuel for TLUD-ND’s or other types of FES. By adding some biochar to soil of bad quality 20-30 % increased yields can be obtained, which will give more food, more household energy, more jobs, better economy, better health for women and children and saving the forest. It can probably be as simple as this and is that not some of what we are looking for and need?
We know some changes have to take place on the household energy sector and we have to start somewhere. Why not start with small scale farmers on sandy soil, and from there develop the new household bio-energy strategy for developing countries. Probably also with the charcoal business, they have the whole infrastructure intact and can easy change from charcoal to alternative biomass like chopped wood or pellets from agriculture and forestry related waste. "

Promotion of stoves has formed an important part of Liana (NGO) development projects in Northern Tanzania from 2009 to 2011.

As we wanted to offer some choice of stoves to families with very differing means and needs, nine of the better documented models or locally known models were introduced to the farmers in Mwanga and Moshi in the initial theory training sessions. Following an exercise in which each farmer selected a stove type s/he would like to have and could afford to have in her/his home, the number of potentially suitable stoves was reduced. As women became more aware of the dangerous effects of indoor smoke, having a chimney became more and more important and many models without chimney dropped out.

Thus we remained with four main stove models. These are Vita metal stove, Upesi burned clay stove, Lorena mud stove (or built with bricks inside) and a rocket Brick and cement stove. During the process two of the stove models, Vita and Upesi were considerably modified. Vita obtained a short chimney (90cm measured from the middle of the hole to the top, 8x8cm) and Upesi was developed into two slightly different new models, both with a fire grate allowing air intake to the fire chamber through holes in the grate.

As part of our project Save firewood by improved stoves we assessed the stoves. The report of this assessment has the results of the boiling point tests, controlled cooking tests and an interview study on user experiences in Mwanga and Moshi.

You can access the report from the following link:
http://www.liana-ry.org/Liana_docs/Liana_stove_tests_in_tanzania_2011.pdf

Andrew C. Parker, October 2011

Lion Cub Stove
A variation on Larry Winiarski's 16 Brick Stove
and Crispin Pemberton-Pigott's Lion Stove

"I had been waiting all Summer to use my brother's StoveTek
stove to do some experiments. While searching a reference

Practical Action, Kenya

The Upesi stove, also known as the Maendeleo has been successful in Kenya. It has two parts, a simple pottery cylinder with pot rests (known as the liner) that is built into a mud surround in the kitchen. Fuel is fed into the fire through an opening in the front of the stove, and it has no chimney, but it produces much less smoke than an open fire.

Jolentho in javanese (a local language in Indonesia) means rounded and bulky, so Jolentho Stove means bulky and rounded stove. We gave it the name because the stove liner is made of round and bulky potteries. Every part of the liner is made from pottery, including the grate.

The liner is divided into 8 parts to simplify production and tranportation. To make a liner, one needs to have pottery making skill. For simplicity, the liner is produced by a professional pottery maker. The users only need to buy, install and cast a sand-cement mixture surround the liner. Although cement are not ressistant to heat (easily crumbles), pottery liner provide protection so that cement can last longer. Properly made, the stove will last for 10 years.

The stove has 3 potholes and a chimney to suit the needs of palm sugar producers in Indonesia. The technology is simple: fuelwood burns above grate. Grate provide air suppy and dispose ash. The enclosed combustion chamber provides improved combustion quality. After heating the pot in hole #1 rom beneath, hot smoke is channeled to pothole #2 and #3. There are baffles in pothole #2 and #3 to maximize heat transfer. Finally, the smoke exits through chimney. Chimney also provide draft that boosts combustion.
The innovations we offer are cost and time efficiency and simplicity in stove making, and. It only takes 1 men, 2 hours and 19.25 USD to make a Jolentho Stove and the stove is ready to use within 3 days. This is much more simpler, compared to a mud stove, which requires 4 men, 16 USD and 3 days only to make mud stove and additionally 17 days to get mud stove ready to cook. By all means, the Jolentho is much more favorable.

Daniel Wald July, 2011

Envirofit's G-3300 Wood Stove

G-3300 Stove with Flexible Pot SkirtG-3300 Stove with Flexible Pot Skirt

This is a pretty straight-forward, efficient wood cooking stove, with a rest in the front for loading stick wood. It's pretty nice looking, and they've worked with Oak Ridge Natl. Labs to create a durable combustion area.

It's got a couple of neat accessories. The one on the picture above is a flexible pot skirt. Pot skirts do a wonderful job of increasing heating efficiency, but they can be hard to implement because not all cooking pots are the same size. This solves that problem simply, and it looks nice which as we know from user feedback is critical to stove success.

They have a chimney attachment which adds another "burner" to the stove, and helps vent smoke more efficiently.

Spec sheets and manuals are on their web site:
http://www.envirofit.org/cookstoves/g-3300.html

Envirofit's CH-4400 Charcoal Stove

Envirofit Charcoal StoveEnvirofit Charcoal Stove with Cooking Pot

Apparently this is all the charcoal cooking stove. It is designed to be one of the cleanest burning stoves available. At first, I mistook the tall top part to be a cooking pot, but instead it is part of the stove. According to the instructions, the user needs a combination of charcoal and wood sticks or chips, that are loaded into the bottom of the stove, then the upper part with the pot skirt allows the stove to burn more efficiently. There are attachments for the other version of this charcoal stove that allow for grilling. This one seems more optimized for pots.

Additional information on the Charcoal stove:
http://www.envirofit.org/cookstoves/ch-4400.html

Flip and Jon Anderson,updated May, 2010

and the movie:

Flip and Jon Anderson put together a beautiful earthen oven that's powered by a Rocket stove. They've got all of the details on their picassa photo album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/Jonnygms/RocketOven#slideshow/5598633235210438450


They were inspired by Kiko Denzer's book Build your Own Earth Oven to build the supports with apple pruning into an inverted basket, and then mix the clay and straw to put over it. This was done on a wonderful earthenware support built on top of simple framing to elevate the oven to allow for the rocket stove underneath.

Larry Winiarski offered suggestions and tweaks to improved the efficiency of the stove, and Flip and Jon report that it makes a beautiful pan of rolls and marionberry pie, with very little wood, and can also boil water off the top of the chimney. Nicely done.

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