Improved Biomass Cooking Stoves

Harry Stokes, IIEA and Project Gaia

The International Institute for Ecological Agriculture (IIEA) and Project Gaia
invite you to attend

Seminar Announcement (in pdf)

The Appropriate-scale Alcohol Fuel Production Seminar:

Global Solutions for Cooking, Refrigeration, Electricity and Transport

(see pdf for detail).

Monday, November 29 - Thursday, December 2, 2010

Embassy Suites, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

From My Home Good Stove

From My Home Good Stove

From

"My Home Good Stove" is a low cost efficient good stove of Magh series. http://goodstove.com . Also see [My Home Stove 2](http://myhomestove2.blogspot.com/) http://myhomestove2.blogspot.com/It is also safe, low heat conduction to the stove body mass, low weight, saves 30% to 50% fuel as compared to traditional stoves, convenient for using all types of biomass fuels. The temperature of the flame is around 400 to 500 degree centigrade and reaches maximum of 700 degree centigrade. Convenient for cooking all types of food. http://myhomestove.blogspot.com/ This stove lasts longer due to use of steel mesh inside, which is low cost and easily replaceable. Other wise majority of metal stoves last around one year only. This stove is named as My home because it appears like home.

MAGH 3G GOOD STOVE

Most adopted stove by poor, tribals and farmers in parts of Andhra Pradesh, India, Already facilitated 1500 stoves and the demand is growing every day.
For more details see links:
http://www.bioenergylists.org/content/magh-3g-stove-all | http://e-magh3g.blogspot.com/

Rex Zietsman, September, 2010

For reference, here is my mix. Please note that this mix was arrived at to put insulating refractory in a gasifier. This gasifier is bound for rural Mozambique. The requirement therefore was to use readily available materials ie clay, sand, sawdust and water. You can substitute the sawdust with anything that will lead to gas bubbles once it has been fired. Typically you can use mica, sawdust, shredded paper, fine biomass, polystyrene balls though these have to be fine, etc. As the system heats up, the biomass burns out and leaves voids in the structure. There is a good set of photos in Aprovecho where they make Rocket stove refractory.

Primary Mix - by weight
75% clay - I bought some at a potters outlet though any reasonable quality "wild" clay will do 25% fine sand - I used plaster sand sifted to keep out rubbish Enough water to make mushy, well mixed mixture

Final Mix
1 volume primary mix
1 volume fine sawdust - screened to remove large particles

I then formed the final mix into triangular shaped bricks, dried them and fitted them into the frustum (chopped off cone) section of a furnace made from steel. I used straight clay as filler between the joints. I also made a 1" thick wall pipe using a cut off tin for the outside and a piece of PVC pipe for the inside. The mortar pipe fitted into the furnace outlet pipe fitted to the bottom of the cone. Mounting the furnace on bricks (to let air in from the bottom), we made a serious covered fire inside the refractory to cure the lot. It has come out very well.

Una reciente evaluación realizada por los refugiados de la Mujer de la Comisión en Haití constató que el precio del carbón ha aumentado en un 40% (CMR y el PMA 2010). Cómo ayudar a las poblaciones sujetas a desarrollar la capacidad de producción de biocombustibles líquidos puede ofrecer una importante solución a la pobreza energética en las comunidades desplazadas de Haití y contribuir a su desarrollo a largo plazo de la autosuficiencia energética.

Proyecto Gaia ha estado trabajando en Haití para promover el etanol y la Estufa CleanCook - una estufa a base de alcohol - como alternativa a las estufas que queman biomasa sólida (es decir, madera, carbón vegetal y briquetas.) El etanol es tan limpia como gas licuado de petróleo, más barata que el carbón, más seguro que el queroseno y tiene más potencial que las briquetas de basura. En África, el Proyecto Gaia ha acumulado más de 2 millones de días de cocinar con la estufa CleanCook sin un solo accidente de cierta importancia.

La pregunta más común que aparezcan durante nuestras conversaciones con los responsables políticos y los empresarios sociales es: ** "¿El suministro de etanol, sea sostenible? Y ¿dónde estaría la oferta provienen de donaciones después tocaban a su fin? "**

Esta es la pregunta clave de la sostenibilidad y la razón de por qué estamos tan interesados en Haití. No sólo fue Haití una vez al líder productor de azúcar y una destilería de etanol de bebidas para la exportación, así como el mercado local, pero también Haití existe en las rutas comerciales durante el cual miles de millones de litros de etanol cada año el flujo de camino a un mercado de combustibles en el los Estados Unidos. Este etanol, sobre todo de Brasil, generalmente el precio más competitivo en el mercado de materias primas, proporcionará una fuente de combustible para Haití-más barato que el petróleo-como Haití acumula su propia producción local (Etiopía Petróleo de datos empresariales). De hecho, el Gobierno brasileño se ha comprometido a donar más de 100.000 litros y un litros otros 400.000 en los próximos dos años.

Douglas F. Barnes, September 2010

We encourage you to check out this blog: Energy for Development and Poverty Reduction

This is a biweekly blog to promote sharing information about to help improve access to quality energy services in developing countries including renewable, modern, biomass and household energy.

Shop Sneakers in Footwear

Sjoerd Nienhuys, April 2009, Revised August 2010

Mobile One Pot ICS

Download the Updated Report

For a few years I have been now and then struggling with the design of the ICS, to overcome some problems of a few users. The attached documents gives the results.

Sjoerd Nienhuys
Hilversum, The Netherlands website: www.nienhuys.info

email one day ahead for activating skype connection

Victor Berrueta, GIRA, August 2010

Web site de la Proyecto PATSARI : http://www.patsari.org/

Alexis T. Belonio, Daniel A. H. Belonio, and Lucio Larano, August 2010

This paper (see attached) describes a continuous-flow rice husk gasifier (CFRHG) designed and developed for various thermal applications such as cooking, drying, kiln firing, baking, and others. The technology follows the principle of a moving-bed, down-draft reactor converting raw rice husks into combustible gases that is rich in carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2).

Different sizes were built and tested in collaboration with the private sector both in the Philippines and in abroad. The gasifier units which were built, tested and evaluated have varying reactor diameter, ranging from 0.40 to 1.20 m with a corresponding power output of 35.7 to 321.2 kWt. The rice husk consumption rate for the different reactor diameters tested ranges from 19 to 169 kg per hour. The specific gasification rate of the gasifiers was found to operate well at 150 kg/hr-m2. The temperature of the gas leaving the reactor varies from 150° to 270°C for all the units tested. The flame temperature reaches as high as 400° to 800°C, depending on the size of the reactor. The bigger the size of the reactor diameter, the higher is the flame temperature. The parasite load varies from 4.2% for the smaller diameter reactor to 1.5% for the bigger model. Combustible gases are generated within 5 to 30 minutes for the different sizes tested. The heating value of the gas ranges from 1200 to 1400 kcal/m3. And, only one person is needed to operate the small gasifier and two persons are needed for the big gasifier model.

Results of the tests showed that the CFRHG is convenient to use and its operation is easily controlled with the use of gas valves. There is no smoke emitted during operation. Black carbon content and tar emissions were found to be very minimal. The char produced can be used for agricultural application and the ash produced can be used for the production of low-cost construction materials.

Christa Roth and Christoph Messinger, August 2010

Existing Charcoal Stove

Improved Charcoal Stove

Improving the Charcoal Stove for Haiti, Stove Camp 2010 (see the Stove Camp Summary for challenge details)

Main points mentioned at the end of the Stove Camp Workshop

1. We need a high turn down ratio.

   To bring water and foods fast to the boil, we need high power in the heat-up phase.
   However, thereafter we commonly need low power for simmering. The stove
   therefore needs to offer the opportunity to turn down the power output drastically.
   Options:

   1. Regulation of primary air supply (e.g. closing door)
   2. The gap between pot and charcoal is increasing over cooking time (shape of char container provides more depth = increased gap to the char)
   3. c) The amount of char available at the end of cooking is reducing (conical shape of char container = less char over time available)
2. We need to reduce heat losses to the bottom and to the side of the stove.

   A char container radiates heat to all sides – not just to the pot. To reduce the amount
   of char used, it is important to reduce the heat losses to the other directions.
   Options:

   1. Bottom of stove: rebounding plate (with holes) in between primary air supply
   2. intake and charcoal container. Thus primary air is channeled through the
   3. heated rebounding plate, taking some heat back into the char container.
   4. Side of the stove: double wall with air in between for insulation.
3. We need to maximize heat harvest from a given amount of charcoal.

   Charcoal burning is mainly influenced by the amount of air available in the char
   container.
   Options:

   1. A vertical spacer in the center of the charcoal container (Lanny Henson’s pig tail”) seemed to increase the availability of air for charcoal combustion.
   2. Additional draft (e.g. forced air) may increase heat generation per time unit. However, this may also increase CO emissions and reduce efficiency of char use.
   3. Secondary air to burn off the CO in a gap between the charcoal and the pot may provide additional heat. However, for this to be beneficial it may not impact on the surface area available for direct radiation from the charcoal to the pot and should not cool down the air in the gap (well preheated secondary air).
4. We need to maximise heat transfer to the pot.

   Generating as much heat as possible out of a given amount of charcoal is one step.
   But another important step is to make sure that most of this heat actually is
   transferred into the cooking pot.
   Options:

   1. “Sunken pot” concept seems to provide best results in terms of heat transfer (Henson stove). Unfortunately, in real life this might not be possible in many work environments.
   2. Best heat transfer is NOT achieved if the pot rests on the char. Optimum is about 1inch away from the char, not closer than that. For Simmer, this could increase to 2-3 inches.
   3. A skirt is highly important to shield the gap area between the pot and the char against the influence of wind. The gap between pot and skirt should bedetermined.

Christa’s Summary of the stove camp