Improved Biomass Cooking Stoves

Fuel from the Fields: A Guide to Converting Agricultural Waste into Charcoal Briquettes Draft

Charcoal Briquette Maker
Amy Smith, D-Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Haiti is in dire need of an alternative fuel source. Currently, wood and wood-based charcoal are the primary cooking fuels in Haiti, but the country 98% deforested. Wood for charcoal is extremely scarce and demand creates soaring fuel prices and environmental devastation. With an average income of about one dollar per day, imported fuels are not a viable option.

Fuel from the Fields: A Case Study of Sugarcane Charcoal Technology in Petite Anse, Haiti
Amy Smith & Shawn Frayne, D-lab Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2004

Design of a Crushing and Agglomeration Process for Manufacturing Bagasse Charcoal
Victoria Y. Fan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, D-Lab, (Amy Smith) June 2006

ABSTRACT

In Haiti, wood and wood charcoal are common fuels for cooking. This practice has contributed to deforestation, leading to erosion and fatal floods. The availability of charcoal made from a different source other than wood, such as agricultural waste, might provide Haitians with an alternative, more sustainable fuel, which in turn may reduce fuel prices. MIT students have developed various methods for producing charcoal out of simple inexpensive devices. In a current manufacturing process, carbonized bagasse is crushed to a powder, then mixed and agglomerated with yucca binder into balls. A novel method may reduce operator exposure and inhalation of charcoal fines by keeping primary manufacturing phases in the oil drum and reducing the operational steps of transferring the material from one location to another. The goal of this thesis was to understand, test, and optimize the parameters of this novel crushing and agglomeration process. The final prototype was found to effectively crushing charcoal and mix charcoal with binder to some extent, while being an inexpensive alternative to reduce overall charcoal exposure. However, the mixing and agglomeration was not sufficiently uniform and further designs should be considered to increase uniformity of mixing of binder and charcoal.

Amy Smith's Canecoal from D-Lab MIT and Haiti
Courtesy of David Whitfield, CEDESOL, Aug 3, 2006

Here is a picture of the charcoal being made and apparently the typical cooker.

Pictures and Drawings of the Swosthee Stove, from Auke Koopmans (Aug 21/98)

SWOSTHEE

Single Pan Wood Stove Of High efficiency A Fuel Efficient
Portable Cookstove,
Svathi Bhogle

Desenvolvimento de Desenhos Inovadores de Defumadores, Fornos e Secadores para uso em Agronegócio

Avaliação de impactos de tecnologias limpas e substituição de combustíveis para cocção em residências urbanas na Tanzânia 2004

Hedon Newsletter
Erin Boyd July 31, 2006

Welcome to the email newsletter of the HEDON Household Energy Network. We hope you will find the information below interesting and useful. Please feel free to forward this email to others that may be interested.

Sample Ring From the Ring Maker
Crispin Pemberton-Pigott, New dawn Engineering, July 30, 2006

Sample Ring From the Ring Maker