Stove Designs

Has anyone experimented with using a bundt shaped pan for improved heat transfer? It is an open topped donut shaped pan usually used for baking cakes. It would have more surface area for better heat transfer. New Arrivals - Check out the latest sneakers at Capital.

Alexis Belonio, Victoriano Ocon, and Antionio Co

Garbage-In Fuel-Out (GIFO) Project,
Suki Trading Corporation, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, Philippines

This project is a cooperation between Suki Trading Corp. and Kanvar Enterprises and the Centre for Rice Husk Technoloy (CRHET).

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. "

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. "

Quoting "Prof. S.C. Bhattacharya" :

Dear all,

I would be happy to share some publications arising from the following
activities at the Asian Institute of Technology:
1. Sida funded Regional project: An information package (including
construction details) on biomass briquetting machines developed in a
number of Asian countries and design of natural- cross-draft gasifier stoves that can operate continuously is available. The briquetting machines developed
were improvements on standard screw-press heated die design. Cross-flow
gasifier stoves were designed for different sizes; these do not need any
blower and can operate continuously without any smoke.

The briquetting and gasifier stove work I mentioned was carried out under a
Sida-sponsored project at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). The
project involved researchers from 12 national research institutes of six
Asian countries, e.g., Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Nepal, Philippines and
Vietnam. The findings of the project were disseminated through national
dissemination seminars in these countries; published "Technology packages"
were distributed widely in the region and are still available for
downloading from the project website. We organized technology transfer
workshops, in which a number of NGOs form the region were invited, on most
of the technologies developed.

(There is no restriction on distribution of the technology packages.)

Unfortunately, the link of the project is not working due to heavy flood in
Thailand; AIT appears to be still under 2 m of water.

2. GTZ funded project on Biocoal: We used the term "Biocoal" (rather than
"Biochar") for charcoal produced from solid organic residues such as
agricultural residues and waste wood. The findings of the project were
reported in a book titled "Biocoal Technology and Economics" by "Regional
Energy Resources Information Center (RERIC)" (email:enreric@ait.ac.th).

The chapters of the 495-page book were:

  • 1. State of the art of biocoal technology,
  • 2. Biocoal technology: A comparison of options and recommendations,
  • 3. Carbonisation of sawdust briquettes,
  • 4. Laboratory-scale batch carbonisation selected residues,
  • 5. Cost and availability of selected residues in Thailand,
  • 6. Characterisation of selected residues,
  • 7.Biocoal: Market requirements and Opportunities in Thailand, and 8. Economics of biocoal production in Thailand.

A few copies of the book are still available with RERIC. A number of
chapters of the book were summarised as journal articles; I will be happy
to
share some of these with interested persons for their personal use and
research purpose.

Other technology packages and published papers of the Sida project can be downloaded from www.retsasia.ait.ac.th. The biomass/stove group may be interested the package on drying, which includes a hybrid drier using solar energy and bioenergy from a gasifier stove, heat output of which could be automatically controlled by using a thermostat.

I also coordinated another regional project (Asian Regional Research Programme in Energy, Environment and Climate, ARRPEEC) funded by Sida in three phases during 1995-2005. One of the 4 projects of ARRPEEC was on biomass. Dissemination booklets of ARRPEEC and some of the papers published can be downloaded from http://www.arrpeec.ait.ac.th

As the United States biomass thermal and power industry continues to expand, new reliable technologies offering higher efficiency solutions must be introduced. The newly introduced EOS series biomass gasification boiler is among the most energy efficient of AESI’s high-performance, low-maintenance biomass energy plants. The EOS series provides thermal outputs ranging from 600,000 BTU/hr to 20 million BTU/hr, and can be staged to provide increased capacity.

Designed and built by the leaders in the biomass waste to energy market in Europe, Uniconfort, the EOS series builds upon over 50 years of experience and over 4000 successful installations throughout the world. When asked about the highly efficient EOS series, CEO of Uniconfort Davis Zinetti notes, “we must not forget that greater efficiency is associated with less CO2 production. Choosing EOS, therefore, means making a choice in favor of the environment.”

Mussie T. (Lecturer at Mekelle University, Ethiopia), October, 2011

This is a Natural Draft Gasifier stove, that is designed with a central column of air that is designed to burn more common Ethopian fuels, e.g. coffee husk and saw-dust (cow dung binder) briquettes in addition to more conventional wood chips.

the air column is drilled on the surface so as to let additional primary air radially into the fuel at different stages to compensate for air clotting that can occur when run with small sized fuel as you go up from along fuel column. This helps the flaming pyrolysis from being air starved due to interlocking of fuel particles. In addition to that, closely spaced holes of relatively larger size were made near the top of the central air column to supply more hot post‐pyrolysis secondary air. The presence of two hot secondary air admission points is meant to supply enough air while keeping the stove short with reduced heat loss.

Once the stove has enough fuel, it is typically started with wood chips, or an accelerant to help the briquettes light, and then in all of the trials it burned without smoke until the fuel tank was filled with charcoal (typically between 60 and 90 minutes later). This is a biochar-producing stove, the stove does not efficiently combust it. Friability and the composition of the char depended upon the feedstocks.

For an excellent analysis of the stove, and pictures of the biochar, please see the included Report: Results from Preliminary Experiments Conducted on Multi‐level
Primary Air Entry Gasifier Stove

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

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.

Biochar Industries part of Biochar Project in Kunghur Australia is now selling Biochar TLUD cook stoves as part of our plan to make more people aware of the benefits of biochar.

TLUD is an acronym for Top Lit Up Draught meaning you lite it at the top and the air is sucked up through the fire. Fantastic device that is light to carry and will work with all woods great survival tool . The best feature of this Tlud is when the flames go out you then have biochar. All you have to do is drop the embers on the ground and spray some water on them so they don’t continue to burn.

This particular model was imported from India and has a very nice finish and somehow I ended up with some to sell so I wanted to let my readers know first before I start selling them at stores and markets.

More on TLUD stoves http://www.drtlud.com/
FASHION NEWS

Jock Gill, May, 2011

Jock has updated his iCan instructions on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jockgill/sets/72157626640937954/

from Jock's email:

The triplets of triplets in the secondary air supply is a significant improvement.

The 18-12-6 iCan now has much greater total time with a very well behaved flame and an air fuel mixture that is lean to good for most of the run.
There are still several minutes of a too rich mixture that does emit some soot.

Run time on 350 grams was 27:45, most of the smoke was gone within 2 minutes, just two floaters, and the biochar had a good clean nose. This is about as good as I have gotten so far.

From
From
From
From

Avani charcoal stove http://avanicharcoalstove.blogspot.com/ is designed using the most common empty oil tin cans (15 liters) available in parts of India. Steel mesh, rods and a forged iron grate are also used. This stove can be made with less skills. The steel wire mesh used inside, protects the tin as well draws in air. Other liners like clay, and any other material can also be tried. Recently trained women and youth in its production at Avani - an organization at Berinag, Pittoragarh District, Uttarakhand (Himalayas), India. Here the pine needle charcoal briquettes are used. This stove has some common features of My Home Stove 2. http://myhomestove2.blogspot.com/ This is light weight, requires less skills to make it, convenient for adoption.

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.

Ray Menke

My wife and I made a short video showing how we make Pita Bread using a version of this stove design. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOuoE2KAbQI

Jock Gill, April 2011
Peacham, Vermont, usa


My little iCan made from a 3 lbs Costco coffee can boiled 1.75 liters of water in 42 minutes this afternoon. Ambient temp was 47 [8.33C]. This was done in 5 batches averaging 350 ml each. A very clean burn. Some soot at the start of each batch when the water was cold. Just a soon as the water in the cup warmed up a bit, the soot stopped.

Of course I also made some biochar as well.

Fuel was a good quality wood pellet. Cost of fuel: about 17 cents assuming pellets at $230 per ton. They can be bought for a good deal less, but I am using a higher number to be safe.

Cost per liter boiled: ~ 7.4 cents, allowing 4 cents as the value of the biochar captured at the rate of 17.5% of the dry weight of the fuel.

a high efficency charcoal stove for small buisness's, cook wihile standing up and it has built in ash catchers. only 9,000Ksh (appx. 130$)

Kobus Venter put together a great article that helps define the Rocket Stove. Please take a look at it on his web site: http://vuthisa.com/2011/03/21/what-is-a-rocket-stove/

Gustavo Pena, Stove Team International
and Larry Winiarski

This is a Hybrid Combustion Rocket, TLUD stove designed for practical use with the help of Larry Winiarski, and with Gustavo Peña of Stove Team International.

See also:

Gustavo Pena, Stove Team International
and Larry Winiarski

This is a Hybrid Combustion Rocket, TLUD stove designed for practical use with the help of Larry Winiarski, and with Gustavo Peña of Stove Team International.

See also:

Alexis Belonio, Bima Tahar, and Bonny Minang

A super low-cost, blue-flame rice husk gas stove was recently developed in Indonesia to provide households with an affordable clean-burning cooking device using rice husks as fuel.

Within the 3 years of development on rice husk gasifier stove, PT Minang Jordanindo Approtech has finally come up with the super low-cost, blue-flame rice husk gas stove carrying a selling price of US$10 to 15, which is very much cheaper as compared with the previous model with a selling price of US$20. With this development, consumers don’t need to amortize for the stove, as what is currently practiced in villages in Indonesia, for them to acquire a unit of the stove in order for them to save money on fuel. Moreover, this stove is now made available to end users at a low cost, freeing the distributors from the task of devising financing schemes just to make the technology affordable to the local households.

As shown, the stove consists of only few parts. It was designed and made so simple to maximize the use of materials and to simplify the production using locally available resources. This stove model has the following basic parts: (a) the casing is made of tin can and can be bought at a very low price from a Can Factory; (b) the reactor can be subcontracted from a sheet metal manufacturer as well as the stove cover
and the burner; (c) the fan, which uses DC 12 volt, 2 watt supplies the required air to gasify rice husks. The flame coming out of the burner is bluish in color, which indicates a very clean gas. It has low black carbon emission of about 50 ug/m3 and below. The CO2 emission is about 0.6 kg CO2 per kg rice husks.

Crispin Pemberton‐Pigott October, 2008
Sustainable Energy Technology and Research Centre University of Johannesbrg 
Programme for Basic Energy Conservation GTZ/ProBEC a SADC Regional Project 

See the attached pdf: CERAMIC DEVELOPMENT FOR DOMESTIC STOVES 

Also take a look at Crispin's very good ceramic stove image galleries.

It is intended that this brief report describe in an accessible manner the results of some basic research into the performance of ceramic materials suitable for use to make modern, low‐cost improved charcoal stoves. The 
theatre of investigation is the area around Maputo, Moçambique. 

 The information and ideas are assembled from a large number of tests and reports. If studied carefully an understanding can be gained of the 
principle ingredients found in typical clays. It is hoped enough can also
 be learned about what the tests show so as to interest the ‘stover’ in a 
deeper study of this vast subject.  

Some reasons why clay stoves and stove components typically have such a 
short life are described and to a certain extent, what can be done about 
it.   

There is a great deal of material available on how to find, identify and 
process clays such as pottery books and the internet. It is not repeated 
here.  Unfortunately very little of the material available is geared to 
the design of low cost ceramics stoves which have problems not encountered
 in many industrial applications with far higher temperatures.  

Ceramics are complex mixtures of many minerals so it is not possible to 
give comprehensive explanations in such a brief text, however the novice 
reader should learn enough to be able to deal with a laboratory and 
understand some common terminology and the test results.  There have been
 many technological advances in recent years making accessible tests and 
analyses that were previously unaffordable to the ordinary potter.

The "Easy 5 Gallon Bucket Rocket Stove", is very easy to build. All materials anyone needs to cook a good hot meal is a metal 5 gallon bucket, some stove pipe and vermiculite, pearlite or similar insulation (even "wood ash" can be used). Since the insulation separates the heat from the housing, almost ALL of the flame and heat is directed up to the cooking pot or utensil. Almost NO heat is wasted, making it one of the most efficient rocket stoves I've seen. Definitely one one the EASIEST to build and transport!

Ron Ray

Robert V. Lange, February, 2011

Robert Lange, and the team from the ICSEE has been working in cooperation with the local Maasai leadership to bring both improved cookstoves and improved light and radio access to their people, as well as the training to install and repair their own stoves and PVC systems.

This project does a great job of teaching the women of the Maasai tribes to build their own improved rocket style stoves using local materials, and relatively small sections of steel and rebar to improve the durability of the local ceramic brick. The women are clearly proud of their new stoves, and their ability to repair, and move the stoves as needed, and even better than that - the neighbors are jealous and motivated to learn and build as well.

More information is available on their web site: http://www.maasaistovessolar.org

More information about the project methodology, and other ICSEE Projects can be found on the ICSEE web site:
http://www.the-icsee.org/projects/africa/villageprojects.htm
and the Villages Project web site: http://www.villageprojectsint.org/

Christa Roth, February, 2011

Dear all, find below the links to new publications by GIZ HERA poverty-oriented basic energy services, among them the manual on Micro-gasification: Cooking with gas from biomass. For queries please refer to the respective authors or Michael Blunck from HERA.

the HERA web site

Micro-gasification: Cooking with gas from biomass

- new link : https://energypedia.info/wiki/File:Micro_Gasification_Cooking_with_gas_f...

Micro-gasifiers: much more than „just another improved cook stove”. In this new HERA handbook, Christa Roth provides an introduction to the concept and the application of wood-gas burning technologies for cooking.

Modern Energy Services for Modern Agriculture. A Review for Smallholder Farming in Developing Countries.
http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/giz2011-en-energy-services-for-modern-agr...
This publication provides an overview on energy inputs required in different steps of the agricultural production chain, such as production, post-harvest and storage, processing, and commercialization.

Small-scale Electricity Generation from Biomass – Part III: Vegetable Oil
http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/giz2011-en-small-scale-electricity-genera...
In the third and final part of HERA’s paper series on power generation from biomass, GIZ and non-GIZ experience with electricity production from vegetable oils is compiled. While from a technology point-of-view, plant oils constitute a very viable option for off-grid power generation in developing countries, their sustainable application in daily operation for rural electrification projects still remains rare. The paper identifies remaining bottlenecks and provides recommendations for future electrification projects based on plant oil.

Carbon Markets for Improved Cooking Stoves – Revised Edition: January 2011
http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/giz2011-en-carbon-markets-for-improved-st...
After receiving a lot of positive feedback for the 2010 edition of the carbon market guidebook for cooking stove projects, HERA has come up with a major revision for 2011. Besides a large number of minor corrections and updates, a new chapter on “Implementing a Carbon-funded Cooking Stove Project” with information on how to practically design a carbon-funded stove project has been added. The chapter includes information on stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities, the CDM-PoA approach, recommendations on the use of carbon revenues as well as an overview on expected costs and revenues from a stove project on the carbon market.

Christa Roth, February, 2011

Dear all, find below the links to new publications by GIZ HERA poverty-oriented basic energy services, among them the manual on Micro-gasification: Cooking with gas from biomass. For queries please refer to the respective authors or Michael Blunck from HERA.

the HERA web site

Micro-gasification: Cooking with gas from biomass

- new link : https://energypedia.info/wiki/File:Micro_Gasification_Cooking_with_gas_f...

Micro-gasifiers: much more than „just another improved cook stove”. In this new HERA handbook, Christa Roth provides an introduction to the concept and the application of wood-gas burning technologies for cooking.

Modern Energy Services for Modern Agriculture. A Review for Smallholder Farming in Developing Countries.
http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/giz2011-en-energy-services-for-modern-agr...
This publication provides an overview on energy inputs required in different steps of the agricultural production chain, such as production, post-harvest and storage, processing, and commercialization.

Small-scale Electricity Generation from Biomass – Part III: Vegetable Oil
http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/giz2011-en-small-scale-electricity-genera...
In the third and final part of HERA’s paper series on power generation from biomass, GIZ and non-GIZ experience with electricity production from vegetable oils is compiled. While from a technology point-of-view, plant oils constitute a very viable option for off-grid power generation in developing countries, their sustainable application in daily operation for rural electrification projects still remains rare. The paper identifies remaining bottlenecks and provides recommendations for future electrification projects based on plant oil.

Carbon Markets for Improved Cooking Stoves – Revised Edition: January 2011
http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/giz2011-en-carbon-markets-for-improved-st...
After receiving a lot of positive feedback for the 2010 edition of the carbon market guidebook for cooking stove projects, HERA has come up with a major revision for 2011. Besides a large number of minor corrections and updates, a new chapter on “Implementing a Carbon-funded Cooking Stove Project” with information on how to practically design a carbon-funded stove project has been added. The chapter includes information on stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities, the CDM-PoA approach, recommendations on the use of carbon revenues as well as an overview on expected costs and revenues from a stove project on the carbon market.

Tom Miles, ETHOS Conference 2011
Kirkland, Washington, USA January 28th ~ 30th, 2011

The ETHOS Stoves Conference was last weekend, and it included demonstrations by some of the stove makers and manufactures, with the opportunity to talk to the people using and inventing the stoves.

Here are some of the stand-outs from the demonstrations area, click on an image to view it in a larger size.

The Shark Stove presented by John and Flip Anderson. Notice the even cooking on the pancakes, that even heat is partially due the ceramic shark teeth construction just under the cooking surface. This is primarily a stick burning stove with both a plancha (even cooking surface) and pot rests.

Jatropha Seed TLUD (Top, lit, updraft design, using natural draft - no fan) by
Pamoja (http://www.pamoja.net/protree_jatropha.html) and Jet City Stoveworks ( http://jetcitystoveworks.com/ ). Abely demonstrated by David Otto.

Paul Anderson dexterously burning Jatropha seeds (out of doors) in the Woodgas Stove ( http://woodgas.com/bookSTOVE.htm ) designed by Tom Reed. This is a light weight gasifying stove (minus the pot rest in the picture) that uses a small electric fan.
Boiling water in the Charbelle, presented by Peter Scott. The Charbelle is a Charcoal cooking stove designed by the Burn Design Lab ( http://www.burndesignlab.org/our-stoves/ ) for use in Haiti.

This stove features an abrasion and thermal shock resistant ceramic liner surrounded by sheet metal cladding. The stove is currently being mass produced and sold in Kenya. The stove has been very well received, earning top marks from consumers.



Ryan with StoveTec was demonstrating the StoveTec Stove ( http://www.stovetec.net/us/ ) an Ashden Award winning cook stove that can either be used with stick wood or charcoal.

The institutional version of the StoveTec Stove for use in schools and other organizations, has an attached chimney and an a pressure cooker version. The pressure cooker is useful to shorten cooking times, and the fuel consumption, when cooking beans and small grains.

The Nomad PrePac ( http://www.preppac.net/ ) Bio-fuel Camp Stove burning stick wood. This is an ultra-light stove designed to burn small amounts of fuel for camping or for emergency preparedness.

the PEMS emissions testing was happening at ETHOS (of course), Larry Winiarski is in the background in these pictures.

Tom Miles, ETHOS Conference 2011
Kirkland, Washington, USA January 28th ~ 30th, 2011

The ETHOS Stoves Conference was last weekend, and it included demonstrations by some of the stove makers and manufactures, with the opportunity to talk to the people using and inventing the stoves.

Here are some of the stand-outs from the demonstrations area, click on an image to view it in a larger size.

The Shark Stove presented by John and Flip Anderson. Notice the even cooking on the pancakes, that even heat is partially due the ceramic shark teeth construction just under the cooking surface. This is primarily a stick burning stove with both a plancha (even cooking surface) and pot rests.

Jatropha Seed TLUD (Top, lit, updraft design, using natural draft - no fan) by
Pamoja (http://www.pamoja.net/protree_jatropha.html) and Jet City Stoveworks ( http://jetcitystoveworks.com/ ). Abely demonstrated by David Otto.

Paul Anderson dexterously burning Jatropha seeds (out of doors) in the Woodgas Stove ( http://woodgas.com/bookSTOVE.htm ) designed by Tom Reed. This is a light weight gasifying stove (minus the pot rest in the picture) that uses a small electric fan.
Boiling water in the Charbelle, presented by Peter Scott. The Charbelle is a Charcoal cooking stove designed by the Burn Design Lab ( http://www.burndesignlab.org/our-stoves/ ) for use in Haiti.

This stove features an abrasion and thermal shock resistant ceramic liner surrounded by sheet metal cladding. The stove is currently being mass produced and sold in Kenya. The stove has been very well received, earning top marks from consumers.



Ryan with StoveTec was demonstrating the StoveTec Stove ( http://www.stovetec.net/us/ ) an Ashden Award winning cook stove that can either be used with stick wood or charcoal.

The institutional version of the StoveTec Stove for use in schools and other organizations, has an attached chimney and an a pressure cooker version. The pressure cooker is useful to shorten cooking times, and the fuel consumption, when cooking beans and small grains.

The Nomad PrePac ( http://www.preppac.net/ ) Bio-fuel Camp Stove burning stick wood. This is an ultra-light stove designed to burn small amounts of fuel for camping or for emergency preparedness.

the PEMS emissions testing was happening at ETHOS (of course), Larry Winiarski is in the background in these pictures.

Tom Miles, ETHOS Conference 2011
Kirkland, Washington, USA January 28th ~ 30th, 2011

The ETHOS Stoves Conference was last weekend, and it included demonstrations by some of the stove makers and manufactures, with the opportunity to talk to the people using and inventing the stoves.

Here are some of the stand-outs from the demonstrations area, click on an image to view it in a larger size.

The Shark Stove presented by John and Flip Anderson. Notice the even cooking on the pancakes, that even heat is partially due the ceramic shark teeth construction just under the cooking surface. This is primarily a stick burning stove with both a plancha (even cooking surface) and pot rests.

Jatropha Seed TLUD (Top, lit, updraft design, using natural draft - no fan) by
Pamoja (http://www.pamoja.net/protree_jatropha.html) and Jet City Stoveworks ( http://jetcitystoveworks.com/ ). Abely demonstrated by David Otto.

Paul Anderson dexterously burning Jatropha seeds (out of doors) in the Woodgas Stove ( http://woodgas.com/bookSTOVE.htm ) designed by Tom Reed. This is a light weight gasifying stove (minus the pot rest in the picture) that uses a small electric fan.
Boiling water in the Charbelle, presented by Peter Scott. The Charbelle is a Charcoal cooking stove designed by the Burn Design Lab ( http://www.burndesignlab.org/our-stoves/ ) for use in Haiti.

This stove features an abrasion and thermal shock resistant ceramic liner surrounded by sheet metal cladding. The stove is currently being mass produced and sold in Kenya. The stove has been very well received, earning top marks from consumers.



Ryan with StoveTec was demonstrating the StoveTec Stove ( http://www.stovetec.net/us/ ) an Ashden Award winning cook stove that can either be used with stick wood or charcoal.

The institutional version of the StoveTec Stove for use in schools and other organizations, has an attached chimney and an a pressure cooker version. The pressure cooker is useful to shorten cooking times, and the fuel consumption, when cooking beans and small grains.

The Nomad PrePac ( http://www.preppac.net/ ) Bio-fuel Camp Stove burning stick wood. This is an ultra-light stove designed to burn small amounts of fuel for camping or for emergency preparedness.

the PEMS emissions testing was happening at ETHOS (of course), Larry Winiarski is in the background in these pictures.

hello,

I wish to promote some of your product especially the stove and its boi fuel in my country as part of my contributions to the charity home. how do i go about this? My name is Dada Ayobami, a Nigerian, Manager of Alugoke nig limited(hydro-works)

A small cafe on the edge of the maasai mara reserve in S.W Kenya that have switched to Cookswell Ovens, they bake about 80 loaves of bread a day along with cupcakes and then roast chicken and meat. per day they use appx 6kgs of charcoal for ALL the cooking. they also use a No 14 KCJ for boiling and frying needs.

6 people are now employed in a almost smokeless kitchen, before they bought a jiko, all thier cooking was done on a 3 stone fire and they used about 25kgs of firewood.

Cook, save money, eat well.

Cookswell Ovens
http://www.kenyacharcoal.blogspot.com

The Kitengela Arboretum Promoting sustainable agro-energy technologies and conservation education. Kenya Seeds of Change An initiative contributing towards national afforestation through direct seeding of woodlots. Concept Compiled by: Teddy M. Kinyanjui Sustainability Consultant Kitengela Arboretum Po. Box 23058 Lower Kabete Nairobi, Kenya. April 2009

**Kenya Seeds of Change**
*Overview*
The degraded state of Kenya’s national and private forests (and therefore, the overall environmental health of the country) borders on the point of no return. Unless large scale forestry efforts are undertaken by both the public and private sector in the next few years, the damage that has been done to the countries forests will become irreversible. Due to the slow pace of natural regeneration of forests (as compared to their exploitation), a boost is sorely needed to meet current and future demands by Kenya’s ever growing population for sustainably grown wood by-products, especially the charcoal and firewood that is used daily by 80% of the country’s population.
The Kenya Seeds Of Change initiative aims to contribute towards national afforestaion by land owners through the countrywide sales of inexpensive tree seeds and the promotion of direct seeding woodlot establishment. Seeds are by far the best method of promoting wide scale tree planting in Kenya. These are some of the benefits from the direct planting of tree seeds compared to planting seedlings:

  • Seeds are Cheaper! (At roughly 0.25cents per tree compared to 20+ shillings per seedling)
  • The tree’s hardiness and survivability increases.
  • Thousands of seeds can be transported and stored much more easily then thousands of seedlings can until the planting time comes.
  • Seeds can be massively disseminated through existing retail outlets with minimal price increments from producer to consumer. Tree seedlings face problems of availability at the right time, dissemination logistics etc.
  • Partially domesticated indigenous tree species are best grown from seed. They are already adapted to Kenya’s climate, soils and pests and the trees are currently widely used and understood by the population.
  • Seeds simplify the enhancement of the genetic diversity of planted woodlots.
  • The above/below ground biomass ratio is more conducive to healthy growth when a tree is planted from seed.
  • Overall financial losses and risks from drought, animals etc. are significantly less under direct seeding.

Limited Access to Good Seed

  • From large commercial plantations to small scale rural and urban farmers, the access to purchase certified tree seeds according to their growing zones and uses is extremely limited to anyone who would like to plant trees.
  • Currently the only place to buy graded, certified tree seeds is at KEFRI (The Kenya Forestry Research Institute), located in Muguga, on the outskirts of Nairobi.
  • In contrast all the Nakumatt and Uchumi supermarket chains and all of the Agro-Vets in small or large towns and cities stock a variety of seeds ie. sukuma wiki (Kale) and maize etc.
  • Which of course raises the question; why don’t they all stock small packages of tree seeds that are suited to their market base?

This is what the Kenya Seeds of Change initiative has been started to get done.

Art Donnelly, December, 2010

Mas que Cafe (on YouTube)

(Produced, shot and edited by Majo Calderon & Carlos Herrera
http://www.biodieseldiaries.com )

D. Ariho, P. Tumutegyereize and K. Bechtel, Uganda December 2010

The Project was concerned with the evaluation of the energy efficiencies of commonly available biomass
fuels in Uganda in a “Champion-2008” Top Lit Updraft (TLUD) gasifier stove. Selected biomass fuels included; Eucalyptus wood from plantations, maize cobs (agro-waste), papyrus, spear grass, noncarbonized briquettes (agro-waste and sawdust) and off-grade jatropha seeds. Moisture content
measurement of biomass fuels was determined using oven-dry method. The energy efficiencies of the
biomass fuels in the “Champion-2008” TLUD gasifier stove lied between 12 and 19%. Maize cobs had the highest energy efficiency of 18.40% and spear grass had the lowest of 12.64%. Maize cobs and papyrus were not significantly different from Eucalyptus wood. Non-carbonized briquettes and off-grade jatropha seeds had a higher operation time compared to the rest of the selected biomass fuels though faced with a problem of higher starting time but able to perform when started. The results obtained indicate that a variety of biomass fuels in Uganda can perform well in the “Champion-2008” TLUD gasifier stove, thus the need for adoption to combat deforestation problem.

See the attached report
http://www.bioenergylists.org/files/BIOMASS FUELS IN A TLUD GASIFIER STOVE.pdf (in pdf) for more detail.

From Art's Preface:
Buenas,
Just a quick note from Costa Rica. Our Estufa Finca (a large TLUD) team is two weeks into preparing for a 10 week pilot project. Working with SALTRA and a program at the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, we will be installing 50 , locally produced stoves with migrant coffee bean pickers.

I want to side with Paal on this very important point. Our stoves can have the best looking numbers in the lab. But if people won't use them it doesn't make much difference does it. The stove design we are using has been jointly developed by myself, my Central American partners (esp. the women who are building them APORTES), but most esp. by listening very carefully to the people who we hope to benefit. Much of the feed back has been in regard to the fuels issue. These people do not have access to chips or pellets, we are not going to get them to make briquttes, etc... so instead we have given them a fuel chamber easy to load with sticks, sugar cane bagasse, etc. and powerful enough to cook for the typically large extended families. This process stared in August 2009, there are currently 20 of our stoves being used in CR and Nicaragua, the feedback has been very positive. The pilot project is simply a continuation of that process. We are going to be using the KPT version 3.0 protocol, with some customization to monitor 30 stoves. All of us on the team are looking forward to adding more TLUD based stoves to our line. But this approach is showing us what will get used in the real world.

File attachments: 

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

Victor Berrueta, GIRA, August 2010

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

Christa Roth and Christoph Messinger, August 2010

Existing Charcoal Stove

Existing Charcoal StoveImproved 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

Observation and necessary action Derived Design Principles
Charcoal radiates heat to all
sides: as much can radiate
towards the bottom of the stoves
as can radiate upwards towards
the pot.

Action:
Avoid loss of radiating and
conducting heat from charcoal
that is not directed towards the
pot.

  • Add space between the charcoal grate and other stove parts: Lift the charcoal grate slightly off the bottom of the stove and increase the space to the sides of the stove.
  • Limit the places where the hot grate can conduct heat to other stove parts.
  • Add a deflector plate between charcoal chamber and the stove bottom to radiate heat back upwards.
  • Insulate the stove bottom to prevent heat loss through the bottom.
  • Insulate sides of the stove.
  • Regain heat through air circulation (air cooling of stove) by passing air through heated stove parts thus preheating air entering the combustion system. This can be by passing primary air through the deflector plate below the grate and/or secondary air through a gap between double side walls of the stove.
Charcoal combusts in function of the available oxygen. Thus heat generation is a function of
air supply to the charcoal grate.

Action: get the right amount of air to the charcoal grate. To little will choke the combustion, too much will cool the flue gases.

If power of the stove is too low, increase air supply by

  • making more holes in the grate.
  • adding a ‘Henson pig-tail’ vertical air-pass through the charcoal bed.

Do not pile the charcoal up too high, as this will restrict air flow through the charcoal bed (this is influenced as well by the shape and particle size of the charcoal chunks).

The combustion of charcoal goes from oxidizing C to CO, then in
a subsequent step from CO to CO2.

CO is a toxic gas and has still considerable energy value. Ensuring a complete combustion
will increase energy output and reduce toxic emissions.
Action: avoid CO emissions.

Charcoal radiates heat but there is also considerable convection of hot flue gases.
Action:
Optimize transfer of created heat into the pot.
Avoid obstructions between the radiating charcoal bed and the bottom of the pot (increase
the view factor of the charcoal seeing the pot).

Dean Still, August 2010

One fine rainy morning two fine fellows from StrawJet (http://www.strawjet.com) , an Oregon company that makes equipment to bundle agricultural waste in Malawi, wandered into the lab and asked if it’s
possible to make a stove that uses bundled corn stalks to cook food. I said that I thought it was possible and after some conversation and testing of prototypes StrawJet put up a $250 prize to encourage Stove Camp participants to make it so.

Burning corn stalks leaves quite a bit of ash that does not fall apart but keeps its shape.
For this reason stoves must be adapted to deal with a lot of solid ash. Two types of stoves
were tested: 1.) A Jon Anderson Rocket Stove with lots of draft and a grate and 2.) Two
large TLUDs built by Paul Anderson and Art Donnelley that were vertically loaded.


Participants voted for the best stove that, in their opinion, was most effective. Jon
Anderson won the 2010 Cat Piss Award for a tall Rocket stove made entirely from found
materials that successfully burned the bundled corn stalks. The hope is that a pilot test
could be conducted in Malawi. If so, we’ll pass along the results.

Jon and his wife Flip have been in Haiti recently for three months helping folks to build
these kinds of Rocket stoves. They are beautiful, dedicated people, who like many folk at
Stove Camp, deserve real praise and adoration. I’m happy to send them some of both and
congratulations for making a wonderful stove!

Dean Still, August 2010

One fine rainy morning two fine fellows from StrawJet (http://www.strawjet.com) , an Oregon company that makes equipment to bundle agricultural waste in Malawi, wandered into the lab and asked if it’s
possible to make a stove that uses bundled corn stalks to cook food. I said that I thought it was possible and after some conversation and testing of prototypes StrawJet put up a $250 prize to encourage Stove Camp participants to make it so.

Burning corn stalks leaves quite a bit of ash that does not fall apart but keeps its shape.
For this reason stoves must be adapted to deal with a lot of solid ash. Two types of stoves
were tested: 1.) A Jon Anderson Rocket Stove with lots of draft and a grate and 2.) Two
large TLUDs built by Paul Anderson and Art Donnelley that were vertically loaded.


Participants voted for the best stove that, in their opinion, was most effective. Jon
Anderson won the 2010 Cat Piss Award for a tall Rocket stove made entirely from found
materials that successfully burned the bundled corn stalks. The hope is that a pilot test
could be conducted in Malawi. If so, we’ll pass along the results.

Jon and his wife Flip have been in Haiti recently for three months helping folks to build
these kinds of Rocket stoves. They are beautiful, dedicated people, who like many folk at
Stove Camp, deserve real praise and adoration. I’m happy to send them some of both and
congratulations for making a wonderful stove!

Stoves Camp 2010, Cottage Grove Oregon

Stoves Camp ParticipantsStoves Camp Participants

Fifty two high energy participants attended Stove Camp this year at Colgan’s Island, camping near the river, making and testing stoves, and listening to Fred’s Big Band harmonize so beautifully. Fred and his volunteers cooked breakfast every morning and dinners at nighttime parties on Rocket and TLUD institutional stoves.


Nick Salmons from International Lifeline Fund made a very successful Haitian charcoal stove that was voted “Best in Class” by his peers!

Stove Camp provides a venue for a gathered scientific community to advance knowledge of biomass cook stoves. Participants made new stoves and tested them daily for fuel use and emissions. Every morning the test data was shared and new stoves were constructed.

This year, a great deal of progress was made on charcoal stoves for Haiti. Camp participants, some of whom have worked in Haiti,designed a two-hour Water Boiling Test for Haiti, which uses a Haiti pot
and mimics a typical cooking task, cooking rice and beans. Charcoal stoves were constructed that used less fuel and produced less carbon monoxide compared to traditional Haitian stoves.

See the attached Stoves Camp Report for details of the tests, the interesting findings about the optimum charcoal to use for each stove, and pictures of the stoves tested.

The stoves design and principles are explained with simple sketchs. Many stove designs are existing, but most common designs are presented here.

The stoves design and principles are explained with simple sketchs. Many stove designs are existing, but most common designs are presented here.

The stoves design and principles are explained with simple sketchs. Many stove designs are existing, but most common designs are presented here.

**I am looking to get some Anila stove units in India for some small-scale trials http://biocharinnovation.wordpress.com/ - if you can help please get in touch asap with sarah.carter [at] ed.ac.uk**

Testing of the Sampanda stove in Cambodia 12.07.2010
Sarah Carter, UK Biochar Research Centre

See http://www.bioenergylists.org/content/testing-andersons-tl for a similar test on Anderson's TLUD, and http://www.bioenergylists.org/content/testing-everythingni for testing of EverythingNice stove, and Anila stove http://www.bioenergylists.org/content/testing-anila-stove.

Stove: Sampanda stove. Produced by the [Samuchit Enviro Tech Pvt Ltd](http://www.samuchit.com/) in India.
Test: A water boiling test (time to boil 2.5 litres of water, in a pan without a lid)
Location: The Iron Workshop, Siem Reap. A well ventilated building – 2 surrounding walls, and a roof. Wind conditions were low, but blustery at times.

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