Africa

Tanzania: Jatropha now becomes national project
The Arusha Times, Issue 00414, April 8 - 14, 2006 issn 0856 - 9135

The First Sixbricks Rocket Stove in Darfur
Ken Goyer, AID Africa, Dan Wolf, International Lifeline Fund,September 4, 2006

Yesterday we had our first demonstration of the SixBricks Rocket stove in North Darfur. We had successfully fired about 1,000 of our special lightweight bricks using a local brickmaker, and now we have now started to show off the stove. Our first demonstration was a huge success. While the demonstration was intended to show the stove to a few nonprofit organizations, about 100 women came and took over the cooking action.The local staple food, aceda, was made in the largest round bottomed pot and then meat and sauces were cooked in other pots. The surprise was that after cooking this large and rather complicated meal, two thirds of it was handed over the fence and spirited away into a hut where some men were gathered. So the women were left with very little to taste. None the less they were very happy with the performance of the stove.

The political situation here remains touchy and for various reasons we will not travel to Kebkabia. Instead, we will stay here and work in El Fasher for now. Next, we hope to start a demonstration stove project in a camp which is actually a part of El Fasher. This way, access is easier, and it is safer, and still there are 32,000 people there, desperate for fuel with no trees in sight. Traveling even to the closest outside camp requires permits and permission and some worry about personal security or at least the theft of your vehicle by various rebel groups.

I have attached two photos to this email. The first one is of the stove and the second one is looking the other way at the crowd. Dan Wolf, founder and director of the International Lifeline Fund, and the benefactor of this project, has decided to rename the stove the "Miracle" Stove. I told him that it should be called the "Science" Stove, but that name just doesn't have quite the same ring.

Thanks to everybody who has made the invention and development and dissemination of this stove possible. The fruits of our labor are about to ripen.

Best regards, Ken Goyer
sneakers

Maputo Ceramic Stove Images August 23, 2006
Crispin Pemberton-Pigott, New Dawn Engineering, August 23, 2006

Crispin has provided us with the following images of his new MCS 200 stove.

MCS 200 Profile ViewMCS 200 Profile View

MCS 200 Top ViewMCS 200 Top View

MCS 200 Top View Grate OutMCS 200 Top View Grate Out

MCS 200 Bottom View No GrateMCS 200 Bottom View No Grate

MCS 200 Bottom View 9 Hole Grate200 Bottom View 8 Web 9 Holes

MCS 200 11 Hole vs 9 HoleMCS 200 11 Hole vs 9 Hole

MCS 200 1150C vs 800CMCS 200 1150C vs 800C

MCS 200 1160 Hold vs 1150MCS 200 1160 Hold vs 1150
MCS 200 - 2 After 2 Hr Test BurnMCS 200 - 2 After 2 Hr Test Burn

Note: Click images to enlarge

Glazed Maputo Ceramic Stove
Crispin Pemberton-Pigott, New Dawn Engineering, August 23, 2006

Glazed Maputo Ceramic StoveGlazed Maputo Ceramic Stove

Click to enlarge image

Dear Friends

This is a picture of a glazed MCS 200 (200 mm in diameter) which was made this week in Maputo.

The idea is that the stove should not look 'like a ceramic stove' but more like a casserole or a serving dish, something perhaps one would find in a kitchen rather than out in a shed.

First test of the Maputo Ceramic Stove
Crispin Pemberton-Pigott, New Dawn Engineering, August 20, 2006

MCS200MCS200

Note: click image to enlarge.

Dear Friends

I have completed a test of the first fully formed Maputo Ceramic Stove (MCS) with 3 litres of water and initially a bit more than 300 gm of charcoal. The unit in the pictures is the final version.

The test was done without any skirt or under-tray to improve efficiency, just a pot and lid sitting on a simple stove.

The water boiled in exactly 30 minutes even though the stove body was wet from being washed (oops).

The specific fuel consumption calculated on the basis of water remaining at the time of boiling (good idea) and water remaining at the end of the simmer (something I think is weird) is:

48 gm per litre of water boiled
16.5 gm per litre simmered at 1 degree below the local boiling point for 45 minutes.

This translates into about 324 gm to boil and simmer 5 litres of water, depending on how you calculate it.

The stove was easy to use. I closed the air hole when it boiled and otherwise did not touch anything at any time.

There was more than 140 gm of charcoal left in the stove at the end of the test. This means it had too much in it to begin with. I was unable to get the temperature to drop below almost the boiling point so I think if it was done again with perhaps 200 or 250 gm of fuel it would come out with a better figure.

The stove in the photos will cost about $3 to manufacture profitably. The material is very low thermal expansion PK11 clay mix fired at 1150 degrees. The whole stove weighs 2230 grammes. The material cost about US$0.40. The grate is removable. The two parts can be formed in a manual press like the Ring Maker.

Maputo Ceramic Stove - 2 samples fired differently
Crispin Pemberton-Pigott, New Dawn Engineering, Swaziland, August 18, 2006

Dear Clay Stove Makers

I am forwarding a photo of two Maputo Ceramic Stoves (MCS) without a grate. One was fired by a thumb-suck method and the other was fired in an oven with a temperature controller.

One of the things I have found is that there is more confidence in the ceramic industry than knowledge.

The two stoves are exactly the same, made from PK11 which is a high feldspar clay, the greater portion being black plastic clay.

You will notice that the darker of the two has a shiny appearance. This is from the melting of the minerals. Looking closely you can see small pock-marks which is where the powdered charcoal burned out (about 10% by weight).

The lighter one is powdery when touched, much lower tone when struck and significantly weaker. The only difference between the two is the firing temperature.

Pages

Subscribe to Africa