[Stoves] Jatropha and its future

[rongretlarson at comcast.net]

Stove List: and (added) biochar-production list and adding Robert and (inventor?) Paul 

1. Thanks to Robert Taylor for alerting us to a competitor to the Jatropha - the Chinese Tallow. This plant was new to me - and a plant that looks very interesting (somewhat dangeerous as an invasive species). Apparently in part successful because the Chinese cultivated it and improved it over thousands of years. I think we can well see much the same for many other species -and maybe especially Jatropha. 

2. On the ESRLA site recommended by Robert, I found an excellent long paper also by Dr. Paul Olivier on a really nice looking TLUD stove being manufactured and sold (apparently) in Viet Nam. The paper is at:http://esrla.com/pdf/landfill_06.pdf. 

There is a strong case made there for using a fan - and Paul may well be correct. We should all look more carefully at the advantages of a blower - in saving on fuel costs, but also on convenience and efficiency of being able to control the blower speed. There is a fine looking blue flame in one picture. But mostly I like the professional look and excellent prices on a whole series of models - showing nice economies of scale in pricing. 

I was in Viet Nam earlier this year and am not surprised at the high quality and low costs of commercial products such as are demonstrated in Paul's paper. Their economy is really growing rapidly - and we in the USA are mostly not aware of this big progress.. The Vietnamese are not a typical Communist country - and especially the area in the South around Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC - formerly Saigon). Let's all pull for the Vietnamese to beat out China in the Biochar race! 

His design is very tall and thin - which surprised me. I would like to know if he has also striven to (or could) get a low squat stove. Most unusual of all is that he places a special burner on top of the unit after top-lighting. I have not seen that before.either 

I hope that Dr. Olivier can add some details on his development of this stove, how sales of these TLUDs are going, any problems with any of the fuels he has been using, and also if he has any results from the use of Biochar in the field (improved yield, etc). He makes a very strong case for the economics of using rice husks and rice straw. I also wonder if the Tallow tree fruit (or branches) has been tested in this stove. 

Congratulations to Dr Olivier for two excellent papers. They bear reading twice. 

Ron 

ps After writing the above, I had a substantial phone conversation with Paul (he in Vietnam with a Louisiana phone!). I am even more impressed - and will try to learn more from some other leads he gave. I look forward to further remarks soon from Paul on his pyrolysis stoves - that have some very clever stove innovations and some likely near-term commercial advances.. 
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Taylor" <rt at ms1.hinet.net> 
To: "Discussion of biomass cooking stoves" <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org> 
Sent: Monday, August 8, 2011 2:13:01 AM 
Subject: Re: [Stoves] Jatropha and its future 

Here are some ideas about the Chinese tallow tree (Triadica sebifera, syn 
Sapium sebiferum) from Dr Paul Olivier, who used to post to this list: 

http://esrla.com/pdf/tallow.pdf 

Robert 




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