[Stoves] Jatropha and its future

[Paul Olivier]

Ron,

It was great talking to you by phone this morning.

We (four Americans living in Vietnam) are starting a company here in Vietnam
call EPWT -
that is, Empowering the Poor through Waste Transformation.
The Content section of my old website (http://www.esrla.com/)
will soon be transferred to the new website (http://www.epwt.net/).

Recently we made a lot of improvements in gasifier design,
most notably, the addition of a burner housing to supply hot secondary air
to the burner.
This allows us to lower the flame to a simmer without danger of the flame
going out.
Here is the 150 gasifier in operation with the new burner housing:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22013094/150%20Burner/IMG_0444.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22013094/150%20Burner/IMG_0445.JPG
Here is the 250 gasifier in operation with the new burner housing:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22013094/250%20Gasifier%20Jpegs/IMG_0523.JPG
Here is a picture of the same 250 gasifier with the new burner housing:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22013094/250%20Gasifier%20Jpegs/IMG_0513.JPG
Take a good look at this picture 0513.
Note the small fan that powers this gasifier.
It is no bigger than 40x40x28 mm, and is actually too strong for this 10 kW
gasifier.
We operate it at less than 10% of its wattage.
I will soon be testing this fan to see if it will power the 500 gasifier.
The 800 gasifier (with an output of up to 100 kW) will require no more than
a 60x60x38 mm fan.
The equipment cost of the larger gasifiers is less than $3.00 per kW.
We will be starting the mass production of gasifiers quite soon.

Many thanks.
Paul

On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 4:29 AM, <rongretlarson at comcast.net> wrote:

> 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..
> ------------------------------
> *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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>


-- 
Paul A. Olivier PhD
27C Pham Hong Thai Street
Dalat
Vietnam

Louisiana telephone: 1-337-447-4124 (rings Vietnam)
Mobile: 090-694-1573 (in Vietnam)
Skype address: Xpolivier
http://www.esrla.com/
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