[Stoves] jatropa does not burn well for us ....but it probably

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Otto

Good point about NOx. I can report that in many tests, perhaps a few
hundred, I have not noticed any natural draft or fan stove being able to
make any significant quantity of NO3 at all, only a tiny amount of NO2, and
small amounts of NO. The N mostly turns into N2 which it is happy to be.
Biomass is about 1% Nitrogen. NO is almost always less than half of a tenth
of a percent of the emissions. Often it is less than half of a hundredth of
a percent.

NO forms at 700 C and higher. In many cases there is only a small portion of
the combustion area that reaches that temperature. In fact the NO level can
be used to give an indication of the temperature of the flames even if they
can't be seen.

In a cool fire the NO(EF) which is the NO measured multiplied by the
dilution factor will be about 100 ppm(v). I have seen very well contained
and air-constrained coal stoves reaching NO(EF) 850 ppm though it is not
common. High carbon fuels run in the 450-750 range (coal, large charcoal
fires, paraffin). Biomass is half or less.

The reason the NO level is so low is because there is no compression
involved like inside an engine. From everything I have seen there is no risk
from NOx from any available domestic stove because they run too cool to make
much.

The big culprit is CO which forms easily in cool fires.

Regards
Crispin


-----Original Message-----

Since there is some content of N (nitrogen) in the seed cake we are afraied
it might give some NOX from the emmision, when used as fuel, tests will
tell.