[Stoves] Heat destroys Jatropha toxins Re: jatropha, stoves, and biochar.

[ajheggie at gmail.com]

On Thursday 27 January 2011 21:53:20 Crispin Pemberton-Pigott wrote:
> Dear Andrew
>
> >I'd be interested to know what difference in properties there were
> > between
>
> a digestate and the retted material Richard advocates.
>
> I understand that the oils are completely gone. True?

Yes I think almost certainly as fats and oils  are good feedstocks for 
anaerobic digesters ( often too good and need to be metered in whilst 
being buffered by higher carbohydrate feedstock if used concentrated). 
Whether the slimy goo that retted materials have is gone or not...

I'm fairly certain most of the cellulose fibre is still intact in both 
anaerobic and aerobic cases as this is the way linen fibre is recovered 
from flax, also I recall high quality paper is made from the fibres in 
sheep droppings. IRRC pulped paper is a good binder in a briquette.

The point I was trying to make is that anaerobic digestion produces a high 
quality fuel but that doesn't mean that the liquor has no further 
potential for fuel. In fact the liquid fraction has organic and mineral 
fertiliser value as a "tea" and if it is removed as a liquid in a 
mechanical dewatering process (like the briquette press) much of the 
volatile phosphorus and nitrogen compounds lost in ordinary combustion 
should be retained.

AJH