[Stoves] Banana ag waste, rockets & TLUDs

Thu Jan 27 21:03:35 CST 2011

Hi Jean,

Good questions....

Yes, as Richard indicated, we have an active program to determine what it
will take to use the waste products from the banana stalk, the leaf and the
stem of the leaf. We are taking two approaches. 

First, is to take the live material and chop sufficiently for aggressive
composting. Some parts of the world immediately cut off the live stalk after
the hand has been removed and others just let it stand and die slowly.

Secondly, we want to chop and grind the fronds for immediate processing into
a wet biomass.  

We thought this was going to be a fairly easy project but much to our
surprise, every step of the path is producing challenges we didn't count on.
It's way too early to go public with the findings but what we know at this
point has caused us to step back and do a more extensive burn test.

We are not ignoring the banana peel as a component to the formula but the
peel is not a main focus right now.  Joel has done a good job exploring the
peel.  It may also be a critical component to the composting process, not
sure yet, but we sure are killing a lot of banana skins these days toward
that effort.

The banana tree/stalk has turned out to be one of the most fascinating
plants we have looked at.  It is not cellular like wood but instead all
fibers.  The fibers are currently being used in research as a possible fiber
for auto body skins like fenders etc.  Possibly better than fiber glass via
the traditional method.  Also, the fibers are processed into sanitary pads
for women in Rwanda, a huge benefit for both the women and as a cottage
industry.  And, at nearly equal performance to the P&G product here in
Cincinnati at less than half the cost.

As spring approaches we hope to have a better handle on this project and be
able to say something about the results. We have a lot of testing to do
between now and then.

Hope this helps,

Lee
Home 513-677-0543
Cell 513-240-1129
lee.hite at fuse.net
Applied Engineering (One Day at a Time)
http://home.fuse.net/engineering/

  _____  

From: Richard Stanley [mailto:rstanley at legacyfound.org] 
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2011 11:55 AM
To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves
Cc: Joel Chaney; Lee Hite
Subject: Re: [Stoves] Banana ag waste, rockets & TLUDs

Jean,  

Who are you working with locally ? 

Bananna briquette making and testing has been done by  Joel Chaney who has
his groundwork in Rwanda a few years ago (as part of his PhD engineering
studies in Nottingham  Uk ). More recently the processing of the whole stalk
is being tackled by Engineers without Borders in the greater Cincinnati
area-- more particularly by Lee Hite, who is developing a practical chopper
and grinder device.  (Lee has also developed mini presses for easy entry
into production, demonstration /  training etc). Both are ccy'd above to
facilitate your contact.

Now thats two very good wazungu for you I can think of immediately who,
because of same language and access to internet, you will of course tend to
go to directly . However, you are missing the rest of the -perhaps- two
hundred other citisens of our planet whom you will only really discover, if
you are working with someone who is locally based.. 

Please do yourself a huge favor in the long run and explore both options. 

We ain't goin' to get there on our own.

Kind regards,

Richard Stanley
www.legacyfound.org
N.W. Obamaland

On Jan 26, 2011, at 8:36 AM, Jean Kim Chaix wrote:

Hello, stovers. 

I'm going to disappoint Crispin as I don't have a smart questions this time.
It is, instead, purely practical. Here goes:

Our preliminary biomass energy efficiency assessment has revealed that
conditions appear to be ripe for sustainable, alternative solid biomass fuel
& cookstove program in the community we are supporting in Rubaare.

There is a robust local market in bananas and maize with plentiful
byproducts available such as stems, peels, etc. There is also sawdust
available locally. The first phase of our project will focus on creating a
fuel option for the institutional stoves currently in use the five schools.
The stoves are of the Aid Africa type and will need to be adapted to burn
the briquettes. In the second phase of our project we will seek to the right
mix of stove and fuels for domestic consumption.

As we develop our project,Ie have a couple of questions for you: 
1. For domestic cookstoves, can the above-mentioned fuels be used separately
or together as fuel for TLUDs? 
2. If so, is there a type of TLUD that is particularly suitable? Or is it
just a matter of chopping the biomass up into fine, TLUD compatible
particles?
3. Does anyone have experience using either sawdust and/or banana waste and
converting them to fuel-briquettes? 

For the record, I searched the archives of listserv but wasn't able to come
up with the answers.

My gratitude in advance for your considerate answers and your patience with
my ignorance.

Rgds,

Kim
-- 
J. Kim Chaix
Director 

<http://www.charcoalproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/logo-1-dark.jpg> 
Green Spaces NYC
394 Broadway, 5th fl.
New York, NY 10013
USA
(+1) 917.378.8670
http://charcoalproject.org <http://charcoalproject.org/> 

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