[Stoves] Is there a role for combining torrefaction and char-making stoves?

Anand Karve adkarve at gmail.com
Tue Feb 28 08:52:36 CST 2012


Dear Ron,
our way of making char from agricultural waste and leaf litter by using
portable kilns does not allow us to use the energy in the pyrolysis gas,
but if one used more sophisticated equipment for this purpose, one would
have to collect and transport the light biomass to a central processing
facility. This exercise may perhaps require us to spend a lot more energy
(human as well as vehicular) than the energy that is being wasted by
flaring the pyrolysis gas. The raw material that we are charring is in any
case a waste product. If we did not use it for making charcoal, it would
either be burned in situ or it would be allowed to rot in situ. So by
turning this type of biomass into char, we are making use of at least a
part of the energy in this biomass, which would otherwise have been
wasted. I feel that while you are worrying about the glass being half
empty, I am happy over the fact that my glass is at least half full and not
completely empty.
Regarding torrefaction, I would be thankful to know of a simple and cheap
process that would torrefy agricultural waste and leaf litter.
Yours
A.D.Karve
On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 1:56 PM, <rongretlarson at comcast.net> wrote:

>  AD and stove list (and please say hello to Priya)
>
>     See inserts below.  I just mentioned in a separate note today that I
> am working on a response (that you  initiated) on the economics of
> combining torrefaction and stoves.  This is still not that response, but it
> contains some of the flavor.
>
>    Apologies in advance for breaking up your 8-sentence single paragraph
> to make my response easier
> ------------------------------
>
> To perhaps repeat once too often: your form of  char-production does not
> capture the exceedingly valuable and scarce available pyrolysis gas energy
> in the targeted resource.
>
> Ron]
>
>
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-- 
***
Dr. A.D. Karve
Trustee & Founder President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)
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