[Stoves] Fabricated Burn Barrel TLUDS

Sat Sep 29 22:39:17 CDT 2012

Ron,

You bring up a very good point here. If the biomass is uniform, granular
and dry, it becomes very easy to process in a TLUD. That is why it is so
appealing to work with biomass that is already uniform, granular and dry,
such as rice hulls and coffee husks.

But if we have biomass that is not uniform, granular and dry (such as
straw, pine needles or sawdust), then we might think about drying and
pelletizing it. In this way we have a top-quality gasifier fuel. This
allows us to take full advantage of both the biochar and gas. In the case
of rice hulls and coffee husks, the gas has a much greater commercial value
than the biochar. In making biochar it is such a pity to waste the gas.

Also when we pelletize biomass, the bulk density can reach as high as 600
kgs/m3. This means that if we use a gasifier for purposes of household
cooking, the height of the reactor has to be only a fraction of the height
of a reactor utilizing undensified biomass such as rice hulls (of a bulk
density of less than 100 kgs/m3). If we do not change the height of the
reactor, then cooking times per batch can last three or four hours. When we
have thousands of households and small business using gasifiers, then we do
not have to think about making biochar as an independent activity.

I really like small pellets of a diameter of about 6 mm. Of course there is
the cost of buying a pellet machine. But they are quite cheap out of China.
And there is the cost of electricity or fuel to make the pellets. But this
cost is easily offset by the value of the syngas produced. Even in a poor
country such as Vietnam, it is easy to buy pellets in local markets.

Thanks.
Paul

On Sun, Sep 30, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Ronald Hongsermeier <rwhongser at web.de>wrote:

>  Dear Alex,
>
> I haven't carefully read the whole thread but haven't seen granularity of
> fuel addressed. Isn't that what makes a lot of difference in the flame/gas
> quality ( along with the moisture content, of course ) and determines the
> necessity of either using or not using forced air? Regarding Dr. Karve's
> drums I'm wondering how careful everyone is in emphasizing fuel moisture
> and particularity/uniformity issues in using these tools.
>
> I think my first sentence above applies to both DD (Imberts or others) and
> TLUD's.
>
> regards,
> Ronald von der Oktoberfestnähe
>
> (mein heutiger Name wird nur dann getragen bei einer
> Bierleichensichtungsrate von > 1 / Tag   ;-)  )
>
>
>
>
> On 29.09.2012 20:55, Alex English wrote:
>
> Tom,
> I guess it may depend on what you consider a clean burn. My experiments
> focused the gases through a smaller out let pipe and then added the
> secondary  air. So for a two foot diameter drum the pipe was three inches
> in diameter.   Air was introduced near the top having only half that
> distance to penetrate, and combustion occurred in a six inch diameter
> chimney , six feet tall above.
>
> Combustion was measurably good to very good nineteen times out of twenty.
>
> So, what indeed is the limit?
> Alex
> On 2012-09-29 11:47 AM, "Tom Miles" <tmiles at trmiles.com> wrote:
>
>>  AD, Paul, Kobus and others. Many thanks for the suggestions.
>>
>>
>>
>> What is the largest practical size (kg fuel/hr, kW) for a single TLUD
>> with a clean stack for heat recovery? There must be a limit to the air
>> penetration to get a clean gas burn form a natural draft stack or even a
>> fan driven TLUD.
>>
>>
>>
>> Tom
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org [mailto:
>> stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] *On Behalf Of *Anand Karve
>> *Sent:* Friday, September 28, 2012 11:22 PM
>> *To:* Discussion of biomass cooking stoves
>> *Subject:* Re: [Stoves] Fabricated Burn Barrel TLUDS
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear Tom,
>>
>> we regularly supply charring kilns made out of used 55 gallon drums. The
>> kilns are based on the TLUD principle. The cost of a kiln plus an extra
>> barrel for storing the char, is about US$100. We have sold more than 100
>> such kilns in India and have also trained a number of persons from India
>> and Africa. These kilns are so easy to manufacture, that we ask the
>> trainees to photograph and take measurements of our kiln so that they can
>> copy the design. In many instances, people buy a kiln from us, because they
>> feel that their local fabricator would be better able to copy the design
>> from an actual object than from a blue print or a photograph.
>>
>> The advantage of using 55 gallon drums is that used drums are available
>> at a relatively low cost, and the kilns are portable. Instead of
>> transporting the biomass, one transports the kiln to the location where the
>> biomass is available, and brings back only the charred material, which
>> weighs only a third as much as the biomass.
>>
>> Yours
>>
>> A.D.Karve
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 11:42 PM, Tom Miles <tmiles at trmiles.com> wrote:
>>
>> Am often asked if there is a burn barrel sized TLUD that is commercially
>> fabricated. We’ve seen some great DIY with Doug’s Jolly Roger and others.
>> Is anyone fabricating a 55 gal drum sized TLUD that can be used for regular
>> biochar production? If so, what is the cost and availability?
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>>
>>
>> Tom Miles
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> ***
>> Dr. A.D. Karve
>> Trustee & Founder President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)
>>
>>
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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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