[Stoves] [biochar] TLUD advances -- Two more uses of char

Sun Apr 28 20:07:50 CDT 2013

Tom - several ccs. 

Thanks: You amaze me. I better understand your terminology now. 

Looks like a well done report. Too bad that 33 years ago, there was not as much interest as today in pyrolysis - not covered at all in this report. So I only skimmed it. 

It is interesting what might have happened if Jimmy Carter had won instead of Ronald Reagen. In 1981 and 1982, I saw all this sort of work disappear. 

The appendix listed numerous names in the biomass gasification business. I think they may all be out of business. Here are those for the US. None listed for China and Inda, where there seem to be many equipment producers now. 

Does anyone recognize any on this list? 

Applied Engineering Co. 
Orangeberg, SC 29115 
E. B. Rogers 
(803) 534-2424 ----------------Found nothing. 

Advanced Energy Applications, Inc. 
1386 Holt Avenue 
Los Altos, CA 94022 
F. E. Moreno 
(415) 964-5429 ----------------Found nothing. 

American Fyr Feeder 
Des Plaines, IL 
G. V. Voss----------------Found nothing. 

Andco, Inc. 
Buffalo, NY 
S. D. Mark ............. Maybe with new name 

Biomass Corporation 
951 Live Oak Blvd. 
P.O. Box 487 
Yuba City, CA 95991 
Bob Williams 
(916) 674-7230......................Kaput 

Century Research Inc. 
16935 S.Vermont Ave 
Gardena, CA 90247 
Howard Amundsen 
(213) 327-2405............. Unlikely 

Davy Powergas Inc. 
6161 Savoy Drive 
P.O. Box 36446 
Houston, TX 
Edgar E. Bailey 
(713) 782-3440 .................Inactive Florda? 

Energy Products of Idaho 
3805 Industrial Ave., South 
Couer d' Alene, ID 83814 
Michael L. Murphy 
(208) 667-2481........ Maybe merged into Outotek 

ERCO, Inc. 
Cambridge, MA 
Herb Kosstrin 
(617) 661-311 

Forest Fuels, Inc. 
7 Main Street 
Keene, NH 03431 
J. C. Calhoun/R. A. Caughey 

Guaranty Performance Co., Inc. 
1120 East Main, P. 0. Box 748 
T,, .,gnce, KS 67301 
John SL:;ford 
(316) 331-0020 

Halcyon 
Maple Street 
East Andover, NH 
George Finnie 
(603) 735-5356 

Industrial Combustion 
4465 N. Oakland Ave. 
Milwaukee, WI 53211 
James Fletcher 
(414) 332-4100 

Industrial Development & Procurement, Inc. 
(Duvant Moteurs gasifier) 
One Old Country Road 
Carle Place, NY 11514 
Jules A. Lussier 
(516) 248-0880 

Koppers Company, Inc. 
Engineering and Construction Division 
1150 Koppers Bldg 
Pittsburg, PA 15219 
James W. Bumbaugh 

Enerco Inc. 
139A Old Oxford Valley Road 
Langhrne, PA 19047 
Miles J. Thompson 
(215) 493-6565 

Environmental Energy Corporation 
Route 28, P.O. Box 30 
Rochester, MA 02770 
Carmen Chevie 
(617) 763-5117 

The Vermont Wood Energy Corp. 
P.O. 
Box 280 
Stowe, VT 05672 
J. 
P. Rich 
(802) 253-7220 

Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. 
(Gasodyne gasifier) 
5700 Merle Hay Road 
Johnston, IA 50131 
Walter Stohigren 

Union Carbide Corp. 
New York, NY 
C. T. Moses 

Mutheson-Doherty 
191 Beacon Street 
San Francisco, CA 94080 
W. C. Matheson 
(415) 583-6161 

McDowell-Wello.an Engineering Co. 
113 St. Clair Avenue, N.E. 
Cleveland, OH 44114 

Nichols Engineering and Research 
Homestead and Willow 
Belle Mead, NJ 08502 
Paul S. Fabian 
(201) 359-8200 

Pillard Inc. 
8001 Franklin Farms Drive 
Suite 207, Kroger Bldg. 
Box K121 
Richmond, VA 23288 
(804) 288-1141 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Miles" <tmiles at trmiles.com> 
To: "Ron" <rongretlarson at comcast.net>, biochar at yahoogroups.com 
Cc: "Discussion of biomass cooking stoves" <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>, "Paul Anderson" <psanders at ilstu.edu> 
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2013 4:48:48 PM 
Subject: RE: [Stoves] [biochar] TLUD advances -- Two more uses of char 

Ron, 

The citation is “T.R. Miles”. 

When you pyrolyze wood you generate char, gas (condensable and non-condensable) and condensable oils. The gas and oil can contain considerable water. One way to convert that delicious soup to a clean, combustible gas is to gasify it in a charcoal gasifier. There are pre-commercial systems underdevelopment to produce charcoal and clean gas using this method. 

I learned of making clean gas in this manner from a charcoal gasifier developed at the Tropical Products Institute in the UK in about 1975; in 1977 from E.R. Mellenger, Mellenger Gasodyne, New Brunswick, Canada; in 1975ff from our friend Eldon Beagle, Rice Husk Consultant, California; from managers of plants in France that were making charcoal and wood derived products at the time; and from others since then. 

See, for example: 

E.R. Mellenger in E.G. Baker, et. al “ASSESSMENT OF LARGE SCALE BIOMASS GASIFICATION SYSTEMS FOR LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES,” PNL 1985 

http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNAAL767.pdf 

Eldon Beagle, 1978, “Rice Husk conversion to energy”, FAO Agricultural 

services Bulleting 31, Rome, 1978. http://www.scribd.com/doc/123119988/rice-hull-conversion-to-energy-1978 

In the TLUD you burn the pyrolysis products along with the gas due to the high oxidation. If you introduce char into the fuel bed of a TLUD it is likely that you will combust some of the char since it still contains some volatiles and the char burns in direct contact with air. 

Tom 

From: Ron [mailto:rongretlarson at comcast.net] 
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2013 2:33 PM 
To: biochar at yahoogroups.com; Tom Miles 
Cc: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves; Paul Anderson 
Subject: Re: [Stoves] [biochar] TLUD advances -- Two more uses of char 

Tom et al 

Any cite for the 5-7% value? 

Your last sentence is confusing to me with the word "gasifying pyrolysis gases" in it. Paul is striving for only pyrolysis, and don't think he is proposing a packed charcoal bed. 

Ron 

On Apr 28, 2013, at 2:19 PM, "Tom Miles" < tmiles at trmiles.com > wrote: 

Paul, 

It’s a great idea to use char as a filler but there is a cost. I am sure that you will find that a small percentage of the charcoal “filler” will be consumed as charcoal will burn in direct contact with air or through reduction of the char. You will always have a little excess air or moisture in the bed. When charcoal is used as a packed bed for gasifying pyrolysis gases charcoal consumption is estimated at 5-7%. 

Tom 

From: Stoves [ mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org ] On Behalf Of Ron 
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2013 1:08 PM 
To: biochar at yahoogroups.com ; Paul Anderson 
Cc: biochar at yahoogroups.com ; Eckhardt, Bradley D; Discussion of biomass cooking stoves 
Subject: Re: [Stoves] [biochar] TLUD advances -- Two more uses of char 

Paul et al 

This is to recognize and applaud the "char filler" suggestion you received from NASA's Dr. Jack Bacon. I like it and hope we can hear soon from some who may have tried it. My guess is that there is some maximum char volume above which Andrew's observation today of char combustion will prevail. 

You correctly talked of the pyrolysis front. Equally, users should be thinking about char combustion if any char particle gets hot enough while the upward flowing primary air still contains O2. Upflowing primary a ir can get to char easier than fuel since there will be no/little exiting gases from the char. 

Good note. 

Ron 

On Apr 28, 2013, at 10:01 AM, Paul Anderson < psanders at ilstu.edu > wrote: 
<blockquote>

Dear all, 

These two and many other "tips" need to be collected and told to TLUD 
stove users. One avenue is in Christa's Manual, Another is in stove 
manuals and at training sessions. And at websites, etc. 

1. Charcoal to extinguish hot charcoal: When dealing with small 
amounts of hot charcoal as in the residential TLUD stoves, one easy way 
to extinguish hot charcoal is to dump it into a somewhat larger amount 
of already extinguished (cold) char. The cold char takes up much of 
the heat, extinguishing the hot char. Be sure that it is well mixed 
and sufficiently cooled to avoid re-ignition. This is best done in 
containers that can be sealed. Containers of metal or ceramic are 
best, but even wood could be used if the quantity of cold char is 
sufficient to prevent the hot char from reaching the sides. As always, 
be careful because oxygen to a small hot ember can lead to much greater 
combustion. 

2. "Space fillers" in loose fuels in TLUD devices: 

General note about fuel in TLUDs: 
In general, dry biomass fuels in TLUDs need to appropriately fill most 
of the air-space in the fuel chamber. This is accomplished with 
smallish pieces such as wood chips, pellets, short-cut twigs, and shells 
of seeds. Also, careful packing with vertical wood-segments or 
straight-ish reeds can occupy the space. But twisted sticks and 
long-ish pieces that bridge inside the fuel chamber leave too much space 
unoccupied. In those cases, the space can be appropriately occupied by 
adding small pieces, as named above. Shake the TLUD to assure that the 
pieces have settled in well, and add more as needed. These fillers 
will also pyrolyze and become charcoal. 

Inert materials as "space fillers": Technically, the space fillers 
could be inert materials such as ball bearings or pebbles (of rock that 
will not shatter with this heat) or fired clay balls. Although they 
could function effectively, they would require separation after the 
batch is unloaded and cooled. But there is one material that solves 
these inconveniences and costs. It is charcoal. 

Charcoal as a space filler: TLUD stoves make charcoal. Therefore, 
charcoal is not a fuel for TLUD stoves. However, small pieces of 
charcoal (but not charcoal fines) can also be used as "space fillers" to 
solve the need to restrict air flow in the fuel chamber. The char will 
not pyrolyze and will not burn (char-gasify or oxidize) as the pyrolysis 
front moves downward through that biomass fuel. 

a. Char is abundant for TLUD users, and at no additional cost, and is 
not consumed. 

b. Unlike small pieces of biomass as fillers, char pieces cannot catch 
on fire and then fall down to the lower areas of the fuel chamber and 
igniting fire there. 

Charcoal as a reducer of thermal output: Clearly in the above 
statements when charcoal is used as a space filler, the fuel chamber 
contains less biomass and therefore less heat will be generated (which 
is desirable for simmering and some other cooking needs). 

Another variation is to have well packed (mainly straight) wood or reeds 
or stems as a vertical bundle in the middle of a TLUD fuel chamber. 
Then load in small charcoal all around the bundle to fill in the 
remaining space. When used (pyrolyzed), the fuel will yield heat in 
proportion to its cross-sectional area of the fuel bundle, not of the 
entire cross-sectional area of the fuel cylinder. This is because the 
annulus of char is essentially non-combustible at the pyrolytic 
temperatures in the TLUD reactor. 

Variations of all of the above need to be tested and even measured. 
(This will be utilized at the Stove Camp at Aprovecho 22 - 26 July 2013). 

Note: Credit for much of the above goes to Dr. Jack Bacon, a senior 
scientist at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. Jack, a 
leader in the local chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB-JSC), 
suggested charcoal as fillers during discussions in April 2013 with Paul 
Anderson about an EWB project to use TLUDs for heat in a fruit dryer in 
Rwanda. 

Dr TLUD 

-- 
Paul S. Anderson, PhD aka "Dr TLUD" 
Email: psanders at ilstu.edu Skype: paultlud Phone: +1-309-452-7072 
Website: www.drtlud.com 

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