[Stoves] wheat husk pellets

Tue Jun 11 02:44:54 CDT 2013

Dear Paul 
If you start making this unit please advise.
Thank you

Michael N Trevor
Majuro 
Marshall islands 
.
n
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Paul Olivier 
  To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves 
  Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 6:54 PM
  Subject: Re: [Stoves] wheat husk pellets

  In my previous email I concluded by saying:
  What's needed above all else, in my opinion, are small, beautiful TLUD's that make use of pellets. Such units could be situated in modern kitchens throughout the world. Once these units are in place, the rest will follow.

  It seems that Home Depot, Wal-mart, Lowes, Ace, Agway and many others large retailers in the USA all carry wood pellets. Why can we not make TLUDs that make use of these pellets as fuel? The only thing that changes is the height of the reactor: it's much less than the height of a reactor that uses undensified biomass. This means that the TLUD is small, lightweight, mobile and much cheaper.

  Here is an example of what I am talking about:
  https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/DrawingsUltra/001.pdf
  The total height of the reactor is less than 10 inches.

  This reactor holds about 2 kgs of pellets.

  This gives a burn time of about one and a half hours.

  The reactor itself in 304 stainless steel weighs less than 1.5 kgs.

  We've already tested taller TLUDs on rice hull pellets,

   and they emit the same beautiful blue flame as when loose rice hulls are used.

  Another big advantage of pellets is that there is much less particulate matter emissions compared to loose rice hulls.

  Loose rice hulls are dusty, messy, bulky and a real nuisance to store and load.

  In an urban setting it makes no sense to be hauling in loose rice hulls of a bulk density of only 80 kg/m3.

  If we're going to compete with fossil fuel gas, we've must reach a certain level of convenience and ease of use.

  Thanks.

  Paul

  On Tue, Jun 11, 2013 at 6:11 AM, Paul Olivier <paul.olivier at esrla.com> wrote:

    See comments below.

    On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 7:01 PM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <crispinpigott at gmail.com> wrote:

      Dear Paul O

      The reason is economics.

    In may cases transport distances are short, and the economics are quite good, and yet we complacently continue to burn fossil fuels. I lived for over 20 years in West Flanders in Belgium where wheat fields encroached upon densely populated rural areas, and yet everyone merrily burned LPG gas to cook a meal. Later I move to Waxahachie, Texas, a small town near Dallas, and once again, wheat fields were everywhere. Yet no one dreamed of making wheat husk or wheat straw pellets and using them to make syngas to cook a meal.

      China is showing at the moment that the maximum radius that is viable to transport pellets/briquettes is 150 km.

    China appears to be struggling with a lack of infrastructure in getting pellets to market. How does one explain the economics of shipping coffee husk pellets from Brazil to Holland as we see in this link? http://www.coffeehabitat.com/2007/10/coffee-husks-as/ This is a thoroughly bold undertaking, but does it make sense to transport coffee husk pellets half way around the world to provide fuel for Dutch power stations? Why not make use of these pellets in Brazil? Also, one might argue that the highest and best use of coffee husk pellets would be, not to burn them in huge power stations, but to generate from them a syngas that would replace bottled gas or other forms of fossil fuel gas. The biochar left over from these stoves would then be returned to the soil.

      $76 a ton is cheap by Canadian standards but far higher than the price of coal per delivered MJ.

    Not always so. Vietnamese coal coming from the north costs more per delivered MJ than rice hulls pellets. 

    In Vietnam there is a huge multi-billion dollar infrastructure that underlies the mining, preparation and transportation of coal.

    This infrastructure does not yet exist for waste biomass pellets.

      Agri-waste pellets are a nice fuel provided they have been prepared properly.

    The same applies to coal and all other fossil fuels.

    Coal preparation is a gigantic and complex undertaking.

      If the value of char is 'always there' it is quite possible the economic equation will change with the introduction of gasifiers, however the same energy production rate will increase the demand for transport and raw husk supply.

    Yes, you are right. The introduction of pellet gasifiers in a given area will create a demand for pellets, and the demand for pellets will stimulate the construction of the infrastructure needed to meet this demand.

      You know all this. How about giving us an equation or spreadsheet that includes the whole value chain?

      Stovers could plug in their local costs and make a comparison between options. In at least some circumstances the gasification route would be the most viable.

    Instead of using the word "some". I would prefer to say "many".

      The UK buys wood pellets from Canada to burn in power stations, but that is subsidized by pensions grannies and the working poor.

    Once again, why haul pellets from Canada to the UK? Does the UK not have an abundance of agricultural waste? And once again, should we not focus more on producing syngas from pellets and directly using this syngas to cook a meal? Burning pellets to make electricity is surely not the wisest way to proceed, especially if this electricity is used as a source of energy to cook a meal. Why not bypass the power station altogether?

    What's needed above all else, in my opinion, are small, beautiful TLUD's that make use of pellets. Such units could be situated in modern kitchens throughout the world. Once these units are in place, the rest will follow.

      Regards
      Crispin
      >From BB9900

      -----Original Message-----
      From: Paul Olivier <paul.olivier at esrla.com>
      Sender: "Stoves" <stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org>
      Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 15:19:20

      To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves<stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>
      Reply-To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves
              <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>
      Subject: [Stoves] wheat husk pellets

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    -- 
    Paul A. Olivier PhD
    26/5 Phu Dong Thien Vuong
    Dalat
    Vietnam

    Louisiana telephone: 1-337-447-4124 (rings Vietnam)
    Mobile: 090-694-1573 (in Vietnam)
    Skype address: Xpolivier
    http://www.esrla.com/ 

  -- 
  Paul A. Olivier PhD
  26/5 Phu Dong Thien Vuong
  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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