[Stoves] fossil fuel plants hit hard by solar and wind

[rongretlarson at comcast.net]

Paul: 

Congratulations on a very nice looking new version . 

Can you give the weight of the 4 inches of pellets that lasted 40 minutes (so we might estimate the power level ). 

Could you modulate the power level with the fan control? (apparently not down much - but more fan speed)? 

Could you have put in 8 inches (20 cm) of pellets? and gotten to 80 minute run time? 

Ron 



----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Olivier" <paul.olivier at esrla.com> 
To: "Discussion of biomass cooking stoves" <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org> 
Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2013 6:41:42 PM 
Subject: [Stoves] fossil fuel plants hit hard by solar and wind 



I had no idea that solar and wind were competing so well against fossil fuel power plants: 

Companies like RWE of Germany and EDF of France are confronting complex challenges. Their revenue is being hit by dwindling demand for electricity and by new wind and solar projects that undercut the price of the energy produced from many fossil fuel plants... 

With so much energy coming from renewables, many fossil fuel plants can no longer compete on price. Despite the upfront costs associated with green energy projects, they are inexpensive to run... 

The rising output and falling prices of green energy may be part of the problem for fossil fuel generators, but they are part of the solution for energy consumers. 


Biomass stoves must also gain in prominence within developed countries. Replacing fossil fuel gas with syngas in modern kitchens should be a top priority. 


Yesterday I tested a super-short reactor (net reactor height of 20 cm). The reactor weighs 1.2 kgs and is made entirely of bright annealed 304 stainless steel. These pictures were taken right after the first run: 
: 
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1567.JPG 
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1568.JPG 
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1569.JPG 
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1571.JPG 


I filled the reactor with about four inches of pellets. This gave a burn time of about 40 minutes. The pellets were easy to light. I thought for a moment that the unit might work without a fan. But this was not possible. A fan is still needed. 


But the fan that I was using is much too powerful for such a short reactor filled with pellets. The fan was turning at an incredibly low speed. It was using surely no more than about a half watt of electricity. I need a fan of a much lower air resistance - perhaps only 20% that of the fan that I use on loose rice hulls. 


The biochar produced from the rice hull pellets remained in pelleted form: 
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1563.JPG 

The original rice hull pellets had a diameter of 8 mm. When converted into biochar, the diameter of the pellets decreased to 7 mm. 


The flame was orange, not blue. A few months ago I had tested a 70 cm reactor completely filled with rice hull pellets of a 6 mm diameter. Here the flame was blue. 


When I run a gasifier on loose rice hulls, small particles of fly ash are always being emitted from the burner. With pellets, I could not see any particulate matter. 



This gasifier is still a very crude device. However I do believe that the day is not so far away when small, lightweight gasifiers could make their way into modern kitchens throughout the world. Just as fossil fuel power plants are being replaced by solar and wind, stoves using fossil fuel gas must be replaced by stoves using syngas. 



Thanks. 

Paul Olivier 

-- 
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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