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

[Paul Olivier]

See comments below.


On Sun, Jun 23, 2013 at 8:03 AM, <rongretlarson at comcast.net> wrote:

> 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).
>

About one kg of pellets. But I had difficulties lowering the fan speed. The
fan speed was always too high and the burn was much too fast. If tried to
lower the fan speed, the fan stopped completely. A much less powerful fan
is needed for this unit.


>
> Could you modulate the power level with the fan control?
>

Not, very much.


> (apparently not down much -  but more fan speed)?
>

It was difficult to reduce fan speed so as to produce a smaller flame. The
fan was surely operating in the lower 5% of its power range. But if I
turned up the fan, I could easily produce an intense flame - far too
powerful for ordinary cooking.

It was easy to light the pellets. But when I put the burner on the reactor,
it took a few minutes for the flames within the reactor to go out. Before
the flames within the reactor went out, the entire burner at one point
turned red hot. The fan, of course, was supplying too much air. I have
never seen such heat from a 150 reactor.



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

The volume of the reactor is 3.44 liters. At a bulk density of about 600
kg/m3, the reactor can hold about 2 kgs of pellets. At a normal rate of
consumption, this quantity of pellets should give about 90 minutes of run
time.

Paul Olivier


> Ron
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *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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>


-- 
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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