[Stoves] Stove Definition - Char production

[Ray Menke]

Crispin,
Perhaps I did not understand the question of determining the
efficiency, and jumped to the conclusion that a higher efficiency
would imply a higher percentage of char(coal) at the end of the
process.
I have processed 120 fifty-five gallon (200 l) drums of waste and dead
wood into engine grade charcoal, as well as thousands of loads of wood
in more than ten different types of cooking and water heating TLUD and
Fan driven stoves.   From my observations, a retort or stove loaded
with Mesquite always produces a larger volume and weight of char than
when it is loaded with other types of wood.
Please see the link below:
<http://lists.bioenergylists.org/pipermail/gasification_lists.bioenergylists.org/2011-April/000716.html>
In the communication shown between Dr. Reed and Dr. Karve, Dr. Reed wrote:
>>>Lignin's the precursor for
>>> charcoal and dictates the ~20% yield of charcoal from most trees.
>>> (Mesquite has 64% lignin and yields 30-40% charcoal.)
So, realizing now that your original statement dealt with the fraction
of carbon in the dry fuel (which I don't know how to measure), and the
fraction of carbon in the char expressed as a ratio, would this be a
better than using mass?  My thought was that if you loaded and fired a
stove with 1 kilogram of prepared oak fuel, and then repeated the
process with 1 kilogram of prepared mesquite fuel, you would get
almost twice as much carbon with one fuel compared to the other.  If
the same fuel were used in all the stoves being tested, then there
might not be a correct answer to the question posed in the previous
email... (Do you think it should represent. % of initial (dry) mass or
a % of carbon?)  However, the world is a big place, and people testing
stoves are never going to have the same fuel, so if they all knew how
to accurately measure the fraction of carbon, then that method might
provide better results.
I apologize for butting in...and I will now go back under my rock.


On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 7:43 PM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott
<crispinpigott at gmail.com> wrote:
> Do you think it should represent. % of initial (dry) mass or a % of carbon?
>
> Can you give reason for your answer?
>
> I need a defence of any suggestion and it would best come from the char makers.
>
> Thanks
> Crispin
> From BB9900
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ray Menke <ray.menke at gmail.com>
> Sender: "Stoves" <stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Date: Sat, 4 May 2013 19:40:41
> To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves<stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Reply-To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves
>         <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Subject: Re: [Stoves] Stove Definition - Char production
>
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-- 
Ray  Menke