[Stoves] training in Briquetting in Guatemala

Tue May 7 09:46:38 CDT 2013

Christina,

Did you or any of your group  ever manage to get trained by one of the trainer now active in Guatemala? That makes all the difference ! These trainers are all former –and ongoing– producers by now. They have gone through all the hoops and have developed workable blends and they are selling the product now. The problem is reportedly (by our counterpart organisation, Fundacion Progressar),  the need for larger capacity machines which we are co-developing with friends in Hungary, Uganda and Haiti. 

They have trainers in Sta Maria, Quiche, Alta Verapaz, and Huehuetenango.
Anybody desiring traingin should contact us so we can pass your information on to FP. 

Kind regards,
Richard Stanley,
www.legacyfound.org

On May 5, 2013, at 1:41 AM, Christina Espinosa wrote:

Hi Paul,

Yes Guatemala does have a fair amount of agricultural residues. We worked on designing briquetting models and had a hard time with some of the available types of biomass. I am sure Richard could comment on this more since he started working here with some groups on designing a mix with the kinds of biomass that we have available.

Also the infrastructure requirements for LPG and natural gas are different.

Here is the FAO breakdown for Guatemala:
http://faostat.fao.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=339&lang=en&country=89

The most abundant biomass available here is with sugarcane and banana growers. When we talked with a large company growing 
bananas they expressed that they were investigating ways to turn the flower plams (I think that is what they are called) into electricity. 
Again, the sugar cane growers I think are using the biomass for the same kinds of things. So Guatemala's two largest sources of 
biomass are or are in plans to be utilized for energy. Coffee husks might be one of the more available types. I remember reading 
something a year ago about coffee husks giving of a urine smell when gasified. Is this still true? Maybe someone can comment on
this. 

Richard might be able to comment some more since he has worked here with biomass.

You say " Are we not concerned about global warming each time that we switch on a modern gas stove?" Are you saying that poor people shouldn't be allowed to use fossil fuels?

I thought we already talked about this. I think its not fair to expect poor people to adopt ONLY biomass because we are concerned about global warming. We need to stop treating poor people with the expectation that they should shoulder the burden of adopting ONLY renewable fuels. We need to let these families have an affordable option to use what they perfer whether it be gas, biomass, etc.

I think the work you are doing in Vietnam is great, but I urge you to be conscious of the differences in countries. Guatemala is not Vietnam...Guatemala is not India...China is not Tanzania. 

Best,

Christina

On Sunday, May 5, 2013, Paul Olivier wrote:
Christina,

How available is natural gas in Guatemala? Is it not made available to the people by oil and gas companies? No doubt it takes an incredible infrastructure to make it available to them in bottled form.

I would imagine that Guatemala generates fairly important quantities of agricultural residues. Perhaps what you are really saying is that the infrastructure needed to make predictable biomass fuel available to the people of Guatemala is not yet in place. It is precisely such an infrastructure we should be working on.

Whenever and wherever possible, in rich or poor countries alike, we should look for every opportunity to replace bottled gas with syngas. Why burn non-renewable fossil fuels, especially when agricultural residues could be transformed into predictable fuels that are thoroughly renewable? Are we not concerned about global warming each time that we switch on a modern gas stove? 

Thanks.
Paul Olivier

On Sun, May 5, 2013 at 9:15 AM, Christina Espinosa <c_espinosa1 at u.pacific.edu> wrote:
In Guatemala, the current price to refill a 25 lb tank is $14 (no subsidy). A 10lb tank refill would cost $5.60. 5lb tanks are not permited in the market.

Every country is going to have a different market, regulations, etc....and not every country has an abundance of readily available biomass. Not every customer might want to produce char or have access to biomass. LPG is still an alternative for many families who only purchase wood. 

Christina Espinosa

On Saturday, May 4, 2013, mtrevor wrote:
Just curious.
What size bottle costs USD $21.00
Here in the Marshall Islands the standard US 20 lbs bottle is $37.50 
and the small pressure cans in the stores run from $0.96 up to $2.00 plus.

Michael N Ttvor

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Olivier
To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves
Sent: Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:28 PM
Subject: Re: [Stoves] The price of bottled gas

Philip,

Here in Vietnam bottled gas costs more than $21.00 US per bottle. There is no distribution problem here at all. Some households use up a bottle in less than one month. When the monthly wage is not more than $120 US per month, the situation is extremely dire.

In many parts of Vietnam, rice hulls and coffee husks are often dumped in rivers and valleys. Sometimes they are uselessly burned as a means of disposal. With the right type of stove, these agricultural residues put out a beautiful blue flame that rivals that of bottled gas. 

When we derive energy from fossil fuels, there is nothing of value left behind. But when we gasify or pyrolyze biomass, a valuable biochar remains. When incorporated into the soil, biochar promotes plant growth and sequesters carbon.

Why derive energy from fossil fuels when we can get it from renewable biomass? 
Are you not, in any way, concerned about global warming?

Thanks.
Paul

On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 5:56 PM, Philip Lloyd <plloyd at mweb.co.za> wrote:
Paul Oliver commented " The price of bottled gas is a huge problem
throughout most of the
developing world."

Part of the problem is poor models of distribution.  Locally, we are seeing
the entry of a supplier who a) has found a way of filling 5kg bottles
rapidly at a central plant and b) distributing them directly to the retailer
at minimal cost, with a growing chain of retailers chosen so that the
householder can resupply within 500m.  The net result is a halving of the
street price of bottle gas, and it is now the cheapest way to cook.

The advantage of filling at a central plant is that safety is greatly
enhanced; and the discovery of a way of filling small cylinders rapidly
means high throughput and low costs.  Most big bottlers of gas don't like
the really small cylinders because they couldn't fill them rapidly enough to
get throughput - it was cheaper (and far less safe) to refill them at the
retailers.

Regards to all

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-- 
Christina Espinosa
University of the Pacific '10
School of International Studies
c_espinosa1 at u.pacific.edu

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