[Stoves] Advancement of "better" stoves

Paul Olivier paul.olivier at esrla.com
Wed May 29 06:16:00 CDT 2013


See comment below.


On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 4:32 PM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <
crispinpigott at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Art****
>
> ** **
>
> I appreciate the effort you put into the project and the report. One of
> the things that has been difficult to estimate is the time it would take to
> generate an ‘improved garden’ (or farm) using char from the area upon which
> the garden sits. The point is that to do something at scale, on the scale
> of hundreds of square miles, would mean generating the char on that same
> land.
>

Crispin,

There are many crops that are grown where biochar does not have to be
uniformly distributed over every square cm of farmland in question. In many
cases biochar only has to be incorporated into the soil in a targeted
manner: for example, at the base of the plants being grown. Only a small
amount of biochar is needed per plant. In this case, it would not take long
for a farmer to accumulate the biochar he needs for his crops.

The same logic applies to irrigation. We can waste irrigation water by
flooding an entire field, or we can target water at the base of each plant.

We are teaching farmers to gasify their coffee husks and to apply the
biochar they produce at the base of their coffee trees. The heat generated
from the burning of the syngas can be used to dry coffee cherries and
parchment beans. It can even be used to roast coffee beans. I am now
designing a coffee drying kiln that is powered by a single 150 gasifier. I
have also designed a small coffee roaster that is powered by the same
gasifier.

If all of the coffee husks from a given field of coffee trees were
gasified, and if all of the biochar produced were applied at the base of
the plants in this field, it would not take very long (perhaps, a year or
two) to supply each coffee plant with the biochar it needs. After this, the
farmer can start to sell biochar.

Paul Olivier


****
>
> ** **
>
> If you have some feedback from real gardens it will communicate a lot. The
> viability of cooking while making char pivots on two things: the conversion
> of fuel to char without increasing the raw fuel demand, and the rate of
> positive return on char placed in the soil. The data that addresses these
> issues is of great interest to me.****
>
> ** **
>
> >We are getting back two "complaints": lack of a longevity and a better
> multiple pot cook-top option. ****
>
> ** **
>
> That is valuable marketing information. ****
>
> ** **
>
> >These stoves will allow us to gain entry into the much larger urban and
> peri-urban markets where people are sliding back down the "fuel ladder" due
> to rising energy costs.****
>
> ** **
>
> We have noticed that in Indonesia there is a sensitivity to LPG fuel cost.
> It is rises slightly a percentage of people go to wood 100% instead of 40%.
> The income group they are in is not the bottom of the pyramid, just low.**
> **
>
> ** **
>
> Regards****
>
> Crispin****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
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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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