[Stoves] Sequestering carbon -

Tue May 5 04:02:10 CDT 2015

Thanks to Crispin and all,

yes, I have tried clay before and it works fine but these briquettes are really hard to light!

I found it takes a well lit fire below or around them to get to the point where the clay does not absorb all the energy.
Once burning, they work well but they give a lot of ash, true.

I live on an island in the Mediterranean, very touristic and with a high demand for good bbq charcoal. 
So coal is out, not being available anyway. 
Pity the clay as a binder is not very practical, either. It is cheap and works well as such.

I have tried ground,soaked and fermented straw. Not much good unless in high quantities but than it gives smoke.

Must try hay, someone said it works far better.

More to come!

Rolf

On Mon, 4 May 2015 21:51:57 -0400
Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <crispinpigott at outlook.com> wrote:

> Dear Rolf
> 
>  
> 
> The typical binder content of a pillow briquette is enough to bring the
> total ash content to 20%. As the ash content of the charcoal is perhaps 7%
> it means the ash content of what has been added is about 13%. It could be
> something as simple as clay though that would be unusual (but it works).
> 
>  
> 
> Others have given you the standard fare regarding the use of cooked flour or
> starch. Many countries harvest starch sources for making industrial
> products, not foods. 
> 
> There is a list here
> <http://www.terawet.com/uploads/Starch_sorces___Processing_in_India.pdf> .
> Might give you some ideas.
> 
>  
> 
> Green bananas might be a good source for many people - all the rejects from
> the market, for example. It dries pretty hard. When it is ripe it is 22%
> sugar but before that it is starch which is a di-saccharide if I recall
> correctly. 
> 
>  
> 
> There are two ways to make briquettes: in a container of some kind and using
> a rotating, slightly tilted flat pan hopper.
> 
>  
> 
> When the flat pan hopper is rotated with material in it (at the right
> moisture content) little balls of material start rolling downhill over the
> other material. They gain in size and start rolling faster. According to the
> tilt and the material, they grow to a size that hops off the container.
> Those balls are dried and sold.
> 
>  
> 
> It is the same mechanism what is used to make cement on a small scale - 5-8
> tons per day.  The tilted hopper sits atop a vertical chimney and the balls
> fall into the chimney which has a bottom-lit fire in it. As the mixture
> burns cement is pulled out of the bottom.
> 
>  
> 
> You want the same thing except the heat will dry the balls. You can leave
> out the drying part and just use the ball forming mechanism. It is very
> simple - so simple that people try to keep the knowledge to themselves
> because it is easy to get into the business just seeing it working once. 
> 
>  
> 
> Richard's briquettes are low density and those balls would be similar. The
> pressed pillows take far more energy and expensive equipment. The product is
> more durable and lights with more difficulty and lasts a long time. We
> recommend people cook in a Vesto using only 6 pillow briquettes,
> 
>  
> 
> Kingsford pillow briquettes have 6 ingredients, not two. One of them is
> powdered anthracite which gives them their low lasting glow. You could
> consider adding that in small quantities. It should be a low volatiles coal
> and because you want it powdered, you can use duff coal (below 6mm in sieve
> size) which is really cheap. North American coals generally have high
> sulphur compared with other places so be picky about the source. If you were
> in South Africa I would recommend the Transkei Coals which are just South
> East of Lesotho. Very dry, very old, hard to light, good for mixing with
> char.
> 
>  
> 
> In Mongolia there are good products in the Gobi Desert. Ask around. 
> 
>  
> 
> There is a Korean company making TLUD stoves that burn holey briquettes with
> quite good emissions. CO/CO2 is a steady 3.8% and that is without knowing
> really what they are doing so it could be improved. You could consider
> looking into that as an alternative to loose pillows. The old machines that
> make such briquettes produce 2 at a time every two seconds so 3600 per hour.
> There is no reason why a charcoal holey briquette wouldn't work well. 
> 
>  
> 
> Turning waste biomass into a high value fuel in a rural area is a great
> idea.
> 
>  
> 
> Regards
> 
> Crispin
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stoves [mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of
> Energies Naturals C.B.
> Sent: Monday, May 04, 2015 06:00
> To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves
> Subject: Re: [Stoves] Sequestering carbon -
> 
>  
> 
> Dear Crispin,
> 
>  
> 
> you mention pillow briquettes out of char dust. Do you have any direct
> experience with how to make them?
> 
> is there a technical guideline as for pressure needed and most of all the
> ideal aglomeration additive?
> 
>  
> 
> I have tried to make them, but it is not easy unless I mix them with
> expensive starch or equally expensive ligno sulfonate in quite high
> concentrations. 
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for any advice!
> 
>  
> 
> Rolf
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> On Mon, 4 May 2015 02:42:25 -0400
> 
> Crispin Pemberton-Pigott < <mailto:crispinpigott at outlook.com>
> crispinpigott at outlook.com> wrote:
> 
>  
> 
> > Dear Ad
> 
> > 
> 
> > I completely agree.  Even if it has high ash, it would have value. The 
> 
> > value of bio-char dust is about 2/3 the value of lump charcoal so 
> 
> > there is a market for it (making pillow briquettes).
> 
> > 
> 
> > Thanks
> 
> > Crispin
> 
> > 
> 
> > 
> 
> > Dear Crispin,
> 
> > if non-rotting leaf litter is a problem, one can char it and convert 
> 
> > it into char  briquettes, to be used as fuel.
> 
> > Yours
> 
> > A.D.Karve
> 
> > ***
> 
> > Dr. A.D. Karve
> 
> > 
> 
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