[Stoves] ruminating on dung

[Richard Stanley]

Dear AD,
Thanks for that insight. Its precisely this kind of input that helps define the parameters of utility of such a process. Mary and Francis reported that it worked on the masaai " range fed" cattle, camels in Somalia) and elephants in Kenya and Tanzania and all were feeding off the land as it were.
Anon, Richard
 
Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 7, 2015, at 23:08, Anand Karve <adkarve at gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Stanley,
we tried washing cattle dung in a sieve, but at least in the case of
Indian dairy cattle (cows as well as buffalos), no residue was left on
the sieve after washing. The sieve that we used had a very fine
stainless steel mesh which was even finer than a normal
mosquito-proofing mesh. Fibres could be obtained from the dung of
horses and donkeys which are non-ruminant animals. Dung of elephants
and pandas might also yield fibres.
Yours
A.D.Karve

***
Dr. A.D. Karve

Chairman, Samuchit Enviro Tech Pvt Ltd (www.samuchit.com)

Trustee & Founder President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)

On Thu, Oct 8, 2015 at 1:49 AM, Richard Stanley
<rstanley at legacyfound.org> wrote:
> 
> Friends of dung,
> 
> In Miumbuni Village, about 2.5 hrs east of Nairobi (along the Mombassa highway), and a 9 mile slog north off road,  are two of some the the most dedicated experienced and resrouceful briquette training teams one could hope to know. Husband and wife, Mary and Francis  Kavita, were faced with the challenge of making fuel briquettes from only cattle dung for a group of Masaii about four years ago.
> 
> Here is what hey came up with;
> 1)  soak the dung and crumble it a bit manually,  to form a chunky mash.
> 2) slosh this mash  around in water in a seive (they used an old,  very traditional and ubiquitous woven cane  seiving tray common to  many  traditional cultures: Its used to clean grains such as rice and beans ) replenishing the water until it comes clean.
> 
> The resulting fibers are great for combustion in the briquetted form ( they form a good structural matrix which can encapsulate up to  50% sawdust rice husks or other granular material as well —y crude volume comparison—,or they burn well by themselves),
> 3) and ….the collected  wash off water turns to  be great as a liquid fertilizer.
> 
> It appears to be a fra better solution than  the reverse osmosis proposed by one ivy league school whose engineering faculty blithly ignored these little villagers in their pursuit for academic excellence but no matter: The real word is getting out quite nicely thanks to the internet and hopefully your all as well in sharing their story.
> 
> It remains for those inclined to do real science now: How to properly assay wh