[Stoves] Fuels of the future

Paul Anderson psanders at ilstu.edu
Fri Sep 4 08:00:23 CDT 2015


Crispin,

Thanks for that good info.  There are several interrelated aspects that 
can be supportive or in opposition to success.

1.  Ash becomes glassy or clinker:
A.  Solution:  Only pyrolyze, so that the ash stays captive in the char.

B.   Difficulty:  If the char is later char-gasified, as in unit to make 
char-gas for running an internal combustion engine (ICE), then the ash 
will be very hot and will form clinkers / glass.  We can ask some 
friends who make gasification systems for creating ICE power if they 
think that the clinker problem will mess up their char-gasifiers for power.

2.  Get 50% to 70% of the energy, and have abundant char but not a 
tradition of charcoal stoves:
A.  Solution:  The "biochar for soil amendment" advocates could use this 
(if that specific type of char is found to be appropriate)

B.  Difficulty:  Getting the right people and devices in the right 
places where these shell fuels are abundant.

3.  Are there any supplies or suppliers of these shells in North America?

4.   I needed to look up about Flores Island (Indonesia, but there are 
others):   Wikipedia:
> *Flores* is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands 
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_Sunda_Islands>, an island arc 
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_arc> with an estimated area of 
> 14,300 km² extending east from the Java 
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_%28island%29> island of Indonesia 
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia>. The population was 
> 1,831,000 in the 2010 census
So there is sufficient land size and population for utilizing the shells 
if adequate demonstration of usefulness can be shown, including economic 
viability.   What is needed is the right combination of a person with 
knowledge about gasifier options and access to the shells and sufficient 
incentive (seed funding?) to get the experiences and to report the 
results.     ....    Any candidates?????

Paul

Doc  /  Dr TLUD  /  Prof. Paul S. Anderson, PhD
Email:  psanders at ilstu.edu
Skype: paultlud      Phone: +1-309-452-7072
Website:  www.drtlud.com

On 9/4/2015 5:54 AM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott wrote:
> Dear Paul
>
> The simple answer is everywhere that produces palm oil has the shells 
> lying about. Candle nut shells are much more restricted in the sense 
> that fewer places grow them in quantity. Flores Island is a place 
> where they are abundant.
>
> Where oil palm is massively mono-cropped like Indonesia and Malaysia 
> have enormous amounts to the point it is worth getting them in ships 
> like....fuel. We can bring them to Lombok by the shipload.
>
> Because they are nut shells, not wood, they tend to have a low ash 
> melting temperature. Hirendra from the ISO Fuels Task Group says there 
> is a tendency for such fuels to 'channel' as Julien has often 
> described, and heat to high temperatures creating glass as Alex E has 
> mentioned in his grass burning tests. The result is inevitably 
> formation of clunkers and glass if the air is blown. This applies not 
> only to palm kernel shells.
>
> The obvious solution is to use rather a large volume of fuel burning 
> at once at a low rate instead of a small volume burning at a high 
> rate. It may largely eliminate the problem.
>
> If you want to make charcoal ‎from either shell it works, and the 
> result is pretty hard. The carbon content of the shell is not 
> different from wood on a dry ash free basis but is it dense. The 
> upside of this is that a stove holds 'more fuel' if it is filled with 
> shells. The gas heat value is much less than the fuel so you can cook 
> longer. 'Tami' Utami reports that people in Flores have operated one 
> of Dr Nurhuda's early stoves successfully using candle nut shells, 
> another not.  It had to be adapted.
>
> If your general plan is to have people ship from one island to 
> another, distribute it to the market, buy it to transport home, burn 
> only the gas portion and be left with half the energy in the form of 
> charcoal, you had better have a good explanation for what to do with 
> the charcoal. There is a small charcoal market for blacksmiths.
>
> The issue with fuels is not the price of acquiring it‎ but the cost of 
> moving it. Unless the charcoal has a property that makes it worth the 
> trouble to save and move, it will be burned. The market doesn't exist 
> to validate the design of the pyrolysers. The pyrolysers exist to 
> service the market.
>
> There is, in the presence of LPG, a strong desire to have a 'clean 
> kitchen' which is separate from the 'dirty kitchen'. It really refers 
> to pot cleanliness. If charcoal cooking caught on there would develop 
> a local market for the whole fuel. Gasifying charcoal is very easy 
> though a bit hot for most materials. YDD makes them. It is easy to run 
> an engine on charcoal gas.
>
> Regards
> Crispin
>> Crispin and all,
>
> Do you know of any location that has these shells and has access to 
> TLUD gasifiers?   The combination of these shells and TLUDs has great 
> potential, but only if someone somewhere puts the two together in a 
> serious project or venture.  I would be interested in having contact 
> with people in such situations.
>
> Paul
> Doc  /  Dr TLUD  /  Prof. Paul S. Anderson, PhD
> Email:psanders at ilstu.edu <mailto:psanders at ilstu.edu>    
> Skype: paultlud      Phone: +1-309-452-7072
> Website:www.drtlud.com <http://www.drtlud.com>
> On 9/2/2015 6:01 PM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott wrote:
>>
>> Dear Friends
>>
>> Her are two fuels that are abundant (in places) and really 
>> interesting to work with. Both can be charcoaled and both are really 
>> strong.
>>
>> Oil Palm Kernel Shells
>>
>> And
>>
>> Candle nut shells.
>>
>> The price is something like $70 per ton. Moisture is low and energy 
>> ins in the 18-19 MJ/kg range.  The can be burned in a TLUD to make 
>> charcoal, and the charcoal is strong enough to sell in sacks.
>>
>> The interesting about these fuels is they are not just available in 
>> many thousands of tons, they pack quite well so a packed bed gasifier 
>> is a pretty good burner.
>>
>> For crossdraft and downdraft enthusiasts, they can also be used in 
>> hoppers burning something and intermediate coal.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Crispin
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Stoves mailing list
>>
>> to Send a Message to the list, use the email address
>> stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org <mailto:stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>
>>
>> to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page
>> http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org
>>
>> for more Biomass Cooking Stoves,  News and Information see our web site:
>> http://stoves.bioenergylists.org/
>>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Stoves mailing list
>
> to Send a Message to the list, use the email address
> stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org
>
> to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page
> http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org
>
> for more Biomass Cooking Stoves,  News and Information see our web site:
> http://stoves.bioenergylists.org/
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.bioenergylists.org/pipermail/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org/attachments/20150904/95b22519/attachment.html>


More information about the Stoves mailing list