[Stoves] Coconut husks as TLUD fuel

Paul Anderson psanders at ilstu.edu
Wed Dec 7 09:55:14 CST 2016


Stovers and Charists,

A.D. Karve's message below is very informative.   And Priya has sent 
this link to an excellent video that you must see if you are interested 
in char-making that is bigger than cookstoves, approximately up to the 
size of 200 barrels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zowFwJ_a0k0&index=14&list=PLO9IWBWSV1ah7dPoVwc5T0xXxyDZwPpgw&t=2s

This certainly is TLUD-style pyrolysis.  The Karve's refer to the 
technology as "Flasher".  It is quite different from their earlier 
(2002) char-production with retort methods, described in:
http://www.ashden.org/files/reports/ARTI%202002%20Technical%20report_0.pdf

About pyrolyzing coconut husks, two key notes are:  1) the husks have 
the shells with them, and 2) that biomass is well dried by the sun 
(video says preference to less than 15% moisture content (MC).

Congratulations to the Karves.  They have clearly shown that coconut 
wastes (including husks) can be pyrolyzed in to good quality char. 
TLUD-style pyrolyzers of many shapes and sizes should be tested with 
coconut husk/shell fuel.  I hope that Mangolazi of Malaysia will soon 
have additional comments to send to us.

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 12/7/2016 12:43 AM, Anand Karve wrote:
> Dear Paul,
> it seems that the web page is being reorganized. I have asked Priya to 
> send the relevant video or its link to you.
> The NGO who are converting the coconut husk into char briquettes 
> operates on a hill, which belongs to the Department of Forests. All 
> the hills around Pune City had been denuded of their forest cover. 
> This particular NGO calling itself "Green Hills" is attempting to 
> plant trees on these hills. The trees which they have planted, shed 
> their leaves in the post-monsoon season. Unsocial elements set the 
> leaf litter on fire, which also damages the trees. Therefore, we 
> demonstrated our charring process to the trustees of this NGO who 
> started using our kiln to convert the dry leaves into charcoal. An 
> elected member of the city council came to know about it and persuaded 
> the management of this NGO to make charcoal from coconut husk. They 
> agreed to do so. The coconut shells are delivered to them together 
> with the husk. The shells are split open into two halves with the help 
> of a machete. The halved shells are spread out on the hill side for 
> drying and after drying, they are subjected to pyrolysis in our kiln. 
> The pyrolysis gas is burned to produce a clean, smokeless flame, and 
> when the kiln stops emitting flames, the operator removes the charcoal 
> formed in the kiln and dowses it with water.  The wet char is then 
> passed on to teams operating the briquetting machines. The briquettes 
> are again dried under the sun for four days, before packing and 
> selling them. This charcoal has about 20% ash and it is as good as 
> foundry grade coke.
> The work described above has currently come to a stand still because 
> of a quarrel among the labourers. One of them was killed and the 
> others have stopped reporting for work.
> Yours
> A.D.Karve
>
> ***
> Dr. A.D. Karve
>
> Chairman, Samuchit Enviro Tech Pvt Ltd (www.samuchit.com 
> <http://www.samuchit.com>)
>
> Trustee & Founder President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)
>
> On Tue, Dec 6, 2016 at 7:34 PM, Paul Anderson <psanders at ilstu.edu 
> <mailto:psanders at ilstu.edu>> wrote:
>
>     A.D.,
>
>     Thanks for pointing that out.   I remember your kiln approach but
>     had forgotten about its use with conconut husks.
>
>     I went to your website and entered the U-Tube button, but I did
>     not find the specific one you mention.   Please send a specific link.
>
>     Also, please send more details about the actual operations for the
>     drying and charring of the fresh husks.
>
>     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 12/6/2016 1:53 AM, Anand Karve wrote:
>>     Dear Paul,
>>     I think that I had already reported that we had developed a kiln
>>     (based on the same principle as our Sampada Stove, which is
>>     basically TLUD) for making charcoal from agricultural waste. See
>>     our web site www.samuchit.com <http://www.samuchit.com>. It has a
>>     button for U-Tube, which would activate videos of various
>>     technologies developed by us, including the charring kiln. The
>>     city, where I live, generates daily about 30 tons (fresh weight)
>>     of coconut husk. An NGO gets this husk delivered to them free of
>>     transport cost. They dry the husk, and using our kilns and
>>     briquette extruders, this organisation makes char briquettes,
>>     which are used as smokeless cooking fuel.
>>     Yours
>>     A.D.Karve
>>
>>     ***
>>     Dr. A.D. Karve
>>
>>     Chairman, Samuchit Enviro Tech Pvt Ltd (www.samuchit.com
>>     <http://www.samuchit.com>)
>>
>>     Trustee & Founder President, Appropriate Rural Technology
>>     Institute (ARTI)
>>
>>     On Mon, Dec 5, 2016 at 8:30 PM, Paul Anderson <psanders at ilstu.edu
>>     <mailto:psanders at ilstu.edu>> wrote:
>>
>>         Dear Mangolazi,   (and especially all Stovers who live in
>>         areas where coconuts grow.)
>>         Also sending to the Biochar Listserv because of biochar
>>         production discussion.
>>
>>         Great to hear of your experiences with coconut husks!!
>>
>>         Many of us (including myself) have tried to use coconut husks
>>         as fuel in TLUDs (or other stove types).  I believe that you
>>         have just reported more success than anyone else, but perhaps
>>         others can correct me about that.
>>
>>         What you describe is "typical".  But you have allowed the
>>         husks to smoulder more, giving smoke that does not burn, or
>>         burns poorly.  AND you report that after allowing that to
>>         happen, that you have "some good biochar" (which I hope can
>>         be analyzed someday to confirm your judgement.).
>>
>>         AND you report some minor use of the heat.
>>
>>         Can we assume that your two photos are taken during the early
>>         stage while there are still fronds or perhaps even diesel
>>         fuel being burned?  I would like to know more about your
>>         smokiness.
>>
>>         You have the advantage of living in an area that produces
>>         coconuts and the husks are plentiful.   Please continue your
>>         efforts. They are very important, considering the quantities
>>         of husks around the world and the need for biochar in the
>>         tropics.
>>
>>         Please consider doing some experiments and reporting back
>>         about your results.
>>
>>         1.  You wrote:
>>>         but it gets smoky once the only the husks are burning.
>>         Please try with a mixture of fronds in with the husks all the
>>         way through the barrel of fuel.   Do this with known
>>         (approximate) percentages of fronds (by weight or simply by
>>         volume).   Is 20% fronds functional? Maybe 40% fronds?  And
>>         confirm that 100% or 80% fronds will pyrolyze cleanly (with
>>         combustible smoke).  I do not know of anyone who has done this.
>>>         Most of the fuel consists of semi-dry brown-green husks
>>         Here you can repeat experiments with husks with various
>>         degrees of dryness.  If with reasonable success with "mostly
>>         dried" or "highly dried" or with some amount of "semi-dry
>>         brown-green husks", then that is further progress.  YOU get
>>         to make up whatever classification system seems to describe
>>         "dryness."   You can even "oven dry" some husks.
>>
>>         Also, when you have determined something useful about
>>         dryness, we can discuss having a "dryer" device that will use
>>         the heat from the TLUD barrels to do the drying of the future
>>         batches of husks.
>>
>>         Objectives:
>>         A.  Produce biochar
>>         B.  Elimimate (remove or dispose of) piles of discarded husks.
>>         C.  Elimimate (stop) the rotting and off-gassing of methane
>>         and CO2 from the discarded husks.
>>         D.  Everntually claim carbon credits for the A and C above.
>>         E.  Ultimately find a way to have useful heat while doing A
>>         through D above.
>>
>>         I am almost finished (need another week?) with a document
>>         about making conveniently simple barrel-size TLUDs in a style
>>         that I personally like.   I will send it to you (Mangolazi)
>>         as a separate message.  Soon it will be on my website and
>>         announced to the Listservs.
>>
>>         We all look forward to more info about your work.   Also
>>         please tell us about yourself, location, employment, goals,
>>         family, etc.
>>
>>         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 12/4/2016 10:23 PM, Mangolazi wrote:
>>>         Hi stovers,
>>>
>>>         I've been making some big TLUDs to turn farm waste into biochar as well as using the heat for cooking. I'm using oil drums with a chimney made from stacked paint cans; the fuel consists of dried coconut husks (not copra or coconut shells) and chopped coconut fronds. I pack the fuel into the drum as tightly as possible and light it off with diesel-soaked coconut fronds on top.
>>>
>>>         Has anyone used these items as TLUD fuel for cooking or heating? I find the mixture burns cleanly at first, thanks to the quick and furious burn from the diesel and fronds, but it gets smoky once the only the husks are burning. Most of the fuel consists of semi-dry brown-green husks because it takes a long time for husks to dry down to a uniform dark brown color. I can get some good biochar after a 1.5-hour burn.
>>>
>>>         My cooking attempts are limited to putting a small pot on the TLUD lid for simmering. It would also be possible to wrap copper tubing around the oil drum as a heat exchanger to heat water. In coastal Malaysia, coconut husks are usually left to very slowly break down into compost; it would be interesting to use it to replace LPG for simmering and as a heat source for small village enterprises.
>>>
>>>
>>>         _______________________________________________
>>>         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
>>>         <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/
>>>         <http://stoves.bioenergylists.org/>
>>>
>>         _______________________________________________ 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
>>         <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/
>>         <http://stoves.bioenergylists.org/> 
>>
>>     _______________________________________________
>>     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
>>     <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/ <http://stoves.bioenergylists.org/>
>>
>     _______________________________________________ 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
>     <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/
>     <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/20161207/f2362f81/attachment.html>


More information about the Stoves mailing list