[Stoves] FW: FW: Quick comment on developing international standards -- RE: [stove] Comparison of stove testing procedures

Ranyee Chiang rchiang at cleancookstoves.org
Mon Mar 28 09:47:44 CDT 2016


Dear all,

Thanks for the discussion on this always interesting topic of standards and testing.  We definitely want to encourage further discussion.  But I also want to address some of the concerns that have been raised and clarify a few things before we get too worried about older versions of documents.  Many of the challenges with previous protocols that have been raised in this discussion have been discussed at length within the ISO standards committee, as John explained.  The draft ISO documents have changed a lot over the last year, and if anyone would like to provide thoughts on the current documents, please let me know and we can connect you to be able to see the latest versions.

I have heard concerns that the ISO effort cannot be successful without countries like China and India.  Experts from these countries have been active in providing ideas to the ISO process.  For those of you who were able to view the recent webinar organized by Winrock and the U.S. EPA, with presenters from many countries, the laboratory standard includes elements from the existing Chinese and Indian standards, and others.  This integration came out of discussions at international meetings, regular teleconference meetings, as well as meetings in China and India.  I can also report that the recent voting period on a laboratory testing document has closed.  25 countries voted, and the large majority of countries, including China and India, have expressed their support for the drafts by voting “yes” to advancing the documents.  In addition, 11 countries submitted comments, which the experts who have been nominated by their countries to the ISO Working Groups will now be discussing and incorporating.

On ensuring that protocols lead to consistent and repeatable results, please let me know if you are interested in participating in the ongoing Round Robin Test across several dozen Regional Testing and Knowledge Centers.  The goal is to use these results to strengthen testing protocols, as well as quality assurance and staff training.

I would also like to encourage people who are producing test results to share them with the Clean Cooking Catalog, through catalog at cleancookstoves.org<mailto:catalog at cleancookstoves.org>.  The goal of international standards process is to use all the available data in understanding test results and evaluating protocols, so the more data that can be shared, the more effective all of our work will be.

Best regards,
Ranyee


[Global_Aliance_Clean_Cookstoves_blue_v23]<http://www.cleancookstoves.org/>

Ranyee Chiang, Ph.D.
Director of Standards, Technology and Fuels
rchiang at cleancookstoves.org<mailto:rchiang at cleancookstoves.org>





From: stove-bounces at lists.berkeley.edu [mailto:stove-bounces at lists.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Paul Anderson
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2016 9:47 PM
To: Kirk R. Smith <krksmith at berkeley.edu>; Mitchell, John <Mitchell.John at epa.gov>
Cc: Moss, Jacob <Moss.Jacob at epa.gov>; stove at lists.berkeley.edu; Stoves and biofuels network <Stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Subject: Re: FW: FW: Quick comment on developing international standards -- RE: [stove] Comparison of stove testing procedures

To all Stovers,

The two messages below from China are of interest.  They came via Kirk Smith, and I am sending them onward to the Stoves and Stove listservs.

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 3/25/2016 8:00 PM, Kirk R. Smith wrote:
Sorry not to convey these earlier, but we are giving a training course this week to the Royal Gov of Bhutan and it has been very hectic.   Below are responses from the two major authors of the paper/k
-------------------------
Dear John, Paul, and others,
Thank you very much for your comments and for the information provided. Sorry for not reply sooner, since I was on a business trip and was not able to check and reply my emails regularly.
My group has not get involved directly in standard development. This study was only one of a series experiments to look at emissions of air pollutants from various combination of stoves and fuels and to evaluate potential health impact of solid fuel cooking in China. The paper is one of many emission papers published by us (you can find them if interested).
As mentioned by the first author, Mr. Chen, that one of our collaborators provided us with this opportunity to run this experiment using a stove we did not test before. Our intention is to add more diversity to our database, and has no direct connection to standard development, we would like to contribute to the process in the future though.
I have to repeat the statement made by Kirk that China is a large country with a huge population who are still using solid fuel for cooking. According to our survey conducted in 2013-2014, more than 40% of rural household were using solid fuel for cooking up to 2012. The population affected in terms of health is even higher than the total population of the United States. Our effort, just like the efforts made by many other Chinese scientists and even foreign experts, is to provide sound scientific evidences for policy makers to develop effective and practical abatement strategy to reduce its health impacts, without any commercial interest.
To us, the field of standard for cooking stove is totally new. Although we are not familiar with the process, but I would like to say that the value and benefit of any international standard will be jeopardized without enough input from China (and India as well) where a large number of solid fuel cooking stoves are in operation.
Sincerely yours,
Prof. Shu Tao, Peking University
-----------------
Dear Friends,
I am so appreciated that the research article raised so many interests and debates on it.
Prof. Paul Anderson and Mitchell John are focusing on the reasonability and necessity for establishing a general international test. In my opinion, also stated in the paper, a well-accepted test is necessity, though there is a long way to go (like Prof. Anderson said: cost time, money, implementation expenditures), especially in the so big China or other developing areas all over the world.
When evaluate the efficiency or emission performance in lab test, the results would have the comparability if under a same water boiling test. It is why so many experts around the world are pushing a well-accepted international test. Their work is respectable and meaningful.
Limited to the lab condition and resources, we could only compare two protocols with three typical commercial gasifier cookstoves in the research paper. Definitely, many other stoves and real cooking or heating procedures which actually used in rural China or other countries were not included. And we claimed no business objectives. In the further study, we should made more efforts to cover more. In addition, some more collaborations are very welcomed with all of you, if you need further solid step in the China field research.
Some other comments on the paper are also very welcome.
Many thanks to all of your attention again!

Sincerely,
Yuanchen Chen (First author, supervised by Prof. Shu Tao)
Peking University,
chenyuanchen1988 at gmail.com<mailto:chenyuanchen1988 at gmail.com>














-----原始邮件-----
发件人:"Kirk R. Smith" <krksmith at berkeley.edu<mailto:krksmith at berkeley.edu>>
发送时间:2016-03-24 07:29:52 (星期 四)
收件人: "Tao Shu" <taos at pku.edu.cn<mailto:taos at pku.edu.cn>>, "Yuanchen Chen" <chenyuanchen1988 at gmail.com<mailto:chenyuanchen1988 at gmail.com>>
抄送:
主题: FW: Quick comment on developing international standards -- RE: [stove] Comparison of stove testing procedures
Do you want to respond to the comments on the paper below?  (See my initial response just below ) .  If you send to me, I can convey to the others with a copy to you.    It is ok if you prefer not to respond/k

From: Kirk R. Smith [mailto:krksmith at berkeley.edu<mailto:krksmith at berkeley.edu>]
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2016 6:23 AM
To: 'Dr. N.K.Ganguly:DBT NII'
Cc: 'stove at lists.berkeley.edu<mailto:stove at lists.berkeley.edu>'; 'Stoves and biofuels network'
Subject: RE: Quick comment on developing international standards -- RE: [stove] Comparison of stove testing procedures

I have passed these comments on to my Chinese colleagues who have these concerns.  I might add, however, that the work presented in the paper, which is part of the thesis of the first author supervised by Prof Tao,  the senior author, supports the benefits of such international efforts that engage the most knowledgeable independent stakeholders.   A peer-reviewed article with empirical measurements would, I should think, be a welcome bit of information informing that process along with many other inputs to be considered.

Perhaps China,  having had its own methods in place longer than any other country, can be excused a bit for concerns that methods and standards being proposed are suited to conditions there.  Also, please keep in mind that journal articles take some time to come out and information about such international activities may not reach everyone in every sector for some time as well.  And that China is a big place – not everyone engaged in stoves will know each other or be equally connected to efforts elsewhere.

I am sure no insult was intended about ongoing efforts, which indeed are welcomed by all of us/k

p.s. As this subject is fairly arcane to most readers of this listserver, which has been promised to its recipients as just that, i.e., not a blog with back and forth exchanges, can I suggest that those interested in this subject go “offline”.  I am happy to be involved in future emails directed to those with specific interest.  Thanks very much.



On Wed, Mar 23, 2016 at 1:57 AM, Mitchell, John <Mitchell.John at epa.gov<mailto:Mitchell.John at epa.gov>> wrote:
Paul,

Thanks for forwarding Kirk Smith’s email with the abstract on a “Comparison of International and Chinese water boiling test protocols.”

However, given your comment “It seems that some entities in the international leadership of clean cookstoves might be pushing for one test without sufficient attention to alternative testing methods,” I want to remind you, and inform others on the distribution lists, about two things:


1.   how the ISO technical committee (TC285) working to develop voluntary international standards operates; and

2.   how Working Group #2 – which is charged with developing laboratory testing methods, is moving forward.

ISO Technical Committee 285 (TC285) currently has 28 countries participating, and 14 observing, with 10 international organization participating as well.  Here in the US, many of our colleagues are engaged in the activities of TC285.  We have 99 people from 63 organizations participating in the US Technical Advisory Group – with 33 experts participating in the four TC285 working groups.  All this is to say – the some entities in the international leadership of clean cookstoves – is us.  It is your colleagues in the US and around the world – we are the international leadership developing testing methods – it is not just one person or one organization who is the international leader.  In fact, the chairperson of TC 285, the chairs of the national committees, and the conveners and project leaders of all the working groups, are responsible for staying neutral and not pushing a specific idea.  In addition, these leaders are responsible for ensuring everyone has an opportunity to be heard and to facilitate a constructive discussion to bring different perspectives together.   Also, it is important to note that each country gets one vote.  So all the people on the USTAG have merge our perspectives into one, and that the USTAG’s vote is just one vote out of 28.

In addition to keeping all participants in the USTAG informed and engaged, EPA and Winrock, with the support of the Global Alliance and the participation of TC285 leaders from Germany, Nepal, South Africa, and Uganda, have worked to keep all interested parties from around the world informed and engaged on TC285 activities, hosting a webinar on December 14th to update folks on the progress at the TC285 meeting in Accra that preceded the Forum.  That webinar can be found at http://www.pciaonline.org/webinars  Additionally, you will recall that there was a session at the January ETHOS Conference where we had representatives from each of the working groups report on their progress to date and upcoming plans


Regarding developing laboratory testing methods, Working Group 2 is moving forward on two tracks:


-      Part I is a “Standard [laboratory] test sequence for emissions and performance, safety, and durability” which has reached the committee draft stage.  In fact the voting on the committee draft has just concluded and the working group will soon be meeting to review 68 pages of comments – showing how engaged the international community is in developing this test sequence.  The purpose of Part I is to provide a standard test sequence to establish international comparability in measurements of cookstove emissions and efficiency.  There is a lot of flexibility within the standard test sequence as well – an option to test at just one or two power levels (versus all three), a plancha option, fuels, pots, etc.  So that the standard test sequence still wouldn’t have everyone doing the exact same thing.

-      Part II is a “Contextual [laboratory] test sequence” which will be used for comparability within particular demographic settings.  The idea is to attempt to replicate local field conditions, as much as practical, in the lab.  Part II is in the early draft stage.

If you, or anyone copied on this email would like to be engaged in developing testing methods, I strongly encourage you to contact your country’s standards development agency.  In the US that is the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the contact is Rachel Hawthorne, and she can be reached at rhawthorne at ansi.org<mailto:rhawthorne at ansi.org>  Folks outside the US can also contact Rachel and she can direct you the standards development agency in your country.  If anyone has questions about TC285 generally or about the USTAG, please contact me at mitchell.john at epa.gov<mailto:mitchell.john at epa.gov>

All the best,

John


From: stove-bounces at lists.berkeley.edu<mailto:stove-bounces at lists.berkeley.edu> [mailto:stove-bounces at lists.berkeley.edu<mailto:stove-bounces at lists.berkeley.edu>] On Behalf Of Paul Anderson
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 9:22 PM
To: stove at lists.berkeley.edu<mailto:stove at lists.berkeley.edu>; Stoves and biofuels network <Stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org<mailto:Stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>>
Subject: Re: [stove] Comparison of stove testing procedures

Stovers,

Below is the abstract of a significant comparative study done in China.   We thank Kirk Smith and his Stove list (different from StoveS) for the information.

Spoiler alert:   Here is the punch line from the abstract:
Statistically significant differences
between the two [China and Internatonal WBT] protocols indicate the need for further efforts in emission tests and methodology development
before the release of a well-accepted international testing protocol.

Yes.  Should we be surprised.   It seems that some entities in the international leadership of clean cookstoves might be pushing for one test without sufficient attention to alternative testing methods.

Note (in abstract) that:
With longer burning duration and higher
power, the Chinese WBT had statistically higher efficiencies, gas temperature, and lower pollutant emissions

Sure!!!   Change the duration and power, expect different test results!!!

What is clear to me is that there should never be only one set of tests.   People around the world have very different ways of cooking.  High power in China, plancha stoves in Central America, two-arm cooking of thick foods in parts of Africa, long-simmering bean-meals vs. quick boil of rice meals, and on and on.   The people we are trying to serve want solutions that are appropriate for their circumstances.

Observation:  There seems to be a slow-down in the seeking of stove testing at the major testing centers that have equipment.   I can be shown to be incorrect if any testing centers would give us some statistics of numbers and types of tests that are being requested.

Of course I like the importance of emissions testing because the TLUDs and other micro-gasifiers consistently give superior results.   But most funding in the past has gone to less-qualified stoves.

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 3/17/2016 1:08 PM, Kirk R. Smith wrote:
Can be downloaded from the website below/k

Efficiencies and pollutant emissions from forced-draft biomass-pellet semi-gasifier stoves: Comparison of International and Chinese water boiling test protocols
Yuanchen Chen, Guofeng Shen, Shu Su, Wei Du, Yibo Huangfu, Guangqing Liu, Xilong Wang, Baoshan Xing, Kirk R. Smith, Shu Tao
Energy for Sustainable Development 32 (2016) 22–30

Ab s t r a c t
Biomass fuels are widely combusted in rural China, producing numerous air pollutants with great adverse
impacts on human health. Some improved cookstoves and pellet fuels have been promoted. To evaluate the
performance of pellet-gasifier stoves, efficiencies and pollutant emissions were measured following International
and Chinese water boiling tests (WBTs). Compared with traditional stoves and unprocessed biomass fuels,
increased efficiencies and lower emissions of pollutants including carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter
(PM), parent and derivative polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were revealed for pellet-gasifier stoves.
However, the calculated emission rates (ERs) of CO and PM2.5 cannot meet the ER targets recently suggested
by WHO indoor air quality guidelines (IAQGs). Better control of air mixing ratio and gross flow rates of primary
and secondary air supply greatly reduced emissions and increased efficiencies. Differences among testing protocols
are the key factors affecting the evaluation of stove performance. With longer burning duration and higher
power, the Chinese WBT had statistically higher efficiencies, gas temperature, and lower pollutant emissions
(p b 0.10) compared to those obtained through the International WBT. Statistically significant differences
between the two protocols indicate the need for further efforts in emission tests and methodology development
before the release of a well-accepted international testing protocol


---------------------------
Kirk R. Smith, MPH, PhD
Professor of Global Environmental Health
Chair, Graduate Group in Environmental Health Sciences
Director of the Global Health and Environment Program
School of Public Health
747 University Hall
University of California
Berkeley, California, 94720-7360
phone 1-510-643-0793; fax 642-5815
krksmith at berkeley.edu<mailto:krksmith at berkeley.edu>
http://www.kirkrsmith.org/



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Shu TAO, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University
陶澍,北京大学城市与环境学院
taos at pku.edu.cn<mailto:taos at pku.edu.cn>


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