[Stoves] News 31 October 2016: Cleaner, Healthier Cookstoves May -- At Long Last -- Be Catching On.p

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Teddy

An interesting account. Thanks.

Here is a photo of cobs being used for making salt (Lombok Island, Indonesia).

[cid:image001.jpg at 01D238E3.9A7164E0]

The cobs are, by the nature of the combustor, gasified to make charcoal, then the char is burned slowly after that. The power is quite high – 30 kW at least.

Here is the burner with the salt pan:

[cid:image002.jpg at 01D238E3.9A7164E0]

It is hard to see but under the tray of fuel there is a rake-out door for the ash+char. The ash thrown away has a lot of char in it. Considering the fuel is purchased, that is a “mechanical loss”. The efficiency of the boiler is about 30% - something like half of what it should be.

Regards
Crispin


Hi Crispin and Dieter,

Very true about the need for people to have a quick option of cooking in various 'context of use' scenarios. We have found particular interest in our small kilns from customers that are farmers who have waste maize cobs and also are regular buyers of charcoal -  (http://kenyacharcoal.blogspot.co.ke/2012/10/make-and-use-maize-cob-charcoal.html). As one lady told me the other day, she stopped buying charcoal (still makes and uses it for certain dishes) and thus saved up enough money to buy an LPG gas cylinder.

Other interesting feedback I have had from customers about the need for a 'V-Power' type of charcoal (fast lighting and burning, very hot) is from hotels who have a brief but fast lunch rush - you can mix maize cobs or other light density charcoal with hardwood charcoal to tweak the speed of cooking - and also from quite a few home cooks. They mostly say having a light density charcoal that goes out after 20mins for small dishes like eggs or tea is much better than the hassle of lighting hardwood charcoal that burns for another 20mins after you have finished cooking.

Teddy



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