[Stoves] The Akha TLUD - Biochar Project in Bangladesh.

Michael Hayes voglerlake at gmail.com
Tue Mar 7 03:29:33 CST 2017


Hello Folks,

I can offer a few files which can, hopefully, give a general reader some
background information on marine tank based cultivation of macroalgae and
potentially microalgae.

I found an analysis of Bangladesh's macroalgae industry which has the date
of 2005 yet it also seems to be very recently updated by the authors.

In brief, this analysis shows the Bangladesh has a good potential for
offshore macroalgae cultivation.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/47378683_Seaweed_cultivation_in_Bangladesh_Problems_and_potentials

The use of photobioreactor can provide the operator with full environmental
control, however, the obvious problem is bringing the cost down at the
materials/components level and the operating and harvesting energy and
labor levels respectively.

On the issue of production energy, the marine environment offers multiple
energy conversion options. For brevity's sake, I'll skip past the many
different types of energy conversion that can be applied and move directly
to the idea concerning utilizing off the shelf equipment for offshore
bioreactor components.

The use of capped off high-density polyethylene (HDPE) culverts, as the
primary tank structure, has multiple benefits, such as:

1) HDPE has low to no biofouling

2) HDPE is food grade
plastic

3) HDPE can be made with post-consumer plastic coupled with the bio crude
oil generated through the pyrolytic production of biochar.

Although pyrolysis derived crude oil has never been, to the best of my
knowledge, utilized to produce HDPE, I believe that is simply due to the
fact that such bio crude oil feedstock is still a rather rare commodity.

Below is a link to one of many manufacturers of high-density polyethylene
dual wall culverts.

http://www.ads-pipe.com/en/product.asp?page=MEGA_GREEN

This next link shows what the saltwater aquarium enthusiast community uses
as a macroalgae bioreactor. My work is focused upon scaling up this type
fully enclosed mariculture. As a final note, please notice in the video
clip how some macroalgae can tolerate very dense cultivation. I am
predicting that a 40 foot long 5 foot diameter marine based and marine
energized photobioreactor would become full of macroalgae, particularly
brown algae, within 30 to 40 days.

https://youtu.be/UvrWqqaMiyM

I've recently submitted a concept paper to ARPA-E on this work, as it
relates to the production of bioenergy, which may offer further information.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y8zdiWE7cbqTGklAfWWE0MAi-27A4ZBE9iABM8PyFOc/edit?usp=drivesdk

I would like to thank Ron for keeping this marine biomass-for-biochar (aka
Blue Biochar) effort in mind. Please let me know if you would like more
information about the Blue Biochar effort.

Best regards,

Michael

On Monday, March 6, 2017, Ronal W. Larson <rongretlarson at comcast.net> wrote:

> Julien:  cc list and others
>
> Nice work.  Thanks for your involvement.
>
> There may be an opportunity to use ocean biomass for your cook stoves.
> Michael Hayes (cc’d) has a long analytical history on combining ocean
> biomass and biochar.  Bangladesh could be the ideal lead country in this
> aspect of shortages for both biomass stoves and biochar.
>
> See few inserts below.
>
>
> On Mar 6, 2017, at 9:49 AM, Julien Winter <winter.julien at gmail.com
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','winter.julien at gmail.com');>> wrote:
>
> Hi Folks;
>
> Thanks for all your comments.
>
> Bangladesh has some challenges with its population density, and pending
> sea-level rise.
>
> However, it is great place for making collegial partnerships.  People tend
> to work and cooperate together much more than they do in North America.
> This applies to the university educated professionals in the cities, and
> farmers in the countryside.  If you have a GOOD IDEA, people are please to
> listen, and get involved.  There are leading farmers who are eager to
> experiment with biochar.  If you want to help them adapt and develop it,
> great.  You do have to be on guard for unscrupulous business people.
>
> What does exist in the countryside is something called "NGO fatigue."
> Outside people coming in with an ill suited idea that they try to impose.
> Then they go away.  Villagers see what they can get for free from foreign
> NGOs, so you may be greeted with enthusiasm, but you may not be taken
> seriously.
>
> I am fortunate, because a local NGO, called the Christian Commission for
> Development in Bangladesh (CCDB), took an early interest in biochar, and
> invited me to explain it in 2013.  Out of that was born the Bangladesh
> Biochar Initiative.
>
> CCDB was founded in 1972, and has a network of compounds ("campuses")
> across the country.  They have a very competent staff specializing in
> extension education, micro businesses, and rural development.  I helped one
> of their staff, Mahbubul Islam, design the Akha stove, we developed the
> TLUD-biochar ecology viewpoint, and proposed the Users Groups methodology
> for deployment.  When CCDB got funding from ICCO - Netherlands, CCDB staff
> made it happen.  They knew precisely what to do.  Research partnerships are
> being formed with agronomists in universities to experiment with biochar.
>
> Because of my place in time, it happened to be me that introduced the idea
> of TLUDs and biochar to Bangladesh.  However, as the ideas take root, they
> are taking over.  They have big dreams for developing biochar
> technologies.
>
> At this point, we need to look into densifying biomass.  Methods of
> various degrees of sophistication could be found.  Compressing wet biomass
> into briquettes is likely a good fit for the countryside.
>
> *[RWL:  A few years ago I experimented with hand-compression of wet soggy
> material into a “turdlike” shape, at the end an Aprovecho event.  Art
> Donnelly (being cc’d) reported they pyrolyzed well.  All the
> Bangladeshi stove users (or husbands) need is a pail;  no need for a press
> - which I felt was slower.  I found starting each “turd” with the left hand
> and finishing with the right hand - allowed quite a few each minute.  I got
> into a rhythm (can’t now describe it) and recall that handling each
> large “pellet” twice seemed to get a more dense final product.*
> * I hope Richard Stanley (c’d - on this list from the beginning) can chime
> in.  Much knowledge on how to get the biomass ready for compression.*
>
>
> We should see if it is feasible to developing pellets as a renewable,
> commercial fuel.  There is lots of rice straw.  Rice straw has been
> pelleted in other parts of Asia.  I am searching the research literature to
> see if the high mineral content (ca. 20%) has posed a problem for abrasion
> of equipment, lower heating value, and ash in the stove.
>
> *RWL:  I am cc’ing Paul Olivier who I believe should have had considerable
> abrasion experience in Viet Nam on both rice straw and rice husks (with
> TLUDs).*
>
>
> Co-firing leaves and wood in TLUDs may extend the TLUD season.  The
> Biochar Users Groups should experiment with that.  I expect that the leaves
> will burn to ash before the center of wood pieces has pyrolyzed.
>
> *[RWL:   I’ll bet the other way.  Groups all over the world can (and
> should) do this experiment (if the data is not already available).  Anyone
> have it?*
>
> *Ron*
>
>
> Thanks again for all your comments.
>
> Cheers,
> Julien.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Julien Winter
> Cobourg, ON, CANADA
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-- 
*Michael Hayes*

*The Cascadia Marine and Limnology Laboratory*
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