[Stoves] Celebrate! First-ever international standard for laboratory testing of cookstoves published.

Paul Anderson psanders at ilstu.edu
Tue Jul 3 07:31:40 CDT 2018


Ron,

Thanks for that well-stated reply.   I hope that many readers will 
digest what you have presented.

My comments are restriced to only the discussion of equations and their 
meanings.   (How we arrive at 50 million char-making stoves is a vastely 
dirrerent topic.)

The explanation by equations might be better understood or at least 
illustrated with a few sets of number based on actual stove typess (see 
reference to the triangular graph mentioned in your message.).

You wrote:
> *To repeat, the equation under discussion is used without apology 
> throughout the new ISO 19867-1 document.
> *
Maybe give a few specific references / page numbers.   But I for one 
will not be checking that.
> *I believe I have stated that the correctness of e3 = A/(B-C) is in 
> part because it is identical to e3 = A/(A+D), where D = inefficiency 
> and B = A+C+D - as can be deduced from viewing what's going on in a 
> triangular diagram.
> *
Maybe it is time to show such a triangular diagram (in which any 
position in the triangle shows the three numbers that total 100%).    
What are the three components?    You have 4 letteres   A B C D.   and 
what does each one mean in the real world?   I am trying to understand 
the concept of D as  "inefficiency", which is being added to A, but D is 
a negative number .

I am guessing that the produced charcoal (Just just happens to be 
convieniently called "C") is zero for sstoves that do not produce char 
and something like 20% if measured as weight or 30% if measured as 
energy.    Is this making sense?   Please explain further.
> *And Crispin continues to mis-state what e3 is.  It is NOT the 
> efficiency for the test providing A,B, and C.  It is a statement of 
> what would be expected if char (variable C) had NOT been produced. *
Further elaboration on that would be helpful.

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 7/3/2018 1:13 AM, Ronal W. Larson wrote:
> Nikhil,  cc  list and Crispin
>
> See inserts.
>
>
>> On Jun 28, 2018, at 8:15 PM, Nikhil Desai <pienergy2008 at gmail.com 
>> <mailto:pienergy2008 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Ron:
>>
>> A billion dollar question — what difference does all this make and to 
>> whom?
>
> *[RWL1:   I respond assuming by "all this" that you mean my 10 
> responses to Crispin.  Summarizing those 10 is relatively easy - the 
> only (repeat *_*only)*_*sentence below (the second sentence I asked 
> under RWL1) - to which Crispin did *_not_*later reply (61 minutes 
> after yours - i.e. at 9:16 PM Mountain time): ** I said:   "/Please 
> explain what equation you would give for this answer for a stove that 
> has intentionally made char."/*
> *//*
> *Since he chose not to give us an answer on the 28th,  this will give 
> him  (and I hope you and others) another shot at an approach 
> alternative to that in wide and continuing use.   I expect no answer 
> from Crispin, since he apparently disputes the validity of even 
> trying.  To repeat, the equation under discussion is used without 
> apology throughout the new ISO 19867-1 document.  I believe I have 
> stated that the correctness of e3 = A/(B-C) is in part because it is 
> identical to e3 = A/(A+D), where D = inefficiency and B = A+C+D - as 
> can be deduced from viewing what's going on in a triangular diagram. 
>  And Crispin continues to mis-state what e3 is.  It is NOT the 
> efficiency for the test providing A,B, and C.  It is a statement of 
> what would be expected if char (variable C) had NOT been produced.  I 
> ask Crispin again to supply a better statement for what the efficiency 
> would be if char had not been produced.  Ot alternatively, what 
> equation would he use to compare char-making stoves with all others?*
> *
> *
> *The above was only to set the stage for my (and I hope to hear from 
> others)  answers to your important questions: "what differences and 
> who cares".   Tor me, the difference is largely in whether we are able 
> to assign tiers.  If you (anyone) don't think it important (or wise or 
> permissible) to compare a char-making stove to a non-char-making 
> stove, you (anyone) will reject tiers.   It is much easier to reject 
> tiers if you can discredit the equation (the only equation) that 
> allows comparisons.   The concept of tiers was endorsed (I think) 
> unanimously in Lima some 5-6 years ago.  And this question was known 
> fully at that time.  I think tiers are critical to stove improvement.*
> *
> *
> *I contend that even if there were no such thing as tiers, it would 
> still be helpful to have this denominator equation - as the equation 
> contains the terms showing exactly where the energy is distributed. 
>  If you don't measure the weight, you won't know the energy in the 
> char - and you can have no idea of the true inefficiencies.*
> *
> *
> *Lastly - "to whom":   This equation and the tier system it allows is 
> obviously important information to both buyers and sellers. 
>  Char-making started off (early 1990's) being interesting to me as a 
> way of helping remove pressure on forests, where traditional 
> char-making is often now illegal - because traditional char-making is 
> so wasteful (and harmful to the environment in many ways).  Next came 
> a period of selling char-making stoves on health grounds - still the 
> primary interest of many stove activists.  Next came a period of 
> realizing that stoves that make char are also time savers.  And of 
> course, my present emphasis on the carbon-negativity aspects of 
> char-making stoves.  I contend all of these positive attributes that 
> follow from the simple equation A/(B-C) = A/(A+D) should be important 
> to something approaching 100% of the global population.  Who should 
> not want a stove that accomplishes all those ends?*
> *(Aside - I learned this week of a char-making stove design that has 
> MUCH larger turn-down ratio.  In a month or so, we should all hear more.)*
> *
> *
>> And when will the cooks know?
> *[RWL2:   Very shortly after we have international agreement on a 
> tax/fee/subsidy available to technologies that are carbon negative. 
>  When do you think that might occur?  I am guessing maybe five years. 
>  It will occur sooner wherever the benefits of biochar become better 
> known (an example is what we have heard from Julian Winter in 
> Bangladesh).*
> *But for sure there are cooks already who know - as in the Inyenyeri 
> study with the Mimi Moto forced draft stove (see 
> *https://www.inyenyeri.com/development and 
> http://cleancookstoves.org/resources/552.html), *and some recent 
> reports on stove acceptance by Paul Anderson *(see 
> http://www.drtlud.com/)*.  The Inyenyeri cooks only knew part of the 
> advantages of the stove - emphasizing cleanliness and time savings, 
> but not money earnings (because the needed initial (not perpetual) 
> subsidy or biochar advantage is not yet available..*
>
>> I am reminded of a classmate who sought to prove the instability of 
>> capitalist system by showing the third derivative of the aggregate 
>> production function was of the wrong sign.
> *[RWL3:   I have no idea why this is in here.  I talked many decades 
> ago with Dennis Meadows and another author of "Limits to Growth". 
>  Believing the "Limits" story, I believe your classmate was off in the 
> order of the derivative.   Since I believe there is zero possibility 
> of continuing ever onwards to an infinitely large GNP, without knowing 
> anything about your classmate's project - I might guess the right 
> answer is the first or second derivative, depending on what is being 
> varied.  The point of this answer is of course to emphasize the 
> importance of char-making stoves to getting on to a sustainable path.*
> *What were you driving at with this story?*
> **
>
>> Assuming you are correct, when will the first 50 million clean 
>> biomass stoves be exclusively used for two years and where?
> *[RWL4:   I consider only the char-making stoves to be clean enough to 
> worry about, so I answer only for char-makers, and accept your further 
> stipulations of 50 Million and 2 years.   This of course depends on my 
> answer to your 2nd question on cooks understanding en masse the 
> benefits of making (not using) charcoal.  The current growth path for 
> biochar is approximately doubling every two years.  With a subsidy 
> near $35/tonne CO2 (already seen in some times and places), then this 
> will approximately allow a 6 month payback if the char can be sold for 
> $200/ton of char (20 cents per kilo of char).*
> *I am not going to worry about your word "exclusively" - but rather 
> that the char-maker is the primary stove - because it is the cheapest, 
> cleanest, most time-saving stove and I see no reason for a 
> rural low-income user (maybe 2 billion in that category) to use 
> another.  So my guess is about 10 doublings (ten years) to grow from 
> about 50 thousand users to 50 million.  We might be at 50,000 such 
> stoves already, but will be shortly.  It took PV about 50 years to 
> reach cost parity (in the 1970's the cost was $100/Watt);  char-making 
> stoves are already much closer to cost parity. *
> *To check  a bit - your 50 million stove number, multiplied by about 4 
> users per stoves and dividing by about 2 billion potential users is 
> getting up to about 10% acceptance.  I don't expect to stop at 10% 
> when the user can make money (and save time, health bills, forests, 
> etc). *
> **
> *Again, thanks for allowing me to make my sales pitch for both 
> char-making stoves and biochar - based here on the importance of the 
> equation (and WBT and tier structure) I have assumed you are asking 
> about.*
>
> *Ron*
>
>
>> Nikhil
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Nikhil Desai
>> (US +1) 202 568 5831
>> /Skype: nikhildesai888/
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 28, 2018 at 3:10 PM, Ronal W. Larson 
>> <rongretlarson at comcast.net <mailto:rongretlarson at comcast.net>> wrote:
>>
>>     List and Crispin:
>>
>>     This is a partial response, due to press of other matters.
>>
>>     Please see inserts.
>>
>>>     On Jun 27, 2018, at 10:07 PM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott
>>>     <crispinpigott at outlook.com <mailto:crispinpigott at outlook.com>>
>>>     wrote:
>>>
>>>     Dear Ronal and All
>>>     Just on comment:
>>>     >>“I hope this standard is the last nail in the WBT coffin.”
>>>     >            *[RWL:  I hope you are willing to change your mind on "coffin",
>>>     per the above.  What I do hope will soon be dead is the Chinese
>>>     stove standard which says to treat intentionally-produced char
>>>     the same as unburned fuel or ash.  I think the same for the
>>>     South African standard.   I can think of no reasonable rationale
>>>     for such a position.
>>>
>>>     *
>>>     I think you may be misunderstanding something about how
>>>     calculations are made in the ISO test method. One of the most
>>>     important metrics for stove performance is assessing the amount
>>>     of fuel fed into the stove in order to accomplish a task such as
>>>     baking 1000 cookies or boiling 200 ears of corn.
>>>     The metric is “Fuel Fed” (please see the list of definitions).
>>     *RWL1:  I suggest you misunderstand my misunderstandings.  
>>     Please explain what equation you would give for this answer for a
>>     stove that has intentionally made char.  I think you are
>>     suggesting here in this answer (and below) that there is nothing
>>     wrong with the present Chinese approach to pay zero attention to
>>     intentionally produced char.  True?*
>>
>>>     The mass of fuel fed was carefully written to capture the
>>>     quantity of fuel needed to accomplish some cooking task. Whether
>>>     the stove produces char or not is a secondary point. IT is easy
>>>     to report the amount of char produced, and there are metrics for
>>>     doing so. It is the amount of char produced per kg or per dry kg
>>>     of fuel fed.
>>     *[RWL2:  You leave out that it is not at all easy to provide the
>>     energy (not the weight) of that char.  Both are of interest.*
>>>     Importantly, the cheating that has been taking place using the
>>>     WBT is not brought to an end. If I look for the amount of fuel
>>>     fed into the stove per replication of some task, be it the
>>>     standard one or a relevant one, I will find the amount of fuel
>>>     needed to do so. If there is a secondary product such as
>>>     condensate, char, heat that can be used for a secondary purpose
>>>     such as space heating, or electricity, these are all recorded in
>>>     an appropriate manner.
>>     *[RWL3:  Is now and was in the WBT 4.2.3 and earlier versions. 
>>     Cites on cheating have not been produced to my knowledge.*
>>>     The cheat that was with us for so long, claiming as the WBT1.x,
>>>     2.x, 3.x and 4.x that a stove did not consume fuel because it
>>>     emerged from the cooking session in the form of char, is gone,
>>>     thankfully. Please refer again to the definitions.
>>     *[RWL4:  This is erroneous. Please give the (exact)
>>     language anywhere that suggests the "did not consume" .   Please
>>     don't ask others to go find something they don't believe exists.*
>>
>>>     That ‘char deducted’ formula that you refer to is an energy
>>>     calculation that relates to the fraction of energy in the fuel
>>>     fed that was released (theoretically) during cooking. It no
>>>     longer refers to the mass of fuel fed, as it once did.
>>     *[RWL5:  This paragraph makes no sense.  There is no theoretical
>>     release in the equation being used to give a number to allow
>>     comparing char-making stoves with those that don't.  All the
>>     numbers going into that computation are given and all have been
>>     in theist WBTs I know about.  In the Chinese official test
>>     procedure, the char is wished away.*
>>>     This is a major advance in testing methods. Only the stove
>>>     testing groups used the erroneous ‘char-deducted’ formula. When
>>>     searching the literature for some example elsewhere in industry,
>>>     not a single one could be found because the claim was
>>>     fundamentally misrepresentative. That has now been cleared up.
>>     *[RWL6:  Again a paragraph that makes no sense.  Please give
>>     exact language from anywhere on what you are talking about.  I
>>     think it is the "denominator equation" - which still exists in
>>     the latest ISO version - I think adopted with essentially a
>>     unanimous vote of many countries (not individuals).*
>>     *
>>     *
>>>     The remaining mentions of the WBT are for PR purposes only. Not
>>>     a single voice supporting the use of a “WBT-like” test was
>>>     raised in the ISO process. In fact it was put to a vote in
>>>     exactly that form, in those words: “WBT-like”. No one wanted it.
>>>     Now, it is only for the organisations who supported the WBT for
>>>     so long to be given enough space for them to quietly drop it
>>>     while pretending that it was a valid method all along. To do
>>>     otherwise would be to admit they were cheating donors. We do not
>>>     have to extract that pound of flesh.
>>     *[RWL7:  This is a long way from what others have told me
>>     occurred.  So I will break here to hear from others (who I hope
>>     can also join in). *
>>     *It would help this list to have your explanation of how you know
>>     what to be true.*
>>>     The ISO Standard is not anyone’s standard – it only has meaning
>>>     when a country adopts it, or adapts it. Any country
>>>     contemplating adopting this document as a national standard will
>>>     have to consider how it will be implemented, and whether all of
>>>     it or some of it will apply. When it comes to things like fuel
>>>     efficiency, which is important in some regions, it is likely the
>>>     national standards body will apply its collective mind to what
>>>     portions of this massive document they will use. As anyone
>>>     reading it will quickly see, it is unnecessarily complex, and
>>>     requires numerous pieces of equipment that are very expensive if
>>>     one is to have a reasonable level of confidence in the result.
>>>     Because a national standard provides a warranty of performance,
>>>     it is pointless to have as a test method something that doesn’t
>>>     provide it.
>>     *[RWL8:  I claim none of this paragraph is true.  I have skimmed
>>     it;  Crispin says he has not.  A country that chooses to ignore a
>>     work that has taken such effort will lose a lot of credibility in
>>     science circles.  This took many years to balance complexity with
>>     completeness.*
>>>     People seeking lower cost and more accurate alternatives may
>>>     consider adapting Indian IS–13152, China’s NB/T 43008 – 2012, or
>>>     the CSI test method which has been used internationally in some
>>>     form since 2009.
>>     *[RWL9:  I repeat my claim that Crispin has kindly repeated
>>     above: **/ "I can think of no reasonable rationale for such a
>>     position." / **To report results on a stove designed to make char
>>     without measuring the char, because the national standard says
>>     so,  is unbelievable.  That couldn't happen if offending
>>     countries adopt the new ISO procedure.*
>>>
>>>     The WBT 4.2.3 contained, when it does, some 75 systematic errors
>>>     as well as its much-discussed conceptual errors. We do not know
>>>     yet how many are contained in the ISO-19867-1 because it has not
>>>     been reviewed conceptually or systematically. Because the test
>>>     method is novel, (untested) problems with its implementation
>>>     will have to be resolved at the national adoption level, if it
>>>     turns out to be acceptable ahead of other options.
>>     *[RWL8:   I have asked for this "75" list several times and do so
>>     again. The ISO document that is being discussed _has_
>>     undergone agonizing review - by top experts.*
>>     *
>>     *
>>>     The problems created by the WBT remain, however, as witnessed by
>>>     the recent release of the second edition of the Micro-gasifier
>>>     Handbook which makes barley any mention of testing and includes
>>>     multiple references to ‘performance’ based on the obviously
>>>     erroneous fuel consumption claims of the WBT.
>>     *[RWL9:  How about a specific cite and example quotes?   I claim
>>     it quite likely that there is zero error in the consumption claims.*
>>>     For anyone who is new to this topic I recommend reading the
>>>     CREEC Lab test of the Quad II stove (featured in that Handbook)
>>>     which shows that the fuel fed per replication of the test is 1.3
>>>     kg (as received) and claims a dry wood fuel consumption of 636
>>>     g. I will read it again, but I think the handbook does not
>>>     address this issue squarely and it must in the next edition.
>>>     Char production is a secondary benefit and can negatively affect
>>>     the fuel consumption rate. Advocates should not shy away from
>>>     discussing it. A good example of how to handle secondary
>>>     benefits is heating stoves, which are assessed on the basis of
>>>     the cooking provided, the heat provided, and the combination.
>>>     Where char is an additional secondary benefit, it should also be
>>>     listed in the form of carbon mass, if it is for sequestering,
>>>     energy, if it is for fuel, or total surface per gram if it is
>>>     for “activated” uses.
>>     *[RWL10:  Crispin here totally misses everything possible about
>>     char-making stoves.  More on this if he wishes and gives cites so
>>     we don't waste more time on something agreed upon in the new ISO
>>     test procedures. *
>>
>>     *Measuring char-making capabilities of a cook stove that excels
>>     in emissions and other ways is probably a real problem if one is
>>     into coal-consuming heating stoves.*
>>     *
>>     *
>>     *Ron*
>>
>>>     Regards
>>>     Crispin
>>>     ISO TC-285 WG1, WG2, WG3, WG4.
>>>     P-member SABS TC-1043__
>>
>>
>
>
>
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