[Stoves] Recommending a video on the Akha stove and biochar

[Julien Winter]

Hi Ronal;

That was a great video, and was very encouraging.  Mahbubul Islam gave a
first translation of the interviews, then I created the subtitles.

Unfortunately, the Akha/Biochar Project has hit a temporary rough patch,
because it became a victim of its success.  Not long after the TV show was
broadcast, the director of the NGO hosting the project retired.
The Director had been a supporter of the Akha/Biochar Project from the very
beginning, and he was delighted with its success.  However, when he
retired, the Project lost the protection of its patron, and there followed
an internecine squabble for control amongst staff at the NGO.  As a result,
the original team was displaced, and a new team, with no prior involvement,
ceased control.  They still have the original source of funding from the
Netherlands.  Time will show what they can accomplish.

However, this is not something to get too upset about, because there are
about 25 million households in Bangladesh that cook with biomass, so it
will take a number of organizations with TLUD/biochar projects to reach
across the country.  The Akha has been presented as open-source technology
for anyone to copy.   A new Akha/Biochar Project is being started.

The efficiency of making char in a TLUD using coarse wood fuel is less than
the 25% that can be achieved with wood pellets, because it takes longer for
the center of thicker fuel to reach pyrolysis temperatures.  Before those
temperatures are reached, there will be much more char oxidized with wood
than with 6-mm pellets.  One can see evidence for this in the kinds of
maximum temperatures that develop in the fuel beds; up to 1200 °C with
sticks of wood vs. 800 °C with pellets.   A yield of char less than 25%
also depends on timely removal of the char which is less likely to happen
in real kitchen conditions.

I can't comment on the prices of char.  I will pass that request on the
Mahbubul Islam.  I don't know the price of the dung-ball fuel either.  In
any case, it will take a couple of years to establish prices, because the
farmers have to arrive at what they are prepared to pay for biochar.  For
that to happen, they have to have experience with biochar for a couple of
seasons.  It may take as long as five years for the prices to stabilize.
 Prices are all relative to the local economy, so what may be a good price
to them may seem extremely low to us.

Why six thumbs down by viewers of the video?  Who knows?  That's just
YouTube.  There is always someone who is grumpy.   I think some people find
good sport in being grumpy.

Cheers,
Julien.



On Fri, Apr 16, 2021 at 11:14 PM Ronal Larson <rongretlarson at comcast.net>
wrote:

>   Julien anad list
>
>         I bumped into a 2019 video on the Akha stove today that waa new to
> me.  Longer and much more on biochar than several others - all with the
> same interviewer.  This is to recommend it - at
>
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujqza-NDy4I
>
>         This version is 22 minutes long. - and good English subtitles.
> Has only 3% the viewership of a shorter version - that with no English.
>
>         The main reason I like this version (besides having the
> translation0 - is the emphasis on biochar coming from the stove.  This
> stove seems to be success because it produces biochar - and people are now
> valueing and using the biochar and income.
>
>
> Questions for Julien (given credit in the video for its development),
>
>         1.  There is a statement at a bit more than the 19 minute mark
> that charcoal (maybe biochar?) is imported from India at TK1200 / kg -
> which seems to be $14./ /kg. (That is $14k/tonne.  Cheap compared to
> imports from Italy).  Can you confirm - and I wonder the price per tonne at
> tonne scales - in Bangladesh.  Was this statement in the video to show the
> monetary importance of biochar from cookstoves?    Any idea what TK value
> the women might be receiving when selling char from the Akha?.  There was
> one interviewee who was a quoted as apparently making big money.
>
>         2.  There was a statement that the char-making efficiency was
> 15-20%.  This seems low for TLUDs.  Possibly because of the solidity of the
> design?  I expect 25%.
>
>         3.   The round small biomass (dung, leaves, chips) fuel balls look
> like an exceptionally good resource for any TLUD.  Any idea of their price
> per kilo?  A woman can produce how many kg per hour?
>
>         4.  The poll at the end had plenty of positive reports - but 6
> negative.  Any idea why unhappiness for what I thought was excellent?
>
>
> Anything more to report since you last reported to us?
>
> Any guidance to the rest of us on why the connection to biochar and
> money-making works so well in Bangladesh?
>
>
> Ron
>
>

-- 
Julien Winter
Cobourg, ON, CANADA
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