[Stoves] ***SPAM*** Re: ***SPAM*** Re: ***SPAM*** Re: ***SPAM*** Carbon credits for briquettes that replace charcoal in Africa

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Thank you that detail.

I do understand that it did not involve cooking with stalks, but in effect you are because that is the source of the briquettes.

It you are replacing wood charcoal you have a much bigger number of credits.

Assume the crop stover was completely burned as the baseline.

Assume the production efficiency of the wood charcoal was as previously described.

Ignoring any difference in gases, you get credit for the 480 kg carbon. That is fNRB x 480 x 44/12 = fNRB x 1760 kg CO2. If the fNRB is 50% it 880 kg reduction - that is per 150 kg stover-derived charcoal.

If the charcoal consumption is 150 kg per 4 months you could get 0.88 x 3 = 2.64 tons per user per year. Calculate as appropriate.

Looking at what that might be worth on the voluntary market, the charcoal might generate US$0.25 per kg - that sort of value.  The producers of the briquettes could get that less overheads plus whatever they can sell it for.

Is that attractive?

As soon as you have some income buy a better pyrolyser. The system with 7 used oil drums developed by Dr AD Karve in Pune is going to maximize your productivity at very low cost. When stover is not available (it is a seasonal crop) they can use elephant grass, tiffa (bull rushes) pampas grass, millet stalks, and papyrus etc.

I hope this turns into something beneficial.

Best regards
Crispin

________________________________
From: Stoves <stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org> on behalf of K McLean <kmclean56 at gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2024 9:24:36 PM
To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Subject: Re: [Stoves] ***SPAM*** Re: ***SPAM*** Re: ***SPAM*** Carbon credits for briquettes that replace charcoal in Africa

Dear Crispin,

This does not involve cooking with maize stalks.  Char out from maize stalks.  The char is then made into briquettes.  The briquettes are sold to charcoal users to replace charcoal.

Kevin

On Sat, Jan 27, 2024 at 11:04 PM Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <crispinpigott at outlook.com<mailto:crispinpigott at outlook.com>> wrote:
Dear Kevin

That helps a lot. Ok. You have to show that there is a reduction in emissions when you analyse “the system”. As far as I understand what you described it is that people are - pretty indirectly - cooking with maize stalks instead of…. Wood?

Is the charcoal briquette a wood fuel substitute?

If so you can claim you have reduced net biomass loss by the local fNRB x mass of wood fuel not burned x 0.48 x 44/12 = n

Because the corn stover is normally a 100% loss any wood saved by the char is creditable as above.

With some trouble and measurements you should be able to get some additional credit for burning the stover with lower emissions of gases and PM. You have to quantify the emissions for both cases. It is probably worth it.

I hope this helps
Crispin
________________________________
From: Stoves <stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org<mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org>> on behalf of K McLean <kmclean56 at gmail.com<mailto:kmclean56 at gmail.com>>
Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2024 8:32:00 PM
To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org<mailto:stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>>
Subject: Re: [Stoves] ***SPAM*** Re: ***SPAM*** Carbon credits for briquettes that replace charcoal in Africa

Hi Crispin,

I was unclear, I'm sorry.  In East Africa we make char using the top down burn of piles of maize stalks.  These farmers traditionally burn their maize stalks by lighting the pile on the side.  Here is a video<https://youtu.be/YJYDyRkK-Qg> showing the difference between the traditional burn (left pile) and the top down burn of maize stalks (pile on the right).  There is obviously a reduction in emissions by lighting the pile on the top.  To make char for briquettes, the embers are quenched with water when the fire starts to go down.  I think it is clear that there is a reduction in emissions in making char this way compared to the traditional method of burning maize stalks.

So the question then is the CO2e emitted in making charcoal in an earthen mound.  The FAO determined it to be 10 tonnes of CO2e per tonne of charcoal.

Kevin

On Sat, Jan 27, 2024 at 10:16 PM Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <crispinpigott at outlook.com<mailto:crispinpigott at outlook.com>> wrote:
Dear Kevin

That figure represents the emission of CO2 and the gases with a CO2 equivalent. It does not represent a net reduction available. Charcoal is made from biomass which is made almost entirely from CO2 originating in the atmosphere.

A carbon credit is available for a documentable permanent reduction in emission of one ton of CO2. It the wood is harvested from a sustainable source there is no credit available because everything harvested is going to regrow. If only a fraction of the harvested biomass grows back (which varies within regions and locales) then a “fraction of non-renewable biomass ” (fNRB) can be calculated from assessment(s).  The available credits are 10 tons x fNRB = n.

If the fNRB value is 5% the answer is 0.5 tons credit per 10 tons of avoided charcoal production.

If you are making briquettes as the alternative, there are two added considerations. One is the energy used to make the briquettes and the other is the efficiency of the substitute fuel. In general charcoal stoves are more efficient than briquette stoves.  The 0.5 ton credit will be factored by methods of Article 6.2 and 6.4 of the Paris Agreement for the lower fuel efficiency of the briquette stove if it is indeed lower. If it is higher, then there is a credit gain.

Under Article 6 many or maybe all countries had their fNRB values reduced considerably. Under CDM many were pretty arbitrary. And high. Not anymore.

Let’s look at the FAO's number:

One dry ton of wood is about 48% carbon, or 480 kg. Traditional charcoal production is ~12%-15% yield these days. It does vary so check because there is a big difference between 8% and 20%. At 15% yield the carbon is ~81% of 15% of 1000 kg. That is 121.5 kg of carbon. The difference between that and 480 was emitted: 385.5 carbon emitted as 1314.5 kg CO2. That's a lot less than 10,000 kg.

They must be counting the PM mass with a large multiplier. I have no idea what numbers they will use for that. Remember they should be using a 100 year calc because it says CO2e.  We can't prove how they got to ten tons.

So all said and done that is how credits are generated.

Best regards
Crispin
________________________________
From: Stoves <stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org<mailto:stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org>> on behalf of K McLean <kmclean56 at gmail.com<mailto:kmclean56 at gmail.com>>
Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2024 6:07:04 PM
To: Stoves and Biofuels Network <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org<mailto:stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>>
Subject: [Stoves] ***SPAM*** Carbon credits for briquettes that replace charcoal in Africa

Is anyone getting these?

FAO<https://www.fao.org/3/i6934e/i6934e.pdf> says that 10 tonnes of CO2e are caused by the production of 1 tonne of charcoal in the typical earthen mound kiln common in Africa.   If this is correct, one tonne of briquettes should fetch 10 carbon credits.

Kevin McLean
Sun24
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