<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><div><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "></div></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium; ">Am very busy learning from both ends of the candle here ! </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium; ">Your information could not be more timely: </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium; ">Thanks again, Kevin and Andrew. </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium; ">Richard Stanley</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium; "><a href="http://www.legacyfound.org">www.legacyfound.org</a> </div></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">===========</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><br></div><div> On Aug 7, 2012, at 6:42 AM, Kevin wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div>Dear Andrew<br><br>Very interesting possible explanation for why "spent agricultural lime" helps with the anaerobic retting process!<br><br>While Ca(OH)2, or "Hydrated lime" can have a pH as high as about 12.5, and is indeed very caustic, CaCO3 or "Limestone", "agriculture lime, "land lime", has a pH in the range of about 8, which is not very caustic at all<br><br>Is there perhaps another possibility, that being that a marginal change in alkalinity favours growth of different bacteria?<br><br>More specifically, is it perhaps the minor change in pH is "shifting the bug balance", rather than making local chemistry harsher? In other words, are the "retting fungus forms" more favoured with slightly higher pH, while the fungus forms that consume cellulose are repressed?<br><br>Best wishes,<br><br>Kevin<br><br><br><br>----- Original Message ----- From: <<a href="mailto:ajheggie@gmail.com">ajheggie@gmail.com</a>><br>To: "Discussion of biomass cooking stoves" <<a href="mailto:stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org">stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org</a>><br>Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2012 2:04 PM<br>Subject: Re: [Stoves] material processing for briquettes few tips ontechnique<br><br><br><blockquote type="cite">On Fri, 3 Aug 2012 10:32:14 -0700, Richard Stanley wrote:<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">If processed correctly, natural fibers will flex and then tend to interlock once blended with other materials in a water slurry.<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><blockquote type="cite">One does not achieve this by simple chopping or even direct use of the fiber without some form of softening (thru partial decompsition, in a hot humid anerobic environment, (under such as a black plastic bag), or as we are learning from our Mayan colleagues in Guatemala, use of agricultural lime (which is traditionally discarded after its use in hot water to soften and de-shell their corn kernals).<br></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">As always I find your posts on briquetting educational.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Alkalis, lime being calcium hydroxide, dissolve lignin and I expect<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">this is what the bugs do in retting fibres out of the stem<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">(simplistically wood rotting fungi can be classified into brown, white<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">and soft rots, the white rots attack lignin and leave the cellulose,<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">brown eat the cellulose and soft rots invade all the cells), it's<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">lignin that hold all the stringy fibres together. So I can see how<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">lime would separate out the fibres.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Your observation that the bugs work better in anaerobic conditions<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">may be that this is what favours a white rot. Flax sheaves where laid<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">in a water filled ditch to ret.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">I may have missed something in Rok's post: Rok mentions 16cms diameter<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">briquettes with a 5 cms hole, I take it it is the length he is varying<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">between 3-12 cms and favouring a length of between 5 and 7cms?<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">AJH<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">_______________________________________________<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Stoves mailing list<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">to Send a Message to the list, use the email address<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="mailto:stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org">stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org">http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">for more Biomass Cooking Stoves, News and Information see our web site:<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="http://www.bioenergylists.org/">http://www.bioenergylists.org/</a><br></blockquote><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Stoves mailing list<br><br>to Send a Message to the list, use the email address<br><a href="mailto:stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org">stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org</a><br><br>to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page<br>http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org<br><br>for more Biomass Cooking Stoves, News and Information see our web site:<br>http://www.bioenergylists.org/<br><br></div></div><br></div></div></div></body></html>