<div dir="ltr"><div><div>Paul Means,<br><br>Rice hulls and rice straw are abundant in Asia, and in many areas they
are available for free or at very little cost. If we were to go about
designing a stove to exploit this abundant biomass, should we design a
stove that only produces heat? Or should we design a stove that produces
both heat and biochar?<br>
<br>If it can be demonstrated that the biochar produced by this stove
greatly enhances the growth of vegetables such as mustard greens, water
spinach and Chinese cabbage, then the by-product of cooking a meal
acquires considerable value. Every time someone cooks a meal with a
stove that produces biochar, this person would be earning money. It
might not be a lot of money relative to us, but believe me, it
represents a lot of money for the average Vietnamese, Cambodian or
Laotian. The average household in these three countries could produce up
to a kg of biochar per day which, already in this area, has a value of
about 30 cents US. If funding agencies were to invest heavily in the kind of
biochar research that people such as Reg Preston and Simon Shackley have
been doing, then biochar would, no doubt, acquire an even greater
value.<br>
<br>One ton of rice hull pellets sells in Saigon for about $75 US. This
one ton of pellets produces about 330 kgs of biochar. This quantity of
biochar has a value of about $100 US. A biochar merchant could give
pellets to an urban household at zero cost in exchange for all of the
biochar produced from these pellets. This means that the urban household
would have its fuel free-of-charge.<br>
<br>In the case of a rural household where undensified rice hulls are
abundant and often free, the household could earn enough money through
the sale of biochar to pay for the cook stove within six months. In one
year this household could earn about $120 US, which in many cases here
in Vietnam, is far more than a monthly wage. If the cook stove is made
out of high quality stainless steel, then it would assure a steady and
important stream of income over many years.<br>
<br>So if we were to go about
designing a stove to exploit the enormous tonnages of biomass available
in Asia, what should we do? If we design a stove that only produces
heat (with biochar being burned), when this heat dissipates, there is nothing of value that remains.
But if we design a stove that produces both heat and biochar, a
by-product of considerable value remains, and once incorporated into the
soil, it greatly enriches the soil and stays there for a very long time.<br>
<br>I would urge funding agencies such as the GACC to pour big money
into biochar research throughout the whole of Asia, especially in those
regions where rice hulls, rice straw and other forms of agricultural
biomass are abundant. They should disseminate the results of this
research to farmers so that these farmers might
understand the considerable value of biochar when incorporated into the
soil or fed to animals.<br>
<br>Biochar could easily be the driving force behind everything
related to the financially sustainable production and sale of cook
stoves in a given area. <br><br></div>Thanks.<br></div>Paul Olivier<br><div><div>
<br></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Apr 20, 2013 at 7:17 AM, Paul Means <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:paul@burndesignlab.org" target="_blank">paul@burndesignlab.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">Hi Crispin,</span></div><div>
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">In answer to your questions. I assumed that the cost of transportation, for bulk products like this will primarily be based on weight rather than volume. Therefore, in my analysis, the relative costs for transporting each of the different fuels is simply the </span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">product of:</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"> 1. the relative energy density (MJ/KG)</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"> multiplied by</span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"> 2. the relative haul distance.(KM/MJ) to pick up a MJ of fuel. </span></div>
<div><br></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"> Sized & dried biomass (whether pellets, crumbled wood, dried chips, sticks, etc) has only 59% of the energy density of charcoal. </span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">On the other hand, the relative haul distance for traditional charcoal, because the process is so inefficient and it consequently has to be hauled from a much wider area, is 3 times more than for sized & dried biomass. </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">For the "alternative to charcoal" I assume that the market for this fuel being brought into the cities is developed on the basis of modern/new micro-gasifier / TLUD type stoves. It's assumed that the char is either burned in the TLUD (a few designs are coming out with this now) or the char is burned in a separate stove. I have assumed that this TLUD / Char Burning together has an overall efficiency of 40%. </span></div>
<div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">- Paul </span></div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><div>
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><br></span></div>Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:22:53 +0000</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">From: </span><a href="mailto:crispinpigott@gmail.com" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px" target="_blank">crispinpigott@gmail.com</a><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">To: "Stoves" <</span><a href="mailto:stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px" target="_blank">stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org</a><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">></span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">Subject: Re: [Stoves] Alternatives to charcoal - transportation &</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"> biochar</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">Message-ID:</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"> <798760741-1366284175-cardhu_</span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">decombobulator_blackberry.rim.</span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">net-357301314-@b5.c10.bise6.</span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">blackberry></span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">Content-Type: text/plain</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">Dear Paul M</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">Could you please clarify two things (I can't see the slides. I am in transit).</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">Are you basing the transport on a volume basis on the assumption that a vehicle bearing a higher density fuel can carry more? Someone was talking like that.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">Next, I think you can (very) safely assume that any charcoal stove will deliver 1.5 times as much heat per available MJ into a pot. I aim higher than that but let's stick to average mediocre wood and charcoal stoves. A pretty ordinary charcoal stove will deliver 40% of the energy available to the pot.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">I don't know how that affects the outcome but it is the reality re the processed v.s. unprocessed fuels (char vs wood).</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">Thanks</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">Crispin</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.727272033691406px">Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network</span><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br clear="all">
<div><br></div>-- <br><div>Paul M. Means</div>Research & Testing Manager<div>Burn Design Lab </div><div>(253) 569-2976 (mobile)</div><div><a href="http://www.burndesignlab.org/" target="_blank">http://www.burndesignlab.org/</a></div>
<div><span style="font-family:Arial"><font size="1">“In the whole of world history there is always only one really significant hour – the present…If you want to find eternity, you must serve the times.”<i> - </i></font></span><font size="1"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:rgb(51,0,51)">Dietrich </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:rgb(51,0,51)">Bonhoeffer</span></font><br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Paul A. Olivier PhD<br>26/5 Phu Dong Thien Vuong<br>Dalat<br>Vietnam<br>
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