<div dir="ltr">See comments below.<br><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Jun 23, 2013 at 8:03 AM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:rongretlarson@comcast.net" target="_blank">rongretlarson@comcast.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">Paul:<br><br> Congratulations on a very nice looking new version. <br>
<br>Can you give the weight of the 4 inches of pellets that lasted 40 minutes (so we might estimate the power level).<br></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>About one kg of pellets. But I had difficulties lowering the fan speed. The fan speed was always too high and the burn was much too fast. If tried to lower the fan speed, the fan stopped completely. A much less powerful fan is needed for this unit.<br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"><br>Could you modulate the power level with the fan control? </div>
</div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Not, very much.<br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">
(apparently not down much - but more fan speed)?<br></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>It was difficult to reduce fan speed so as to produce a smaller flame. The fan was surely operating in the lower 5% of its power range. But if I turned up the fan, I could easily produce an intense flame - far too powerful for ordinary cooking.<br>
<br></div><div>It was easy to light the pellets. But when I put the burner on the reactor, it took a few minutes for the flames within the reactor to go out. Before the flames within the reactor went out, the entire burner at one point turned red hot. The fan, of course, was supplying too much air. I have never seen such heat from a 150 reactor.<br>
</div><div><br></div><div> <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"><br>Could you have put in 8 inches (20 cm) of pellets? and gotten to 80 minute run time?<br>
</div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>The volume of the reactor is 3.44 liters. At a bulk density of about 600 kg/m3, the reactor can hold about 2 kgs of pellets. At a normal rate of consumption, this quantity of pellets should give about 90 minutes of run time.<br>
<br></div><div>Paul Olivier<br><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"><br>Ron<br><br><br><br><hr>
<b>From: </b>"Paul Olivier" <<a href="mailto:paul.olivier@esrla.com" target="_blank">paul.olivier@esrla.com</a>><br><b>To: </b>"Discussion of biomass cooking stoves" <<a href="mailto:stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org" target="_blank">stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org</a>><br>
<b>Sent: </b>Saturday, June 22, 2013 6:41:42 PM<br><b>Subject: </b>[Stoves] fossil fuel plants hit hard by solar and wind<div><div class="h5"><br><br><div dir="ltr"><div>I had no idea that solar and wind were competing so well against fossil fuel power plants:<br>
<br><i>Companies like RWE of Germany and EDF of France are confronting complex
challenges. Their revenue is being hit by dwindling demand for
electricity and by new wind and solar projects that undercut the price
of the energy produced from many fossil fuel plants...<br><br>With so much energy coming from renewables, many fossil fuel plants can
no longer compete on price. Despite the upfront costs associated with
green energy projects, they are inexpensive to run... <br><br>The rising output and falling prices of green energy may be part of the
problem for fossil fuel generators, but they are part of the solution
for energy consumers. </i><br><br></div><div>Biomass stoves must also gain in prominence within developed countries. Replacing fossil fuel gas with syngas in modern kitchens should be a top priority.<br><br></div><div>Yesterday I tested a super-short reactor (net reactor height of 20 cm). The reactor weighs 1.2 kgs and is made entirely of bright annealed 304 stainless steel. These pictures were taken right after the first run:<br>
:<br><a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1567.JPG" target="_blank">https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1567.JPG</a><br><a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1568.JPG" target="_blank">https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1568.JPG</a><br>
<a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1569.JPG" target="_blank">https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1569.JPG</a><br><a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1571.JPG" target="_blank">https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1571.JPG</a><br>
<br></div><div>I filled the reactor with about four inches of pellets. This gave a burn time of about 40 minutes. The pellets were easy to light. I thought for a moment that the unit might work without a fan. But this was not possible. A fan is still needed.<br>
<br></div><div>But the fan that I was using is much too powerful for such a short reactor filled with pellets. The fan was turning at an incredibly low speed. It was using surely no more than about a half watt of electricity. I need a fan of a much lower air resistance - perhaps only 20% that of the fan that I use on loose rice hulls.<br>
<br></div><div>The biochar produced from the rice hull pellets remained in pelleted form:<br><a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1563.JPG" target="_blank">https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22013094/150%20Gasifier/Short/Photos/IMG_1563.JPG</a><br>
</div><div>The original rice hull pellets had a diameter of 8 mm. When converted into biochar, the diameter of the pellets decreased to 7 mm.<br><br></div><div>The flame was orange, not blue. A few months ago I had tested a 70 cm reactor completely filled with rice hull pellets of a 6 mm diameter. Here the flame was blue.<br>
<br></div><div>When I run a gasifier on loose rice hulls, small particles of fly ash are always being emitted from the burner. With pellets, I could not see any particulate matter.<br></div><div><br></div><div>This gasifier is still a very crude device. However I do believe that the day is not so far away when small, lightweight gasifiers could make their way into modern kitchens throughout the world. Just as fossil fuel power plants are being replaced by solar and wind, stoves using fossil fuel gas must be replaced by stoves using syngas.<br>
</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks.<br></div><div>Paul Olivier<br></div><div>-- <br>Dalat<br>Vietnam<br>
<br>Louisiana telephone: 1-337-447-4124 (rings Vietnam)<br>Mobile: 090-694-1573 (in Vietnam)<br>Skype address: Xpolivier<br><a href="http://www.esrla.com/" target="_blank">http://www.esrla.com/</a>
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<br>-- <br>Paul A. Olivier PhD<br>26/5 Phu Dong Thien Vuong<br>Dalat<br>Vietnam<br>
<br>Louisiana telephone: 1-337-447-4124 (rings Vietnam)<br>Mobile: 090-694-1573 (in Vietnam)<br>Skype address: Xpolivier<br><a href="http://www.esrla.com/" target="_blank">http://www.esrla.com/</a>
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