<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
</head>
<body data-blackberry-caret-color="#00a8df" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: initial;">
<div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
Dear David</div>
<div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
Thanks for the update. Do the pucks feel really dense even when dried?</div>
<div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<span style="font-size: initial; text-align: initial; line-height: initial;"><br>
</span></div>
<div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<span style="font-size: initial; text-align: initial; line-height: initial;">Thanks</span></div>
<div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<span style="font-size: initial; text-align: initial; line-height: initial;">Crispin
</span></div>
<div style="width: 100%; font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<br style="display:initial">
</div>
<div style="font-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, 'Slate Pro', sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); text-align: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<br name="BB10" caretmarkerset="INVALID" class="markedForCaretMarkerRemoval">
</div>
<div class="BodyFragment">
<div class="PlainText">I've succeeded at producing some briquettes from used coffee grounds<br>
and pulped newspaper. I haven't found a great way to burn them without<br>
a burnt-coffee odor or clouds of smoke, but I think that the key is to<br>
crumble them slightly to expose more surface area to heat and oxygen.<br>
<br>
I have a hand press, called an Aeropress, for making a cup of espresso.<br>
It's a polycarbonate cylinder with a perforated plastic cap at one end.<br>
You put a paper filter in the perforated cap, put your coffee grounds<br>
on top, pour hot water onto the grounds and stir. Then you press a<br>
polycarbonate plunger through to press coffee into a glass through the<br>
cap. A rubbery black plastic plug at the end of the plunger forms a<br>
watertight, semi-airtight seal. After you've pressed your coffee, you<br>
remove the plastic cap from the cylinder and push the plunger the rest<br>
of the way through to eject a puck of damp coffee grounds.<br>
<br>
The damp pucks are crumbly, and once they dry out in the sun, they fall<br>
apart easily.<br>
<br>
Based on a suggestion on the list, I mixed equal parts (by volume) of<br>
soggy pulped newspaper and sun-dried used coffee grounds in the hope<br>
that the cellulose would hold a briquette together once formed and<br>
dried.<br>
<br>
Now, how to form a briquette? Using the Aeropress with a paper filter,<br>
as if I was brewing coffee, I squeezed much of the water from the<br>
pulp/grounds mixture, and then I ejected the puck onto a sheet of<br>
newspaper, where I let it dry in the sun.<br>
<br>
I have burned the briquettes whole in a campfire, in a rocket stove I<br>
built, and in my TLUD. Burning them whole produces a lot of smoke.<br>
Burning some fragments of a briquette in a mix of biomass (mainly dry<br>
twigs cut into chunks) worked pretty well, and I will have to try that<br>
again, soon.<br>
<br>
I will make some pictures of the briquettes and send them a little<br>
later.<br>
<br>
Dave<br>
<br>
-- <br>
David Young<br>
dyoung@pobox.com Urbana, IL (217) 721-9981<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Stoves mailing list<br>
<br>
to Send a Message to the list, use the email address<br>
stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org<br>
<br>
to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page<br>
<a href="http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org">http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org</a><br>
<br>
for more Biomass Cooking Stoves, News and Information see our web site:<br>
<a href="http://stoves.bioenergylists.org/">http://stoves.bioenergylists.org/</a><br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>