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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Dear Serge and Abraham,<br>
<br>
The photos from Serge are very helpful. Photos from Abraham will
show the larger system that they use. <br>
<br>
There are a few questions and issues.<br>
<br>
1. How important is it to convert to using the rice husks as fuel
for the parboiling process? I believe that use of the rice husk
as fuel is NOT the priority. As Serge and Abraham have stated,
the main concern is to reduce the use of large amounts of wood.
Appropriately sized TLUD gasifiers with wood fuel (or Rocket
burners of sticks) could accomplish the task of reducing the
amount of wood being burned. This would be with natural draft.<br>
<br>
2. <u> IF </u>rice husks are to be used with a TLUD gasfier, it
would required Force Air (or Fan Assistance) (FA), and that would
require a small amount of electricity. With the parboiling being
done in the daytime, a solar cell could be used, even without a
battery. What are the availabilities of small electrical power
in the locations of either Abraham's or Serge's operations?<br>
<br>
3. Please comment on the frequency of doing the parboiling
task. Abraham, is your operation run every day? Frequency of
use can impact favorably the ability of maintain equipment such as
a fan unit or battery / solar package.<br>
<br>
4. For the 25 L quantities described by Serge, there is really no
need to have a continuous operating gasifier. Either the unit
could be large enough for the stated durations of usage (30
minutes to raise to 80 C; and one hour for the steaming). To
boil away (evaporate) 6 L of water in one hour can be
accomplished; but some attention should be paid to the
configuration under the pot, such as possibly having a pot-skirt
or other ways to improve heat retention and heat transfer. This
is NOT a situation requiring a good turn down ratio to obtain Low
Power cooking.<br>
<br>
5. As we close in on the topic, we need to discuss who will lead
the efforts (management) to accomplish the tasks, and who will pay
for the expenses (finances). Strong communications via email
are quite important. Skype is useful. Access to some
sheet-metal workers is important for the fabrication of the
TLUDs. The cost of materials should not be very high, but the
issues and costs of management and labor can be easy or difficult,
depending on the circumstances.<br>
<br>
6. Are Serge and Abraham close together, and working together?
If not, each should describe their specific situations. Please
send us your views of possible plans for moving forward.<br>
<br>
Dr TLUD<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Doc / Dr TLUD / Prof. Paul S. Anderson, PhD
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:psanders@ilstu.edu">psanders@ilstu.edu</a>
Skype: paultlud Phone: +1-309-452-7072
Website: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.drtlud.com">www.drtlud.com</a></pre>
On 2/18/2015 5:01 AM, Serge Horsmans wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CALY968D2pP5tba2VgOnOwsYorgxtk8VRVa5cyRWtw6G7rj88Ww@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Dear Paul (and other insiders),
thank you very much for your attention to my request. Below you will
find the questions and the answers. Please ask for more information
if needed.
1. What heat source(s) are you currently using? Do you have
batch-operations of rice husk gasifiers already? What is good and
what is bad about them?
At the moment we are using fire wood as the heat source. We are not
using gasifiers and I don't have any experience with them, but it
seems to me that continuous flow gasifiers are more appropriate since
once the heating of the soak water or the steaming is started, it
should not be interrupted by refilling the batch. It is hard to find
gasifiers in Africa.
2. Is your operation the only one, or could there be other similar
businesses that might also want to improve their heat sources?
I am not too much aware of the other businesses, but it is easy to
guess that if it is affordable technology, it will as well be adopted
by local restaurants. For one or other reason this technology didn't
reach Africa yet.
In Benin, it is mainly women that parboil rice. Recently a new
device for parboiling has been introduced to improve the quality of
the parboiled rice. An educational video, in which rural women
explain how to use the improved rice-parboiling technology and its
benefits, was
developed by AfricaRice in 2005 to promote this technology to
end-users. The video-supported training tool has contributed
significantly to the
diffusion of the technology in Central Benin. This video has been
used by many NGOs. It is now the common device in Benin. So the same
might be done with the gasifier. All organisations that support those
women might adopt the gasifiers as they all want to reduce the use of
fire wood.
3. I assume that all of the associated structures are in place,
functional, and are expected to be part of the new operation.
Structures such as the large vessels (pots, trays, cauldrons, etc.)
and also the boiler.
Yes, though I don't know what you mean about the boiler... it is just
wood placed below the cauldron .
Any heat source that can be used to heat water in a cauldron could be
used as the device is basically a cauldron containing about 25 l. of
water for soaking the paddy. The same cauldron is afterwards used
for steaming the paddy with about 6l. of water ( I will add some
pictures). Since firewood and charcoal have always been used and is
easily available, they continue to use firewood or charcoal. By
introducing the gasifiers we would like to reduce the use of firewood.
- Soaking process: heat paddy in 25 l. of water to a temperature of
about 80°C, it takes about 30 min. Next let it cool down during the
night in the cauldron.
- Steaming process: You take a paddy holding vat and a cauldron (a
similar cauldron as for the soaking). The paddy holding vat is
perforated with holes (maximum diameter 2.5 mm) from its base to about
a quarter
of the way up its body . The paddy rice is poured into
the vat, which is inserted in the cauldron containing 6l. of water.
The water level in
the cauldron is such that it does not reach the bottom of the paddy
holding vat. The improved
method prevents water in the cauldron from getting into the paddy,
only the steam
generated from the boiling water in the cauldron passes through the
perforated vat to
parboil (steam) the paddy rice. It takes about 1 hour.
4. Please send us some photos of the existing installation. There are
issues such as height of the boiler above ground that can influence
what options could be for the new "fire box."
I will add some. Please ask for more if needed.
5. Are you or others in your area interested in biochar from the rice
husks? If so, a pyrolyzer (rather than a full process gasifier)
might be more appropriate.
Hard to say. The women parboiling the rice are not same as the ones
cultivating the rice. So they will not use the biochar as a soil
conditioner. I have no clear idea what could be done with biochar...
Thanks again for your attention to my request. I 'm looking forward
to hear from you again.
Kind regards,
Serge
</pre>
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