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Dear Mangolazi, (and especially all Stovers who live in areas
where coconuts grow.)<br>
Also sending to the Biochar Listserv because of biochar production
discussion.<br>
<br>
Great to hear of your experiences with coconut husks!!<br>
<br>
Many of us (including myself) have tried to use coconut husks as
fuel in TLUDs (or other stove types). I believe that you have just
reported more success than anyone else, but perhaps others can
correct me about that.<br>
<br>
What you describe is "typical". But you have allowed the husks to
smoulder more, giving smoke that does not burn, or burns poorly.
AND you report that after allowing that to happen, that you have
"some good biochar" (which I hope can be analyzed someday to confirm
your judgement.). <br>
<br>
AND you report some minor use of the heat.<br>
<br>
Can we assume that your two photos are taken during the early stage
while there are still fronds or perhaps even diesel fuel being
burned? I would like to know more about your smokiness.<br>
<br>
You have the advantage of living in an area that produces coconuts
and the husks are plentiful. Please continue your efforts. They
are very important, considering the quantities of husks around the
world and the need for biochar in the tropics.<br>
<br>
Please consider doing some experiments and reporting back about your
results.<br>
<br>
1. You wrote:
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">but it gets smoky once the only the husks are burning. </pre>
</blockquote>
Please try with a mixture of fronds in with the husks all the way
through the barrel of fuel. Do this with known (approximate)
percentages of fronds (by weight or simply by volume). Is 20%
fronds functional? Maybe 40% fronds? And confirm that 100% or 80%
fronds will pyrolyze cleanly (with combustible smoke). I do not
know of anyone who has done this.<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Most of the fuel consists of semi-dry brown-green husks</pre>
</blockquote>
Here you can repeat experiments with husks with various degrees of
dryness. If with reasonable success with "mostly dried" or "highly
dried" or with some amount of "semi-dry brown-green husks", then
that is further progress. YOU get to make up whatever
classification system seems to describe "dryness." You can even
"oven dry" some husks. <br>
<br>
Also, when you have determined something useful about dryness, we
can discuss having a "dryer" device that will use the heat from the
TLUD barrels to do the drying of the future batches of husks.<br>
<br>
Objectives: <br>
A. Produce biochar<br>
B. Elimimate (remove or dispose of) piles of discarded husks.<br>
C. Elimimate (stop) the rotting and off-gassing of methane and CO2
from the discarded husks.<br>
D. Everntually claim carbon credits for the A and C above.<br>
E. Ultimately find a way to have useful heat while doing A through
D above.<br>
<br>
I am almost finished (need another week?) with a document about
making conveniently simple barrel-size TLUDs in a style that I
personally like. I will send it to you (Mangolazi) as a separate
message. Soon it will be on my website and announced to the
Listservs.<br>
<br>
We all look forward to more info about your work. Also please tell
us about yourself, location, employment, goals, family, etc.<br>
<br>
Paul<br>
<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>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/4/2016 10:23 PM, Mangolazi wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:2F57A263-C1A1-47BB-9CAE-A4E55F18E4AD@yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Hi stovers,
I've been making some big TLUDs to turn farm waste into biochar as well as using the heat for cooking. I'm using oil drums with a chimney made from stacked paint cans; the fuel consists of dried coconut husks (not copra or coconut shells) and chopped coconut fronds. I pack the fuel into the drum as tightly as possible and light it off with diesel-soaked coconut fronds on top.
Has anyone used these items as TLUD fuel for cooking or heating? I find the mixture burns cleanly at first, thanks to the quick and furious burn from the diesel and fronds, but it gets smoky once the only the husks are burning. Most of the fuel consists of semi-dry brown-green husks because it takes a long time for husks to dry down to a uniform dark brown color. I can get some good biochar after a 1.5-hour burn.
My cooking attempts are limited to putting a small pot on the TLUD lid for simmering. It would also be possible to wrap copper tubing around the oil drum as a heat exchanger to heat water. In coastal Malaysia, coconut husks are usually left to very slowly break down into compost; it would be interesting to use it to replace LPG for simmering and as a heat source for small village enterprises.</pre>
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</blockquote>
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