[Gasification] Myanmar: Engineering society preparing code for gasifier standards

[Robert Kana]

Dear Dr. Reed and Mr. Miles,
It sounds like these people can use some valuable advise. We have been 
working on rice husk gasifiers in Indonesia in the past couple of years, 
mostly for chicken waste gasification. We keep the reactor under 500 C, 
result is a good quality fertilizer with biochar.
Unfortunately there are so many companies in SE Asia, keep the reactor 
very hot and they use water to cool the gas. Almost all the gasifiers I 
have seen in those countries, ash is also removed by water. Gas coming 
out the gasifier is so hot, they need smaller ponds to cool it down, 
even for a smaller size gasifiers. They do not have a separate particles 
pools, no filtering system, where the tar can be collected and used as 
fuel again.
In these countries, building a 20 Kw gasifier costs less than a $ 1000. 
Unfortunately their gasifiers also burns so dirty, there are no tar 
cracking, and filtering. I have even seen on a 100 Kwe gasifier reactor 
area was cooled with water, than same water wash the ash out, directly 
to a well dug very close to gasifier. One can imagine what will happen 
to ground water around this well. It is like spilling poison on the 
ground, continuously.
They probably need a better design of rice husk gasifier, simple 
filtered cooling pool, better ash collection system ( ash can be used 
for many different purposes) and effective training for the users.
Knowing the departments and ministries involved in these kind of 
projects, they will probably use the same people who built these faulty 
gasifiers, as consultants. Hope you can get a chance to work with NGO's 
which can do good for the local people and environment.
Regards,
Robert