For those interested in using coconut husk (not shell)
Unprocessed coconut hulls make lousy fuel.
Coconut hull fiber are generally know as coir.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coir
It is a big business in India.
http://msme.gov.in/Chapter%206-Eng_200708.pdf
The fibers are processed into mats, carpet backing, potting material, and geotextiles (for erosion control).
On a small scale, the hulls can be soaked in water for at least a month and beaten to break the pith and used as mulch.
The pith leftover from fiber production is known as cocopeat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_peat
It is generally a coarse powder. It can apparently be made into fuel pellets for gasifier stoves. See attachments.
Bob

I recently discovered these aluminum cookpots with stubby rods welded to the bottom to act as fins. These should improve heat transfer to the cookpot.

http://stores.cajunrocketpot.com/-strse-Cajun-Rocket-Stock-Pots/Categori...

Cajun Rocket Stock Pots
4 mm Aluminum Professional Cookware. All our stock pots come with lids. Great for reducing, cooking, frying & boiling stocks, soups, gumbos, potatoes, seafood, pasta, ... Reduces cooktime and fuel usage, saving you time & money. Abosrbs more energy from your burner & distributes that energy more evenly throughout the cooking process. Length dimensions include handles

http://www.trust.org/item/20130723104434-3k5zt/

Clean stove cooks up power alongside food
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation - Tue, 23 Jul 2013 10:44 AM

Practical Action and the University of Nottingham organised a demonstration of the SCORE stove at Warwickshire Gurkha barracks, July 18 2013. PHOTO/Practical Action
NUNEATON, England (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - On a sunny July day at the Queen’s Gurkha Signals barracks in Warwickshire, England, a crowd gathered near a picnic table as men in military garb dished out paper plates of rich Nepalese stew. But the real attraction was the innovative stove used to cook the lunch. By cutting the risk of smoke exposure while also producing enough electricity to light a home, it could bring both health and economic benefits.
Many of the Gurkhas serving at this military base were recruited from Nepal, where finding alternatives to open-fire cooking is a challenge. Traditional cook stoves often consist simply of stones atop an open fire, with little ventilation.
Many villagers in rural areas have no choice but to cook indoors, especially when it is cold, so they end up breathing in dangerous amounts of smoke on a daily basis. This leads to health problems like pneumonia and lung cancer, which disproportionately affect women and children.
Household air pollution from cooking with solid fuels like wood poses a huge health threat around the world. It is estimated to kill around 4 million people a year, according to the Lancet’s most recent report on the global burden of disease. That makes it the third leading risk factor for the global disease burden after high blood pressure and tobacco smoking.
In an effort to solve this problem, the University of Nottingham and technology-focused charity Practical Action have designed a new kind of stove, the “SCORE Stove”, which uses wood as fuel but eliminates dangerous smoke fumes and is about twice as efficient as traditional models. They asked the Gurkhas to test it.
“Nepalese villagers spend a huge amount of time collecting wood for basic needs like cooking,” said Simon Trace, chief executive of Practical Action. “It’s an all-day process.”
The SCORE stove consumes about 2 kg of wood a day, under half the usual amount. With less wood to collect, local people could use the extra time for other income-generating activities.
POWER FROM SOUND WAVES
The stove’s most recent design addition also makes it a source of power. The stove takes excess heat produced during cooking and converts it into sound waves, which then generate electricity.
The stove has been able to produce up to 36 watts so far in lab tests, the most of any clean cook stove so far, according to its designers. Three hours of cooking would yield enough power to light a home for a night using efficient LED lights, or to charge a mobile phone.
This may not seem like much, but any amount over 10 watts is useful, and even incremental changes in power availability help, said Paul Riley, project director for the SCORE stove.
Mobile phone ownership has skyrocketed in many developing countries, including Nepal – and that access to communication and information can be invaluable. LED lights could also replace kerosene lamps, the dominant form of lighting in Nepal which also causes significant problems when it comes to health and carbon dioxide emissions.
Hoping to grab some attention for the new cook stove, as they seek funding to bring it to market at an affordable price, Practical Action and the University of Nottingham demonstrated it at the barracks during a visit by several Nepalese officials and academics.
“Knowing so many people are suffering just from preventable disease, this is not acceptable in the 21st century,” said Ram Kantha Makaju Shrestha, vice-chancellor of Kathmandu University. “I am thrilled (about the stove). This is what we need.”
PAYING FOR VALUE-ADDED
The stove has been tested in Bangladesh and Nepal to make sure it is suitable for rural communities. It currently costs as much as £4,000 to build, but the plan is to sell it for £100 when it hits the market, perhaps in a year. Cutting the price to that level would require it to be mass-produced in the country where it is to be deployed.
The hope is that consumers will see value in the stove’s electricity-generation capabilities – enough to pay a higher price than for other clean stoves. “Often, people will be driven by how much money they have in hand,” Riley said. “So they would choose the cheaper stove, even if it lasts only four months. Then it’s not really the more affordable option.”
The SCORE stove lasts at least a year. Its thermo-acoustic technology requires no moving parts, and it is composed of materials that are easy to find and replace. A metal scrubber in a glass tube, for example, creates the sound waves during the cooking process.
Riley said the stove could also generate income from carbon credits. More research is required to boost the amount of power it can generate, but Riley said this could reasonably reach 300 watts. A unit with that capacity would cost five times more to produce than the current version, but that could be offset by carbon revenues, he added.
As it is, the SCORE stove could be especially attractive for those who have little prospect of being connected to national power grids for the foreseeable future, Practical Action head Trace said.
“The more options we have at affordable rates, the more likely it is that people can find one that fits with their own circumstances,” he said.
Erin Berger is a Thomson Reuters Foundation intern, writing on climate change issues.

by Joshua B. Guinto
Specialist, Sustainable Village Technologies

1 The Basic Mechanisms of the Rocket Stove. With the lessons from people like Rok Oblak, Richard Stanley and the Aprovecho Institute the author began learning to build the holey roket stove in his workshop at Daet, Camarines Norte. With sheer perseverance and amidst scarcity, he was able to create several models and delivered skills training to poor people in Camarines Norte, Sorsogon and recently in Bulacan.

2. Among the many feedbacks from the users are the limitation of the holey roket stove in terms of (1) fragility in handling and (2) capacity to receive bigger loads when cooking for bigger occasions and events and for food business. In response, one of the models was picked up for reinforcements.

3. The Innovations as of July 2013

• 3.1. The Holey Roket Stove has evolved to come with sculpted designs. The stove truck is only one of many models that the author was able to create.
• 3.2. The stove has a second barrel beneath the fuel feeder. This barrel serves two purposes. It is where the ash may be pulled out. It is also where an added boost of primary air comes in preheated. The hot char from the fire chamber should be allowed to stay inside the length of the second barrel until it turns into ash. With the hot char in the barrel, the incoming primary air will be preheated thus adds to the efficiency of the burn.
• 3.3. It comes with a metal frame of 10 mm square bars. Having
• the stove in a metal frame box achieves two things. First, it protects the stove from damage during transport. The stove is made from refractory clay, meaning it is not built for durability but instead for insulation and therefore much more fragile than a clay pot or a brick for construction. Second, it allows the use of bigger and heavier pots and woks for safety and for carrying the heavy load.
• 3.4. A metal pan (planggana) now serves as a skirt. The shape of the skirt allows the use of different sizes of pots and pans. The metal pan for this stove model costs Php 95. (The wok in the photo is extremely big for the skirt). It achieved the purpose of improving the contact of the flames to the walls of the wok. Furthermore, it also reduced the heat fatigue being experience by the cook in stoves that otherwise would not have a skirt.
• 3.5. A blower may be fixed to the front of the fuel feeder. The metal rod (please see photo) is upon which the blower may be connected. During the test, Maricris Tugade, the stall owner said she does not have access to electricity in her stall and so the test went on without the blower and she was very satisfied with the results just the same.

4. Results of Test. During the test in a banana cue stall in Daet in 27 July 2013, five hours of cooking for fifty (50) kilograms of banana consumed about eight kilogram of fuel consisting of coconut ribs, coco shells and wood sticks with a market value of Php 12. This was a big drop from the regular daily consumption of Php 150 daily for buying wood charcoal. One bag worth Pp 300 is consumed every two days. It will translate to a savings of Php 138 daily or Php 39,744 every year

Going further, with the assumption that one big tree would yield thirty six (36) bags of charcoal, this stove willtherefore save four (4) big trees every year for this stall alone.

Heavier kind of charcoal called barit is much preferred by the consumers like Maricris because of much higher heat output and the hot char stays longer before turning into ash. However barit is a kind of charcoal made from hardwoods which the charcoal producers chopped. Those hardwoods include narra, mahogany, yakal and dirigkalin.

To confirm this claim, the author, during his field research for his master’s thesis, went up to the forests of Barangay Bulala in Sta. Elena to observe the traditional practices of wood charcoal production. There he found several piles of huge dirigkalin logs ready for the carbonization.

For more informaiton, please see the attached pdf version of this report

Joshua B. Guinto is a development worker since 1987 and is at present a freelance consultant on village technologies. He followed his master’s program in 2006-2008 at the Wageningen University at the Netherlands under the sponsorship of the International Fellowships Programme of the Ford Foundation. He wrote his master’s thesis entitled Realistic Evaluation of Stove Design Process. His thesis led him to do field research in the stoves fabricators in many parts of the province including the wood charcoal producers of Bulala, Sta. Elena. PDF copy of his thesis is available upon request.

Attached are the trials i did with biochar from rice husks and vermicast. I mixed the two together and filled the containers to become my garden.

Some of the lessons i learned

1. vermicast is highly water soluble and quick releasing than compost. Therefore i had to sprinkle a scoop of the vermicast once every week.

2. The vermi cast - biochar mix need a curing time before it can support the plants. Beneficial microorganisms can help cure the mix.

3. The earthworms take up a considerable amount of nutrients from the compost to become their body tissues.

And then do you think we can use the biochar-vermicast mix into the floating gardens? They are much lighter.

Good luck with your project.

Jed

The grass tablet biochar (pyrolytic carbon) shown above was made in an iCan TLUD
with a variable speed blower. This charcoal was air quenched and is thus bone dry.
When wet, it is very soft and can be formed to fit a variety of shapes. I have found, for
example, that grass tablet biochar saturated with cold water is effective at reducing the
pain of burns.

The following pages illustrate some of the ways the above biochar was made.
Note: Grass biochar will be ashy as grass has considerably more ash content that
wood

Grass tablets broken into short sections prior to being loaded into the fuel chamber of
the iCan reactor.
These tablets were made from field grass about 3 years ago in Shelburne, VT. Note
that the longest fibers are about the length of the diameter of the tablet. Shorter is
better.
These tablets are about 4 cm in diameter.

Download the attached Grass Tablet Biochar How To for detailed Reactor photographs and answers to questions posed to Jock by the stoves community.

Hi friends,

I have reported to many of you how fun and successful my cooking demonstration with Dr. Paul
Olivier's rusk husk burning TLUD was on my 1st day back in San Jose. My thanks again to friend and frequent SeaChar volunteer Birgit Lendernick for hosting and organizing that. So fun, great food, great conversations and the stove's clean blue flame impressed everyone there
It has been an absolutely exhilarating ten days, since my MEPE bus rolled into Puerto Viejo. Yesterday E.F. promoter, Thierry Mangel and I conducted a biochar buy-back day in the Bribri communities of Amubri, Suiri and Sueretka. We worked closely with the organizers in each community and although it involved lifting and transferring approx. 1200 lbs of biochar from homes to truck, to boat, back to truck and then off-loading. It went great, everyone coordinated well. After stopping at APPTA to pick up the last 10 sacks of biochar that we had inventoried there. We off-loaded and dry stored 565 kilograms in 54 sacks. This gives us enough to meet the order which we have received from a researcher at CORBANA. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.corbana.c...

CORBANA is the research and farmer education arm of the Costa Rican Banana industry. They have one of the most sophisticated soil testing laboratories in the country. They will be initiating a three year long controlled study program evaluating the use of biochar on banana cultivation and field practices. This will be the 1st of several orders as this program gets underway. We will enjoy full access to the data from the project as this very important relationship develops. As I have said recently I am not so impressed with how much more biochar we have been selling this year as I am by how influential some of the parties buying it are.

Not long ago a woman we are working with in Amubri told Laura that due to deforestation from banana production and timber harvesting, children were growing up in the Talamanca Valley not knowing what a monkey looks like. Like the clear cuts in Oregon, the reality of the scale and scope of the negative impact is shielded from the eyes of the casual visitor by a screen of trees along the roads. The reality for people who evolved a sophisticated culture based on the rich forests around them is deep and complex, but it expresses self with the blunt force of steams drying-up, that people relied on for drinking water. The impact of heavy agro-chemical use impacts the community's well-being in other ways. The conversation I am relating, occurred on July 31st at a Estufa Finca community meeting in Amubri. The meeting was organized by Laura Roldan, Thierry Mangel and Don Valencio Engelsais to ask the community what they would like to do next with the ideas we introduced in the 1st Phase of the Estufa Finca Project.

The community told Laura they wanted support to organize a local business collecting, preparing and packaging Estufa Finca Biochar. Laura has developed a Brand name and logo for this high quality biochar: Joya de Talamamanca BioCarbon. By community decision this biochar will come only from cook stoves and that story will be a powerful part of our marketing campaign. The timing of this could not have been better, by the time of the August 10th follow-up meeting we had received an inquiry from a Rural Economic Development Program from the National University of Costa Rica. Due to Laura's connection to one of the Professors working with this program, we were asked if we had a community with entrepreneurial potential. This is an area where most households get by on $80-$120 a month. We had their match. The group has a seven member organizing committee of 6 women and one man, as well as 23 registered volunteers. On August 24th approx 30 community members, two Professors from UNA and the Estufa Finca Team met to begin this process. The "homework" for the community members was to create a name and mission statement. The Amubri group has named itself "We Indigenous Working With Biochar" It looks a lot cooler in Bribri, but I do not have the right font.Their mission is : "To use a biochar business to improve the economic, environmental and heath outcomes in the community." Beyond the naming of what will be a registered cooperative business, the first and most pressing need: this community needs new stoves, both to replace their own and to sell. Materials have been ordered and 50 stoves will be built in Amubri during a three-day workshop scheduled for early October. From the volunteer pool 2-3 interns will be selected to head up the creation of a local workshop to build stoves.

We have the next meeting scheduled for September 12th. I can not wait to be there. I think that the Professors from UNA will be amazed at how far beyond that assignment these folks have gone. Subsequent to the last meeting Laura shared a funding opportunity with Maria Hernandez, the leader of the Amubri group. This is a $5000 grant from the International Fund for Indigenous Women. Laura asked Maria to develop a proposal related to their business development. What she and several other organizers presented us with was a beautiful surprise. They have proposed a request for funding for the construction of a tree-nursery and the cultivation and distribution of 1500 tree starts the 1st year, which would be used to improve tree cover and ensure a sustainable source of fuel for the Estufa Finca stoves. Their proposal includes funding for a payed inspector/extension agent, to increase the survival rate of the stars. Starting with a meeting on the 4th of August, Laura and I have worked with them to edit and estimate expenses for this proposal. It asks for $5000 and commits over $3000 in in-kind community support. The proposal is so thoughtful and targeted that it is very powerful. Laura and I plan to translate it so that it can be shared with all of you. This proposal will be submitted tomorrow. I will of course update you on the outcome.

Both of the pieces of news above signal the Estufa Finca Projects transition from Phase One activity, begun in Sept of 2011 to the Project's second Phase. Both are also examples of what we as a team have been so successful at, which is leveraging our small budget and resources by collaboration to create a larger impact. To use our resources to support and catalyze activity that is self-sustaining.

Of course winding up Phase One means taking all the lessons we have learned and data we have collected over the past two years and summarizing it in a Report, which we are preparing for National Geographic's Great Energy Challenge. Laura and I, plan to have that report written by the end of October. We are currently working with Lorena Calderon, a Masters candidate from CATIE on a close-out survey and interview process for project stake-holders, this is meant to inform the goals and methods we will adopt for Phase Two.

Lorena has also been leading our team including CATIE researcher Jorge Buitrago through a series of workshops aimed at deconstructing and evaluating the the past several years of history and activity. It has been and invaluable process. Although we will include some of Lorena's data in the National Geographic Report. However like the results of Jorge's cacao and banana/ biochar trials; Lorena's full report on the history of the Estufa Finca-Talamanca Project will appear as her Masters Thesis and will be available early in 2014. Jorge is currently collecting the last round of soil samples for this years round of on-farm cacao plot tests. We hope to see measurable changes, but I am most eagerly awaiting the results of Jorge's ambitious green-house banana/biochar trails. I look forward to sharing all this information with you. Jorge has also been a tireless net-worker and promoter on our behalf. Check out his great blog on Biochar and EM in Costa Rica: http://agriculturadelavida.org/biocarbon-costa-rica-2012/

...
Everyday this week is going to produce new developments. I'll try to keep you updated. This project is rolling.
Thank you all for your support,

Paz,

--
Art Donnelly
President SeaChar.Org
US Director, The Farm Stove Project
Proyecto Estufa Finca

"SeaChar.Org...positive tools for carbon negative living"

The Quad TLUD has features for easier production (using tabs and slots, and zero rivets), easier shipping (as flat-pack pieces), local assembly, and greater stability and coolness of four wooden handles that serve also as legs. Without question, there will be further improvements as the number of users increases and they provide feedback. For example, households using the Quad TLUD stoves in various refugee camps could make suggestions that outsiders might fail to foresee. Jigs, tools and methods for making flat-pack pieces are being prepared in the USA for availability to stove projects worldwide.

Material: Sheet metal and 4 wooden handles/legs

Cost: Mwoto and Quad TLUDs sell for approximately US$15 in Uganda, and should eventually cost less, especially if purchased in bulk as flat-pack pieces to be assembled by a local project.

Dimensions: Currently one size, but size can be easily changed: Height: 19” (48 cm), Square footprint 12 x 12” (300 x 300 mm); Fuel cylinder height 14 “ (36 cm) with diameters from 5 to 7” (12 to 18 cm).
Test results of Quad and closely related TLUD stoves such as Mwoto and Champion:

CO & PM Emissions: Consistently the lowest for any of the natural draft stoves that burn solid biomass.

Thermal efficiency: Range from 35% to 41% currently. Expected to go even higher.

Fuel consumption: 1050 to 1600 grams for a standard WBT of cold start plus simmer (respectably low).

Fuel types: TLUDs can utilize a wide variety of low-value chunky dry biomass fuels (e.g. corncobs, tree seed pods, nut shells), including briquette pieces that can be locally produced from unused biomass. “Stick-wood” is not a common TLUD fuel, but can be used vertically as “wood segments.” Vertical segments also with papyrus reeds, bamboo, etc.
Options: The Quad can be made as a TChar variation for ease of using the created charcoal as fuel in a charcoal stove or as biochar that is added to the soil.

For further information, contact Dr. Paul Anderson at: Email: psanders@ilstu.edu
and visit www.drtlud.com for future updates about TLUD gasifier technology.

NEW to this Eco-Kalan Project's Lakbay Aral Video:

1. 1. Income Earning and Business Potential of Eco-Kalan-C stove
   Banana-ques as example.
2. 2. Outstanding Cooking Performance of the Eco-Kalan-C
   Cooked for 111 persons at the Lakbay Aral luncheon at Felipa Beach, Dumaguete City, Philippines.

Using 2 Eco-Kalan-C, we cooked:

• 126 kg of food (Pork & Beans, Pancit, Rice, Banana-ques, Fried Chicken); in
• 6 hrs 19 minutes total cooking time on Eco-Kalan-C; using
• 16.65 kg of firewood (star apple tree); valued at
• Ᵽ75 pesos or USD $1.74 (under USD $2)

Eco-Kalan & Magic Box Demo to Lakbay Aral from Caticugan Elem. Sch., Siaton, Neg. Or., July 26, 2013
by Rebecca Vermeer
AIMS of Eco-Kalan Project:
To Improve the Health, Environment and Economics of Poor Communities.

Eco-Kalan Donors & Lunch Sponsors from Canada: Kees & Rebecca Arrieta Vermeer of Sidney, BC; and The Chilcotin Log Church of Hanceville, BC

LAKBAY-ARAL PROJECT
("Bayanihan Para sa Kabataan Lakbay-Aral Para Sa Karunungan at Kapayapaan" Project)
The Lakbay-Aral Project is a one-day Educational Tour of Dumaguete City for Grade 5 and Grade 6 pupils of selected elementary schools in isolated communities, most of which are within conflict zones in Negros Oriental, Philippines. It is designed to broaden the horizon of these school children by exposing them to other people, places and activities outside their respective community.

PROJECT PROPONENTS:
302ND BRIGADE, PHILIPPINE ARMY, NEGROS ORIENTAL
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, NEGROS ORIENTAL DIVISION
ORIENTAL NEGROS CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY NETWORK
ECO-KALAN PROJECT
PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE

AIMS OF THE PROJECT:

1. To promote the Bayanihan tradition of the Philippines as an effective tool in the pursuit of peace, security and development in the community.
2. To strengthen the Philippine Army and the Armed Forces of the Philippines' partnership with the peace and security stakeholders, in particular the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's).
3. To promote education as a key to sustainable development and lasting peace in communities.

"The eco-KALAN Project" is a proud Partner of the Lakbay-Aral Project.

Marc Pare has a been keeping notes on his attempts to solve the problems of burning rice hulls in household cooking stoves in his rice husk design log: http://ricehusk.cc/goodboiler/

In it, he goes back to the beginning of 'stove'-ness and introduces design and prototyping concepts as well as giving his test results.

Check it out.

Joshua B. Guinto in the Phillippines used the Oblak Holey Roket stove as inspiration and created a stove with an extra compartment to store char until cooking is done and the char is sufficiently cooled. He has done a wonderful job of writing up the results in the attached pdf.
From his conclusion:
The Charmaking Stove is Born!

• The Char Making Holey Roket Stove is born!!
• It allows harvesting bio char safely and conveniently and without having to tip the stove over. It eliminates the risk of heat fatigue, burns and open fires.
• It allows clean cooking with the similar performance as a gasifier stove.
• It allows continuous cooking.
• The stove will last for four years or more.
• It can be used with many other kinds of fuels.
• The stove is much cheaper and can be fabricated in village workshops thus promotes social inclusion much better.
• With clay, the stove has very small ecological footprint.

Lighting Cones can help make traditional and charcoal stoves light more efficiently and with less smoke than other lighting methods. For the best detail, download the Masters thesis pdf from Kathleen Lask

From Crispin Pemberton-Pigott's Description:

"The main principle is that there should be enough draft to light the fire rapidly. The lighting cone provides this if it is about 500mm tall."

"The second principle is that the bottom of the cone should sort of cover the lighting fuels so that most air is pulled from below, not from the side."

"The third principle is that if there is a secondary air supply at of just below the top of the fuel, the bottom of the cone should bypass it so that the heat inside the cone is not used to pull air through the secondary air ports. Very few stoves have a secondary air controller."

In the result with good fit: "You can just see on the left that it bypasses the secondary and draws all air from below, through the fuel – in this case charcoal. Peter Coughlin reports it reduces the charcoal ignition time by more than ½. We will quantify the smoke reduction and GERES way independently confirm it at some point – it is about 90%."

Lighting stoves can also be used with traditional fires. In tests lighting damp wood in Suba Island "The speed of ignition and reduction in smoke was dramatic. You can just see the hot air distortion of the picture above the cone – basically no smoke. It is quite a bit cleaner than the fire when lit and the cone removed."
The cone on the 3 stone fire is 125

The Stove in the top example is an Anglo Supra Nova.
"It was developed at YDD during the World Bank/Indonesian Clean Stove Initiative."

"It as an Anglo Supra with preheated secondary air. It can burn wood or charcoal, and it can burn wood pellets in TLUD mode. It can automatically switch from pellet burning TLUD pyrolyser mode to char-burning mode by using a disc of paper on top of the grate."

"The loose piece of clay is a door which can close the primary air without affect the secondary air. It provides a significant level of power control without adding or removing fuel. The heat transfer efficiency burning charcoal (it is nominally a charcoal stove) is about 50%. It Is portable with handles and sells retail for about $5.50."

Kathleen’s investigation is attached.

Regards
Crispin

Notes from Ed:

Hi sorry I havn't been following all of this thread, but I thought this might be of interest to somebody,

I am a market gardener, I produce a steady stream of biochar from my water heating systems. I live in Wales, it is cold and wet here and I like washing in hot water.

I have played with bringing tlud stoves indoors but it is not easy and so I have built water heating systems using what I call biochar rocket stoves (sorry if this brings back bad memories Crispin!)
Because they are not filled, lit and emptied from the top they can easily be left in place under heat exchangers, hot plates and a flue outlet pipe. Here in Wales this is important.
If you run them in the evening, when you most need space heat and cooking, then after a couple of hours you have your biochar. It is fine to keep them burning for as long as you want (whereas there is a limit to how much you can keep topping up a tlud)
Unlike wood burning stoves, it is possible to have the flue outlet angled up about 30 degrees from horizontal and surrounded in a thermal mass to capture residual heat. Otherwise the 8th photo is of a section of flue outlet with integral thermal mass.
Shut a door on the front and the biochar goes out overnight. My CO meter has yet to read 1ppm indoors. Empty the biochar by sliding out the floor of the stove and it drops straight into a metal bucket, no quenching, no dust and no mess.
The first photos are of these stoves connected to a 50 litre water tank + hotplate and oven for cooking. (The pipe in the second picture is to give secondary air to the flames.) The system in these photos is mobile and connected to a small header tank so that I can do demos at permaculture conventions and workshops.
The youtube video link below is of something different; a double walled flue pipe with feed and empty hoppers for putting in biomass and emptying out biochar. A bit like an anila stove except the inner combustion pipe has no floor, it goes straight through to the stove below. If its ok with Crispin, I was thinking of calling this flue pipe an anila flue pipe.

http://youtu.be/MTiSTrdYuoA

Sorry Crispin, I do not have the time, money or inclination to test these systems to your required standards. They are capable of heating over 200 litres on one 3 hour burn and catch residual heat in a thermal mass without any visible emissions.

Ed

We are trying to (a) reduce the amount of emmisisons from charcoal production and (b) Condense and recover as much of the smoke into a usable product for your home/farm. Wood tar - the following is an explanation from the good folks at Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) about what is going on in this process.
"The non-water component consists of wood tars, both water soluble and insoluble, acetic acid, methanol, acetone and other complex chemicals in small amounts. If left to stand, the proligneous acid separates into two layers comprising the water insoluble tar and a watery layer containing the remaining chemicals. Recovery of the water insoluble tar, often called wood or Stockholm tar, is simple - it is merely decanted from the water phase. This wood tar has uses as a veterinary antiseptic, a preservative for wood, a caulking agent, and as a substitute for road tar"http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5328e/x5328e0d.htm

For more pictures click here

Wocket Stoves

Sustainable Berea wanted me to build them a couple of rocket stoves to be used with woks for stir frying lunch during their local Solar Tour.

I bought a couple of 14” steel woks for cooking and a 14” stainless steel wok and a 13 quart stainless steel bowl for skirts.

I used the stainless bowl with 4“ galvanized steel stovepipe and the stainless wok with 4” stainless steel stovepipe.

I used 4” Tees for combustion chambers, 2x4 metal stud piece for feed chamber and expanded metal for grate and back wall of combustion chamber.

I used 6 gallon metal buckets for the shells.

I put a 1” thick piece of ceramic fiber board under the bottom of each Tee.

I put an 8” stovepipe outside of the galvanized steel riser to reduce overheating and insulated between it and the bucket with fiberglass insulation.

I insulated around the stainless stovepipe with two 1” pieces of ceramic fiber blanket and between the ceramic fiber and the bucket with fiberglass.

Dear Friends
As of this writing, it was just three hours since I was back from Tacloban City. I took the 13:40 flight of the Air Asia.
The following are the impressions I gathered from the trip. My observations were limited to only the city center from November 23 to 24, 2013 and through a distant observer’s point of view. However, I was not able to capture the anguish, and despair of the aftermath.

• 1. On every part of the city, the damage of Typhoon Yolanda is still very much evident. Piles of debris are everywhere. Car and trucks tossed, electric posts broken, houses mangled and structures pinned down.
• 2. The City of Tacloban is now going under an early recovery phase. People have started building their shelter but not necessarily their own house. They are makeshift shelters made of pieces of timber, plywood, tin metal and all other pieces which they can pick up from the debris.
• 3. Cleaning the main roads has been intensive with all the bulldozers and trucks plus people getting paid under the cash for work donations.
• 4. Water service is back on certain side streets through small service pipes.
• 5. Power supply comes from electric generators. The Department of Energy Secretary pledged that power supply will begin to flow on December 24 but still residents are optimistic.
• 6. Criminality is on the minimum and there is a better sense of order. There is now a strong presence of the police and the military on almost every street corner. It was after a very scary period of looting, theft and there were even reports of murder and rape. During the typhoon, 500 prisoners from the provincial jail and 100 more at the city jail got out of prison, either set loose or escaped.
• 7. On Nov. 23, I saw a corpse on the street, but it was already covered with the Red Cross blanket. The following day, two more corpses were found on the beach. The stench is still very much in the air. Families are still very much shaken. I saw men collecting timber and fixing their shelters.
• 8. Evacuation centers were set at the city plaza and the sports center. There are more families moving out of the city through the C-130 cargo plane by the Philippine Airforce.
• 9. Humanitarian organizations are very much present. To name a few are UNICEF, World Food Programme, AeCid, Save the Children and those coming from Pakistan, Korea, Germany and USA. The government declared that there are 28 countries who responded to the disaster.

The Save the Children International

The response team of the SCI is well organized. They deployed a whole unit consisting of foreign and local staff coming from Australia, Singapore, Spain and their local counterparts. They rented a small hotel that has barely survived the disaster which has become their command center.

My coming to Tacloban is a personal initiative and unofficially that of the Save the Children. Somehow I managed to get myself into the hotel through the Filipino personnel and friends and had a good accommodation for two days and one night (while bending the protocols). The house supervisor, Ruben is in need of electricians, plumber, masons and engineers. Electric power at the hotel is supplied by a diesel powered generator but water has to be fetched from the hand pump across the street and brought to the toilets by each occupant. Everyone is busy with their own tasks.

A Local NGO: The Street Light

I came to know of this group from the Stoves Network Group, from Mr. Otto Formo. On several exchanges of email, he said they support the NGO through their movement at Norway. However, he could not connect me further to the people of the Street Light as he could not contact them either.

I found their office during my walk and was able to talk to Katrin, one of the social workers. Street Light serves street children. To date, according to Katrin, they have more than 100 children of ages 7 to 17 under their care and more than 23 personnel. Their office – dormitory was also ravaged by the waters. It is located at the beach front. We had a short meeting on the morning of November 24.

Katrin told her story during the Typhoon. She described about how the sea water rose up from the coastline rushing all the way past the entire first floor of their building and inwards. At 7:45 am, they had to quickly move up to the second floor of the main building. From the window, they saw how all their neighbours houses were quickly submerged under water. They were only able to go downstairs at 10:30 that morning.

The following day, they saw how the storm surged washed off everything around them. Eight bodies were found by their security guard, Michael at the beach by their building. Mr. Allan, their supervisor was able to keep safe the children under their care. He is now with them at the orphanage at Samal Island in Davao City. They all agree that the number of street children and orphans will rise because of this disaster.

A Pilot Project: A Food and Fuel Recovery Engine

I refer to this project an engine because it has several component parts and each part strictly connects to another to produce a common output plus several side outputs. The concept of this project was built upon that of permaculture. I randomly (or there may be a bigger theory over these) picked up a few and they are as follows: (1) turning the problems into solutions, (2) creating connectivity of the elements (3) every element serves more than one purpose, (4) and that they support and get support from one another in more than one connection.

After circulating a portfolio of possible projects in response to the disaster, a Senior Manager of the Save the Children, remarked that they are interested to integrate the projects into the recovery program but needs more details about the costs. Another field personnel of SCI in Tacloban remarked that such technologies are very much relevant more on the rural areas that in the cities. He anticipates that the recovery period may last up to three years and so there is still much to do. He observed that people are still very much shaken by the trauma. Piles of debris are everywhere and they do not know what to do with it. He would see people after cleaning would burn the wood piles to get rid of the trash. The debris on the roads is also hauled off by the bulldozers and trucks to a certain dumpsite. He agrees that such debris is a resource for fuel and food production. He anticipates that hunger is still very much around and will not easily pass away. Food aid is a temporary relief. November is a planting season and March is the normal harvest season. Therefore, food scarcity is expected until beyond March of next year.

Katrin and Michael of the Street Light also welcome a project that will teach new life skills to the children that they are helping. They would want that the children become better person and thus will bring the change to their families as soon as they are reintegrated. They will immediately discuss the matter with their chief of office, Mr. Allan.

Under the context that was described, I hereby propose a pilot project that will address a multilevel problem with a multilevel solution.

Relief to Early Recovery Period

Transition Period: Late Recovery Period

Concrete Steps

• 1. Fabricate five units of the Estufa Finca Stove by Sea Char. This stove model can be manufactured very quickly. It produces bio char and has available technical details about its construction and use. Other biochar making stoves will be fabricated soon after including my own holey roket stove in clay. We found no supply of bricks or clay yet.
• 2. Fabricate five units of Solar Drying In Wings designed by Jed Guinto
• 3. Fabricate five units of the garden tower. I understand this is already a commercially available product with a pending patent. I already sent an email to the authors of the design seeking consent that I use the design for this project. Im still waiting for their response.
• 4. Fabricate three prototypes of the rain water collector with portable water filter. Ship it to Tacloban and have it tested and evaluated by WASH practitioners on the field.
• 5. Ship off items 1-4 to Tacloban. Coordinate with the Street Light, Save the Children, and other organizations (possibly Habitat for Humanity, Child Fund and others) who are willing to commit to adopt or test the technologies and system with their clients.
• 5. Conduct a user’s training of the recipients by Jed Guinto.
• 6. The wood gas generator and the mobile shredding machine does not have definite donors yet.
• 6. Provide regular mentoring and coaching and solicit feedback.
• 7. Hold an evaluation and improve the designs.
• 8. Prepare for the second round of the manufacture and distribution.

To conclude, as this project mission is on my own initiative. What I could only offer is new set of concepts and putting the concepts into concrete actions and innovations in the theme of permaculture and appropriate technology. I hope that bigger organizations will adopt the lessons learned from this mission and get it on the mainstream. Likewise, I also anticipate learning more from fellow development workers from this episode.

I would like to thank those that donated the funds that made this trip possible. I would also like to thank Lou, Melanie, Ruben and Julius of the Save the Children for the two day accommodation in the hotel. And more than these, I thank those who are in the belief and confidence of what I can do for my fellow Filipinos in distress. To all the prayers and encouragement, I thank you.

As more pledges are still on hold pending the submission of this report, I hereby welcome all your remarks and conversations.

A separate photo gallery will be sent off shortly
A pleasant day to you all.

Jed Guinto
Safely back in Manila

Dale Andreatta, Ph.D., P.E.
November 18, 2013
dandreatta@sealimited.com
Introduction
A series of tests was done to compare the Cajun Rocket Pot (the finned pot) with an ordinary pot of effectively the same size. The finned pot has 70 round fins (pin fins) on the bottom with a diameter of 13 mm and a length of 14 mm. The diameter of the bottom of both the regular and finned pots is 248 mm.

The area of the bottom of the flat pot is 0.04828 m2, and the area of the bottom of the finned pot is 0.0883, or 83% greater. Moreover, the flow is impinging on one side of the fins, which typically gives much better heat transfer than gas flowing parallel to a surface, which is what happens over most of the bottom of a flat bottom pot. It would therefore be expected that the finned pot would have much better heat transfer efficiency.

Both pots were tested on 7 different heating devices, with the fire conditions set up to be as close as possible between pot tests. Only one test was done on each pot. There are a variety of ways to compare the effectiveness of the two pots, and as many ways were used as were meaningful for that stove.

The 7 heating methods were:

• 1. Natural gas range
• 2. Propane stove
• 3. High performance charcoal stove
• 4. Open fire burning wood
• 5. Simulated open fire burning natural gas
• 6. Fan powered stove burning wood
• 7. Rocket stove burning wood.

The heating methods will be described in more detail in the sections on test results for the individual
stoves.
In general, possible methods for comparing the pots are:

• 1. Time to boil, corrected to 5000 g of water and 80 degree temperature rise
• 2. High power efficiency
• 3. High power heat transfer
• 4. Low power efficiency
• 5. Low power heat transfer
• 6. Overall efficiency (weighted average of high power and low power)
• 7. Average efficiency (simple average of high power and low power)
• 8. Total fuel consumed.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these methods, and there is no one right way to compare the pots. Some methods are not appropriate to use for some stoves, but in general, results will be given for as many ways as possible to compare the two pots. The reader can decide which is the most valid way of comparing the pots.

The tests done were mostly modified water boiling tests. The modifications were that there was no separate hot and cold start, and that the goal of the simmering phase was to keep a light simmer, rather than the usual goal of keeping the water 3°C below boiling. The simmering period was 45 minutes. For some stoves, this test method was not appropriate or possible, and the specifics of that test will be given.

Some tests were done indoors, some outdoors, but all tests were done in a place sheltered from wind, and in a place that was not too cold. Thus, weather conditions should have minimal effect.

read more in the full report (pdf)

The Urban Household Energy Transition
Energy, Poverty, and the Environment in the Developing World
Douglas F. Barnes, Kerry Krutilla, and William Hyde
March 2004

PREFACE
This book develops a comprehensive assessment of the evolution of
residential fuel choice and consumption in urban areas in the developing world,
and the effect of urban growth on periurban forest resources. The research is basedon an comprehensive analysis of a series of household energy surveys performed under the auspices of the Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP) of the World Bank From 1984-2000, this program produced more than 25,000 household energy surveys in 45 cities spanning 12 countries and 3 continents. Additionally, GIS mapping software was used to compile a data base of site specific vegetation patterns surrounding a sub-sample of 34 cities. Taken together, the energy surveys and the biomass data contained sufficiently wide variation in urban fuel choice and consumption patterns, local resource conditions, and energy policy regimes to enable an assessment of the factors underlying the evolution of urban fuel utilization and forest resources. By comparing the patterns of energy use of a large number of cities, we were able to distill a comprehensive picture of both the diversity underlying the energy transition and the fundamental principles applying across cases.

Full report at:
http://www.esmap.org/sites/esmap.org/files/Rpt_UrbanEnergyTransition.pdf

This presentation was put together by A.Phrao, Chiang Mai of the Warm Heart Foundation in Thailand. They are using biochar to attempt to restore fertility to badly degraded mountain soils, and to intensely fertilized mono-cropped soils that have low fertility.

They designed this medium sized TLUD system with the following constraints:
They wanted to design a simple, low-cost biochar burner that:

• Can be built from locally available materials, preferably recyclables, at little cost;
• Can be manufactured by local mechanics without
• training;
• Can be operated safely and efficiently by a single person;
• Can use a variety of feed stocks, preferably field waste;
• Can produce a minimum of 1 ton of biochar per week under normal, unpressured operating conditions.

The solution is pretty ingenious - please take a look at the PDF for all of the details.

The following is quoted from the pdf:
The 6-burner TLUD merry-go-round:
materials list

• • 1 x children’s playground merry-go-round or equivalent
• • 6 x 200 litre steel drums
• • 6 x 60 litre steel drums
• • 8 x meters 1” OD steel pipe
• • 6 x meters 1” angle iron
• • 6 x 3” hinges
• • Miscellaneous nuts and bolts, welding rods, grinding wheels
• • Circular grinder, arc welder

System

• • 6 TLUD burners
• • 55 kg corn cob load/barrel
• • 20+ kg biochar output/barrel
• • 120 kg per burn
• • Single man can load, light, rotate, load, light, rotate…empty, extinguish, empty, extinguish… all six loads in 1.5 hrs.
• • Single man can grind full load in 1.5 hrs.
• • Two full loads per day = 240 kg/day
• • 6 day week = 1,440 kg/wk
• • Feed stock requirement = 3,600 kg/wk
• • Cost: corn cob @ 700 baht/ton ($23.35) or $60/ton biochar if farmer does not have own supply

Dear Friends,

A few weeks after Typhoon Bopha (locally Pablo) struck eastern Mindanao in December 2012, I was introduced electronically to a young Filipina doing graduate studies in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. She was fundraising for her home province of Davao Oriental in Vancouver but I was only able to contact her after she returned to Saskatoon. When she learned about the Eco-Kalan, she lamented at the thought of "so much rice donated to the typhoon victims but nothing to cook it with". Her lament has echoed in my mind ever since and it has made me more determined to bring the Eco-Kalan stoves to victims of disasters wherever possible, not by ourselves, but with other organizations that can provide security, reliable transportation, food, drinking water, clothing and building supplies.

When Typhoon Haiyan (or Yolanda) made landfall on Leyte on November 8, 2013, we immediately advised the Emergency Response Team at the Negros Oriental Governor's Office; the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Dumaguete; and our main partner, the 302nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army, of the Eco-Kalan Project's interest to join relief missions to typhoon ravaged communities. Tacloban, Leyte and the northern islands of Cebu were quickly saturated with NGOs and security became a problem so our Project accepted the assignment to Cadiz and Sagay on northern Negros Island where little or no aid had been received. The Eco-Kalan team met with local barangay officials for Cadiz Viejo and Lacawon Island and for Old Sagay to assess the needs there and took photos for documentation (see links below). We also made plans for an Eco-Kalan demonstration and distribution of relief food and clothing in Cadiz Viejo for Lacawon and Cadiz typhoon victims on December 7; and later on December 28 for Old Sagay victims to allow time for the reconstruction of a covered area on a school ground. At each Eco-Kalan demonstration, an Emergency Eco-Kalan-C Kitchen is set-up with 10 stoves each.; and 150 householders are trained in the set-up and use of the Eco-Kalan (see demonstration photos below). These trainees will be the demonstrators at the Eco-Kalan presentations on January 11, 2014 for 670 households from Lacawon Island and Cadiz Viejo; and on January 25 for the 500 or more of the 2,082 affected households in Old Sagay, depending on donations we receive. Lacawon Island will be given 5 Eco-Kalan-C to set-up an Emergency Kitchen of their own. The Emergency Eco-Kalan-C Kitchen is an essential and necessary component of our demonstrations and presentations as nothing appeals more to the poor and hungry than the delicious aroma of the food we cook on the stove they are given.

Regarding the pots and woks we use in the Emergency Kitchen, the Barangay Councils for Cadiz Viejo, Lacawon and Old Sagay have requested the donation of a 48-L pot ($55) for the beans; a 33-L pot ($47) for the rice and a 25" diameter wok ($63). All three utensils can be purchased in Dumaguete for $165 and could be presented to the 3 communities on January 11/25, 2014. I will be very happy to receive your donations.

The Eco-Kalan Project is most grateful to the 302nd Infantry Brigade for creating a place for the Project in relief missions to Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) victims; for packing hundreds of eco-kalans; and for transporting these stoves and kitchen equipment and supplies from Dumaguete on the southern tip of Negros to the Sagay base of the 303rd Infantry Brigade on the northern tip of Negros Island. We also give thanks to our new partner, the 303rd Infantry Brigade for security and transportation service and assistance at demonstration events in Cadiz and Sagay. We are deeply touched by the generosity of the Dumaguete citizens who sent donations of food and clothing to all Yolanda disaster areas and we are thankful to our partner, ONCAN (Oriental Negros Children's Advocacy Network) for ensuring that the affected communities of Cadiz Viejo, Lacawon Island and Old Sagay received a share of the donations.

I believe we, stovers, have a vital role in humanitarian relief missions. It is my hope that many more of us will be drawn to this type of activity. I will be in Dumaguete (Felipa Beach) January 6 - February 13. You are welcome to visit.

Warm regards,

Rebecca Vermeer
Eco-Kalan Project in the Philippines
8968 Mainwaring Road
North Saanich, British Columbia
Canada V8L 1J7
Phone: 1-250-656-6237
Skype: sky.rav
Email: ravermeer@telus.net

PHOTO LINKS TO:

1. Old Sagay, Sagay City, Northern Tip of Negros Island, Central Visayas, Philippines
December 7, 2013

https://plus.google.com/photos/113101643783889350444/albums/595530919188...

2. Eco-Kalan Demonstration to Lacawon Island & Cadiz Viejo Victims of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda)
December 7, 2013

https://plus.google.com/photos/113101643783889350444/albums/595599530104...

3. Lacawon Island -- An island off the coast of Cadiz Viejo, North of Negros Island, Central Visayas, Philippines
December 6, 2013

https://plus.google.com/photos/113101643783889350444/albums/595520559122...

4. Cadiz Viejo -- Coastal village located on the northern tip of Negros Island, Central Visayas, Philippines
November 23, 2013

https://plus.google.com/photos/113101643783889350444/albums/595007767039...