Rogerio (cc stove and biochar-production lists)
I like what you are asking on this list. It is important for you to investigate
the relative benefits of making charcoal in a more efficient manner (using the
plentiful and valuable energy in the pyrolysis gases than is the present norm).
But I assume you will not use this as the only criterion for your
recommendations to the World Bank.
The primary world expert on stoves in my opinion is Dr. Kirk Smith of UC
Berkeley. I think Kirk would say the “efficiency” answer you will obtain is
relatively unimportant (in part because it is such a close call). Asd you
probably know, Kirk prefers instead to look at the issues of health and global
warming. At this site:
http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/krsmith/page.asp?id=24
are many of Kirk's power points on this topic. I have not looked at enough, but
one in March, given in North Carolina, near the end shows a gasifier stove,
with the statement that the emissions are down by a factor or 30.
http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/krsmith/presentations/SLCF%20CH%20Mar%2010.pdf
I think Kirk would state (based on his decades of health-related
epidemiological in-field studies) that saying that smoke is to be desired is
non-sense. He also would be quite surprised to learn that he must be concerned
about our global climate direction because he is out to make money from carbon
credits.
Needless to say, my own view is that turning from charcoal-using stoves to
charcoal-making stovews is hugely important for Kirk's twin reasons. But such
stoves can play an important role in many other ways. Smith is possibly talking
carbon negativity with soil benefits, but we also have issues of losing forests
at a great rate. A charcoal-making stove can greatly lower the cost of cooking
– as a valuable product is being generated., not consumed The fuel does not
have to be from trees; a much wider range of fuels becomes available than is
possible with either wood or charcoal-using stoves. And much less effort is
needed to maintain a relatively constant cooking temperature with a stove in
which primary and secondary air are separated. I don't believe I have exhausted
the list of the benefits of charcoal-making stoves.
So, I feel your efforts to find efficient means of making char should involve
talking to the Biochar community as well as well as the stoves community. There
are quite a few of us on both of Tom Miles' lists, but the real expertise on
efficient large-scale char production is on the Biochar-production list. At
least monthly we hear of someone with a new larger-scale charcoal-production
scheme. Knowledge in the Biochar field is possibly doubling annually. When you
are part of the Biochar community, I bet you will come to the conclusion that
most of us have, who have been promoting efficient charcoal- making stoves –
that the char is MUCH more valuable when placed in the ground. .
Ron
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