Crispin,
Indeed this is quite useful info. I knew about DD combustors and
have also seen them in operation (at /Chip Energy/ in Illinois during
"CHAB Camp" in 2010)... and have seen the way the char could be
"extracted" from the 'base' of their gasifier "at just the right time"
using a simple screw conveyor hooked up to one side of the gasifier
chamber, prior to where the ash was pulled off ~ which also allowed the
DD unit to operate at "full load" (complete combustion to ash) or in a
'mode' that allowed for char take-off (at the user's discretion -- by
simply turning off the char extraction conveyor).
It was the type of system I would /probably/ be looking for, but on a
somewhat smaller footprint -- since the /Chip Energy/ DD system was
mounted inside a 20ft shipping container. However my client has only a
very limited amount of space (~4ftX4ft), and I also wanted to get more
info about /other/ devices that may be out there (available on the
market) before deciding on any particular technology. Do you know if All
Power Labs <http://www.allpowerlabs.org/> has anything smaller than the
"power pallet"? (As far as I know they also do not make their BEK
anymore either.)
Do you have more info about that "biomass burning DD stove /that/ was
produced in Swaziland and test marketed around Johannesburg in
2004-2005" and/or the "Wood burning BLDD 6" from Johannesburg?
A website? Spec sheets? A key contact in Swaziland/Johannesburg?
Pricing??
My task right now is to bring forward and present three [3]
char-producing technologies to my client so that we can review them and
decide how to move forward based on the specifications, price, features etc.
While we are only at the "information gathering stage", it would be
good to have as mush concrete info as possible from as many technology
providers as possible so that we can make an educated decision about how
we will move forward (i.e. whether to purchase 'off-the-shelf' ~ if
available ~ or to use some kind of 'open-source' plans to build a unit
ourselves ... with the final decision likely coming down to the all-in
cost -- including labour, shipping etc. etc.).
P.S. I don't need any info about the lignite-burning BLDD 3 (developed
in Mongolia) since I doubt that we will ever be using/burning "50mm
semi-coked briquettes".
P.P.S. Does anyone know info about Greg Manning? I was once told that
he had built a Downdraft 'rig' in Brandon, Manitoba that allowed for
"unattended operation". Apparently he had developed an 800 lb "side
bunker hopper" gasifier unit (with integrated Drying Process) that ran
about 7lb/hr (of chips) for ~ 4 3/4 days (unattended).
--
P.P.P.S. Yes, it was a bit annoying to read so many (incomplete)
messages in a row from you. It seems that "BlackBerry 10 smartphone"
that you are using could probably use a bit more "software tweaking" for
its 'virtual keyboard' so that users are not continually annoying their
own clients/friends/family with unfinished (and repetitive) emails...
[And I'm sure that you can find a way to let BlackBerry know about this
'issue'. :-) ]
Regards,
Lloyd Helferty, Engineering Technologist
Principal, Biochar Consulting (Canada)
www.biochar-consulting.ca
48 Suncrest Blvd, Thornhill, ON, Canada
905-707-8754
CELL: 647-886-8754
Skype: lloyd.helferty
Steering Committee coordinator
Canadian Biochar Initiative (CBI)
CURRENTS, A working group of Science for Peace
http://www.scienceforpeace.ca/currents/
President, Co-founder & CBI Liaison, Biochar-Ontario
National Office, Canadian Carbon Farming Initiative (CCFI)
Organizing team member, 2013 N/A Biochar Symposium:
www.carbon-negative.us/symposium
Member of the Don Watershed Regeneration Council (DWRC)
Manager, Biochar Offsets Group:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2446475
Advisory Committee Member, IBI
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1404717
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42237506675
http://groups.google.com/group/biochar-ontario
http://www.meetup.com/biocharontario/
http://www.biocharontario.ca
www.biochar.ca
"Producing twice as much food with diminishing resources, without further loss of
natural habitats and biodiversity and in a changing climate may be the greatest challenge
facing humanity."
- Lloyd Helferty
On 2014-05-21 7:23 AM, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott wrote:
Sorry for the tedious repetitions, I keep sending the message
accidently - virtual keyboard... :(
Dear Jason and Lloyd
The downdraft combustor can be very clean burn?ing, it is agreed. A
biomass burning DD stove was produced in Swaziland and test marketed
around Johannesburg in 2004-2005. It also had a retrofit combustor
that had an additional feature which was that the gas outlet was
angled. This allowed the insert to be rotated with respect to the
stove body sending the hottest gases directly against the side wall
for space heating or against the side of a sunken pot for high
efficiency cooking.
I think it was the first DD stove that made a serious efforts to
implement the 'floating fuel' approach to the grate, the grate was
made from thin high temperature wire.
The insert was conical at the bottom with preheated secondary air. It
is also possible to cook on the upper side of such a layout, something
incorporated into the BLDD stoves at the SeTAR Centre In Johannesburg
now at version 6. The Wood burning BLDD 6 can cook three pots at once.
The BLDD 3 developed in Mongolia was tuned to burn lignite and was the
only stove available there in 2009 that could properly burn 50mm
semi-coked briquettes. The DD approach still has much unexplored merit.
To make char with a DD stove requires removing it at just the right
time. It is easier to do that with a cross draft burner which is just
as clean and easier to light.
Regards
Crispin
Jason,
I've taken a look at your website and the info about the
"IntensiFire", however one of the main points of the project will be
to produce biochar (for use with the compost that they are already
making). If the IntensiFire is only meant to increase efficiency and
to reduce emissions for wooid burning stoves, this may not be quite
what we are looking for, although it might be possible to "adapt" the
IntensiFire to the application in some way [?] (in order to maximize
the efficiency and minimize the emissions) ~ although the total cost
might be quite prohibitive, given that the IntensiFire (Mk II) is
already starting at $499 NZD (not including shipping all the way from
NZ to Canada).
I will, however, keep your downdraft technology in mind as we move
forward with our project.
Regards,
Lloyd
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