Anil,
Thanks for bringing this out. At the time (1975-1995) there were efforts to convert straws and crop residues to energy, particularly in France (at AFME, CEMAGREF, Pillard, etc.). In most cases the char was considered a potential domestic fuel rather than for agriculture. European demand for charcoal was high. French wood pyrolysis and gasification plants were still in operation and in development. (The downdraft gasifier that we associate with Hitler was invented in France in the 1930s.) As you remember David Hall made a concerted effort to improve carbonization and energy systems in agriculture. Tom From: Stoves [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Nariphaltan Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 4:10 AM To: [email protected] Cc: Biochar-production; Discussion of biomass cooking stoves Subject: Re: [Stoves] Using all the energy when char making Dear Ron, Thanks for your mail. We did this work when very few people were interested in loose leafy gasifier. It was designed so that the flow is smooth and hence the best strategy was to pyrolyse the biomass rather than gasify it. In the process we also generated 25% char (w/w feed basis). Since we are an agricultural research Institute hence we thought of using this char as a soil conditioner. This was in 1990-1992. Because of the pioneer nature of this work the gasifier together with the char in the field was on cover of International Journal of Biomass Energy (David Hall used to be the editor of the Journal). Why we left this work? This is a long story but we moved on to other things and partly because no body was interested in the biomass research at that time. Still I think Our work can be inspiration to lots of people. All the best. Anil Anil K Rajvanshi Sent from my iPad On 14-May-2013, at 8:25 AM, [email protected] wrote: Dr. Rajvanshi: cc stoves and adding "bochar-production" Thanks for sending us this report. A few questions a. This work was done in the mid '90's. What has happened recently with this or similar equipment in India or your part of India? Can one now buy such hardware? b. What caused NARI to design a pyrolyzer rather than a combustor? c. In the Abstract, you said the char "....can be used as a soil conditioner." This would have been very early in the history of what we now call "biochar". Was there then a market near Phaltan for such? Now? d. Your economics section does not show a price for char. Can you guesstimate the relative value then and now for the char? Congratulations for what appears to have been a successful design - ahead of its time.. Ron _____ From: "Nariphaltan" <[email protected]> To: "Discussion of biomass cooking stoves" <[email protected]> Cc: "Discussion of biomass cooking stoves" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, May 13, 2013 6:08:24 PM Subject: Re: [Stoves] Using all the energy when char making Have a look at this "char making machine". www.nariphaltan.org/Gasifier.pdf Cheers. Anil K Rajvanshi Sent from my iPad On 13-May-2013, at 11:24 PM, "Frank Shields" <[email protected]> wrote: Stovers, Seems there is often a lot of wasted energy that could be used when making char that is just flared off. I’m thinking the reason is that to convert to electricity one needs 1) a very clean syngas 2) an expensive motor and 3) costly up-keep. The generator is a onetime purchase with low maintenance. So why not use a steam engine to convert the flame to electricity? Perhaps not as efficient but all you are doing is heating water so the gas need not be as clean as when drawn into an internal combustion engine. Thanks Frank Thanks Frank Shields BioChar Division Control Laboratories, Inc. 42 Hangar Way Watsonville, CE 95076 (831) 724-5422 tel (81) 724-3188 fax [email protected] www.controllabs.com _______________________________________________ Stoves mailing list to Send a Message to the list, use the email address [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org for more Biomass Cooking Stoves, News and Information see our web site: http://stoves.bioenergylists.org/ _______________________________________________ Stoves mailing list to Send a Message to the list, use the email address [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_lists.bioenergylists.org for more Biomass Cooking Stoves, News and Information see our web site: http://stoves.bioenergylists.org/
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