Re: Cooking with Coal-- AJH? Crispin? John Davies?

["John Davies" <jmdavies@xsinet.co.za>]

Hi Tami,

I live on the Highveld ( altitude 5000 ft. ) in South Africa. We are sitting
directly on top of a massive coal field.
The winters are sub zero ( -8  C ) at night during
winter which coincides with a long dry period. Trees do not grow naturally
in this area and take a great deal of pampering to become established.
So growing trees for fuel is out. The nearest source of cheap firewood
being typically 200miles away.

The poorest of the poor living in informal setlements are reliant on low
grade butuminous coal to cook, and to heat their dwellings. This is
typically done by burning the coal in a 20 li tin. The "Baula" as previously
discussed. These are lit out of doors producing clouds of acrid dense smoke.
which causes heavy polution of the area.
The nights are typically windless in winter. Once the coal is reduced to red
hot
coke and the smoke and fumes have abated, it is carried into the house.
where it is used for heating and cooking. The higher volitile content coal
is
preferred as it takes very little "expensive " wood to light.

The government has also declared war
on those trees which grow best in the prevailing climate. They have been
classified as invader species, although they do not stand a chance of
becoming a problem in these areas. All trees in the immediate vicinity
have been harvested for building material and fuel.


The great pity is that apart from creating terrible pollution, all the
heat from the volatiles is wasted.
This could account for as much as 40 % of the potential being wasted. My aim
is to try and modify the traditional burning methods in such a manner to
eliminate the smoke and utilise the wasted heat.

I have done some tests with top lighting, gasifying, the coal in a tin with
a burner
above. with promising results this heat could be used for outside heating of
water. for bathing etc before the coke fire is carried into the house. An
alternative is to have it in the house from the start, with a simple
chimney. Much work is still to be done.

Of course minimum cost is a must. Tincanium protected by clay insulation
would appear to offer the cheapest solution.

There are also several informal stove makers in these settlements, using
whatever scrap steel is at hand. An ideal opportunity exists to introduce
clean combustion into their stoves, which are just as polluting as the
open fire option, but a little less wasteful with heat.

Regards,
John Davies.


----- Original Message -----
From: Tami Bond <Tami.Bond@noaa.gov>
To: <stoves@crest.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 12:14 PM
Subject: Cooking with Coal-- AJH? Crispin? John Davies?


>
> Stovers & Especially Coalers,
>
> I have been playing with coal burning again. Can somebody tell me why
> anybody would cook with this stuff?!
>
> I had previously burned high-volatile (like 40% vol) bituminous. That
> catches and stays lit pretty well. Now that I am trying some lower-vol
> coal (at least I think that is the problem) it is hard to get the coal
> to support combustion. What's the trick?
>








-
Stoves List Archives and Website:
http://www.crest.org/discussion/stoves/200202/
http://crest.org/discussiongroups/resources/stoves/ (Under construction)
http://www.ikweb.com/enuff/public_html/Stoves.html (Original)

Stoves List Moderators:
Ron Larson, ronallarson@qwest.net
Alex English, english@adan.kingston.net
Elsen L. Karstad, elk@wananchi.com www.chardust.com

List-Post: <mailto:stoves@crest.org>
List-Help: <mailto:stoves-help@crest.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:stoves-unsubscribe@crest.org>
List-Subscribe: <mailto:stoves-subscribe@crest.org>

Sponsor the Stoves List: http://www.crest.org/discuss3.html
-
Other Biomass Stoves Events and Information:
http://www.bioenergy2002.org
http://www.crest.org/articles/static/1/1010424940_7.html Bioenergy
http://www.crest.org/articles/static/1/1011975339_7.html Gasification
http://www.crest.org/articles/static/1/1011975672_7.html Carbon

For information about CHAMBERS STOVES
http://www.ikweb.com/enuff/public_html/Chamber.htm