Gasify the Re: Bamboo in Thailand

[psanders@ilstu.edu]

Stovers,

Hi from Mozambique.  I do not get to e-mail very often.

Among my other jobs, I am working on the Juntos gasifier, and I can say that the bamboo joints sound like wonderful source of biomass fuel for the small gasifiers.  We would use the gases that are otherwise wasted, and still have the charcoal left over for whatever uses.

I will be at the HEDON conference on 27 - 28 August in Johannesburg, and will be demo-ing Juntos stoves and working up projects.  Now I need to find some bamboo and try to use it as fuel !!!!

Ask Grant about the HEDON conference plans if you have not seen them yet.

Paul (Anderson)

>In Lampang in central Thailand there are 2 outfits making charcoal
>briquettes from bamboo waste. Or at least there were when I visited in 1999.
>The waste came from cottage industries making chopsticks and toothpicks. All
>the jointed sections of the bamboo used to be thrown away, but two
>briquetting companies were instead getting the farmers to carbonise this
>material and bring it to their factories. They paid the farmers cash by the
>kg.
>
>The farmers used a rather rudimentary carbonisation system which was in fact
>nothing more than very large open cylinders into which the bamboo pieces
>were heaped and then lit. This led to low conversion efficiencies and high
>ash content, as well as some poorly burned lumps of bamboo. They were using
>5% tapioca flour as a binder and baking the briquettes in gas ovens
>(something which would not be competitive in East Africa where lumpwood
>charcoal is very cheap). The main market for the Lampang charcoal was an NGO
>consortium supplying fuel to Burmese refugees. They were buying around $2
>million worth per annum at that time!
>
>I have a couple of photos of the bamboo carbonisation (140 & 180 kb) if
>anyone wants to see them. Let me know and I can email.
>
>By way of an update on this story, I was contacted in 2001 by a guy living
>in Lampang called Jan Mrskos of ENHOLCO THAILAND (enholco@cscoms.com). From
>the sound of it, the briquetting factories may have closed down. Here's what
>he told me:
>
>"I have been living in Lampang for more than 10 years, coming here as a
>consultant for a local power plant and later staying on my own.  The factory
>what I am running now for wooden kitchenware was run before for production
>of bamboo chopsticks.  That time the huge bamboo waste was not so easy to
>make use of. i.e, nobody from the vast surrounding was keen on it.  The
>burning for the charcoal in a large scale with the legal Thai wages had not
>been viable, it could be done only in a small scale by villagers.  As far as
>I know they had run mostly on wood sawdust or surprisingly, on charcoal dust
>brought in over 2,000 km from the south.   One of the charcoal factory you
>mentioned belongs to an older gentleman, a good friend of mine who I
>incidentally yesterday was visiting.  Currently, the production of both of
>these charcoal factories is down to zero because of the low market."
>
>Matthew Owen
>Chardust Ltd.
>Nairobi
>Kenya
>
>
>-
>Stoves List Archives and Website:
>http://www.crest.org/discussion/stoves/200204/
>http://crest.org/discussiongroups/resources/stoves/
>>
>Stoves List Moderators:
>Ron Larson, ronallarson@qwest.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.repp.org/discussiongroups/resources/stoves/Chambers/Chambers.htm
>
>

-
Stoves List Archives and Website:
http://www.crest.org/discussion/stoves/200204/
http://crest.org/discussiongroups/resources/stoves/
>
Stoves List Moderators:
Ron Larson, ronallarson@qwest.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.repp.org/discussiongroups/resources/stoves/Chambers/Chambers.htm