Re -Jatropha oil as household energy (forwarding Stumpf - #2)

["Ron Larson" <ronallarson@qwest.net>]

Stovers (cc Elmar Stumpf):

	This is to follow up on the earlier September 18 dialog on oil cookers -
which began with a mention from A.D. Karve.

	I just realized that this message four days ago from Elmar had only come to
myself.  Elmar - my apologies for the delay.

	I have added brief notes on Q3, Q5a, Q5b and Q9

	Elmar has asked for our help on Q7.

Elmar:

	Thanks.  This is one of the most complete inputs we have ever had on
"stoves".  The big surprise to me is the conclusion that you can cook a meal
with oils at half the price of urban-purchased fuel wood on open fires
(Response to Q6).  This says that improved wood stoves have to do at least
this well (efficiency doubling) also.  I look forward to hearing of the
other work that is on-going;  please consider this a request to let us know
more as your results come in.

Ron


-----Original Message-----
From: Elmar Stumpf: stumpf@ats.uni-hohenheim.de
[mailto:Stumpf@495-simon.ats.uni-hohenheim.de]
Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2002 2:21 AM
To: Ron Larson
Subject: Re: FW: Jatropha oil as household energy (forwarding Stumpf)


<color><param>0100,0100,0100</param>Dear Ron, dear all,


thank you very much for your interest in our stove. I was - again - out of
office
some days, therefore I couldn't get back to you earlier.


Now - let me answer your questions:


1.) Costs

We did not yet do a detailed costs analysis of the actual stove costs -
nevertheless, we put a lot of emphasis of designing a stove which is
affordable to the people.


We need a tank including an air pump with a pot support just like the
kerosene stoves (we can also used those parts from existing kerosene
stoves, which answers your question number 3.). Moreover, we need the
plant oil burner, which functions like the kerosene stoves, but is
completely
re-designed. Maybe, this burner might be slightly more expensive than the
kerosene burners, however, producing the stove in a tropical or subtropical
country we expect the production costs within the same range as the costs
for producing a kerosene pressure stove. Those ones - as you know - are
sold in India for example for around 12 US-$ (if I remember the personal
comment of Dr. Karve right). We bought some kerosene pressure stoves in
the Philippines for 10 - 12 US-$. So - we are talking of a retail price (for
sure)
of less than 20 $ for a basic stove modell if it is produced in mass
production.


2.) principal things that changes the stove design

Well - this is quite a challenge to give you a short description of 5 years
basic
research studies. Our burner is - as written before - completely new. The
basic problem is the temperature of the vaporizer which has to be sufficient
for a complete vaporization as well as combustion of the plant oil in the
burner. This required a new design of the vaporizer which has to maintain
this temperature not only at high but also at low power outputs of the
burner
while high power outputs leads to high flame temperatures and low power
outputs to lower temperatures within the burner.


3.) see above  [RWL insert - this was on doing c conversion oneself]


4.) Gravity feed mechanism

Our cooking stoves runs with a pressure of more than 2.5 bars. Therefore
using gravity does not seem to be a good alternative.


5.) Pollution emissions and efficiency.

Yes, we already did emission and efficiency testing. Starting with the


Efficiency: we did the testing according to the Water Boiling Test and got
an
efficiency range between 40 - 45 % (depending on the power output);
nevertheless this is still subject to further optimization and some 50 of 52
%
seem to be quite feasible (it would be great if I could get any information
of
anyone who knows about enhancing efficiencies of liquid fuel cooking
stoves).

[RWL insert  -  I believe the ideas of Dr. Karve (mentioned by Sam Baldwin
as the first time I saw it) of putting a "convection-enhancing" cylindrical
ring around the cookpot will add a good bit of efficiency.]


Emissions: regarding CO-emissions we stay within the range of gas cooking
stoves for Europe (DIN EN 3O) which allow no more than 1000 mg/m^3 in
the exhaust gas with 0 % oxygene. We did this testing for one open fire and
got a value of more than 20000 mg/^m3. The Hydrocarbon emissions are
likewise some 200 - 400 times lower than the emissions of open fires. The
NOx and SO2 emissions are negligible. Comparing our stove to the existing
kerosene stoves: our stove emissions are within the same range or
somewhat lower than the kerosene pressure stove emissions (depending on
the stove, of course) and very much lower than the kerosene wick stove
emissions.

[RWL insert:  Could you expand on you meaning of "0% oxygen(e)"?  With some
nice recent messages on testing, I think we all would like to know more
details (or a reference) on the details of your measurement set up.]

6.) Costs of typical meal

We did not yet do this analysis. For the Philippines, we did some
preliminary
work on the cost analysis for utilizing crude coconut oil as cooking fuel.
It
turned out that the running costs (taking the energy in the cooking pot as
the
basis for comparison) for coconut oil is within the same range as the
(slightly
subsidized) kerosene (while the price of kerosene will rise in the future
for
sure), lower than gas or charcoal and about half of the price of fuel wood
(bought at the market) on open fires. Still more detailed costs analysis
have
to be made. However, if we utilize used oil (from McDonalds, ....) in our
stove, the running costs will be even lower.


7.) Costs for seed oils in different locations

I would appreciate more information from the stove list members to get more
information about this issue.


8.) Gel alcohols as stove approach

We think, utilizing plant oils as cooking fuel might have the potential to
play
an important role in different parts of the world within the nearest future.
However, the future cooking energy will be covered with a mix of different
energy </color>forms <color><param>0100,0100,0100</param>including energy
saving wood stoves, charcoal stoves, plant oil
stove and so on. The alcohol gel fuel may also play a role in this list.


9.) Economics etc.

[Larson insert of full question: How does the economics of other attributes
of the native species fit in   >(use for soil preservation, nitrogenation,
firewood benefits, left over >economic value of the seed cake, etc)?


</color>Well - this is really a broad area: utilizing plant oils as cooking
fueld does
have numerous ecological as well as economical and social advantages. Let
me get a short list for you


socio-economic benefits (among others)


a) local production of plant oil as fuel provides income opportunities for
local
population


b) sustainable energy system due to local production of the fuel


c) press-cake as a by-product of the oil pressing process can be sold as
animal food or fertilizer


d) plant oils substitute fossil fuels such as petroleum -  import and
subsidization of those fossil fuels burdens ofteh the national budget of
some
countries


e) plant oils are bio-degradable and handling is simple and free of danger


f) utilization of plant oils as fuel prevents users from severe operating
risks
related to the easy inflammation of kerosene


g) the plant oil stove runs not only on plant oils, but also on plant oil
esters,
kerosene, diesel fuel, and gasoline if necessary


h) local fabrication and maintenance of the plant oil cooker and its
equipment
provides employment opportunities


<flushboth>ecological advantages (among others):</flushboth>


i) using plant oils instead of wood as fuel reduces tree felling which has
negative ecological consequences including soil erosion and desertification


j) many oil-bearing plants grow on marginal land - utilization of their oils
as
fuel provide economic incentives to enhance their cultivation on unused
tracts and prevent further erosion


k) plant oils burn CO2-neutral



10.) Test results

We are right now running a more detailed test in Guatemala - unfortunately,
the test results are not yet available.


11.) Solar cookers

Well - I think, the big advantage of solar cookers it the low running costs
of
the energy - nevertheless, their utilization is connected with some
problems,
especially regarding cooking in the morning, in the evening, during rainy
season and so on.


This for today - I am looking forward to any comments, information,
questions etc.


Take care,

Elmar


Ron - I am already a stove list member for some years now and it has been
very interesting following the discussions!



<color><param>0100,0100,0100</param>Datum:   	Wed, 18 Sep 2002
12:38:14 -0600

Von:            	"Ron Larson" <<ronallarson@qwest.net>

An:             	stoves@crest.org

Durchschläge an:	stumpf@ats.uni-hohenheim.de,
Stumpf@495-simon.ats.uni-hohenheim.de

Betreff:        	FW: Jatropha oil as household energy (forwarding Stumpf)


<color><param>7F00,0000,0000</param>>Stovers -  the following just in from
Elmar Stumpf on his stove for oils.

>

>Elmar -  Thank you for this additional information you have supplied below.

	<snip a lot of earlier material>


<nofill>
von:
Dipl.-Ing. Elmar Stumpf, M.Sc./Univ. of Wisc.-Madison
Institute for Agricultural Engineering in the Tropics and Subtropics
Hohenheim University (495)
Garbenstr. 9, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)711 - 459 - 2840
Fax:  +49 (0)711 - 459 - 3298
e-mail: stumpf@ats.uni-hohenheim.de




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