[Gasification] About ARECOP workshop in China

[Paul S. Anderson]

Stovers and Friends,

I just got back from the ARECOP workshop in China on Thermal application of
gasifiers for cottage industry in developing countries.  I will be presenting
three reports that each merits a separate thread of discussion.  This is the
first one on the Workshop itself.  Later I will send a message about thermal
usage, and then one on types of gasifiers.

About 25 people attended, with participants from 9 Asian countries, plus 3 of us
from the USA.  5 Indonesia, 4 India, 3 Laos, 1 each: Thailand, Pakistan, Nepal,
Sri Lanka, Philippines, and various people from China.

Professor Dr. Makunda (aided by Dr. Dixit) from the Indian Institute of Science
(IISc) was the featured resource person.  He has much experience with
gasifiers, especially large one for IC engines.  To my delight, he is totally
enthralled with and working on T-LUD (Top-Lit Updraft) gasifiers. 
Interestingly, he had little awareness of the past 3+ years of discussions on
the Stoves List-Serve or Gasification List-Serve about T-LUD gasifiers, nor of
the T-LUD items on the Bioenergylists.org Internet site.  Likewise, I had no
awareness of his publications and activities.  (But we both know and
acknowledge Tom Reed's pioneer work on Inverted Downdraft (now called T-LUD)
pyrolytic gasifiers.)  So we have agreed to keep in touch and be sure we
cross-fertilize our streams of information.

The ARECOP program is in three parts:  First is this workshop where projects are
defined.  Then those who have selected projects (receiving some ARECOP funding)
will have a year to accomplish their projects.  Finally, in about July of 2007
there will be another gathering to discuss and share the results, to be held in
Bangalore, India (which is the location of IISc).  That should be a great event,
sort of a Summit Meeting about Small Gasifiers.

The 25 participants really seemed to bond together and be interested in each
others gasifier applications.  We had great times eating Chinese meals and
going on a couple of field trips (one about energy issues and another for pure
tourism.)  Only one ARECOP organizer spoke any Chinese, so our oral contact
with the Chinese was quite limited, except for the interpreter services of
Prof. Pu and two Chinese university students, Michelle and Audrey, who are
studying English and are very proficient with English.  Our meetings were all
conducted in English, which unfortunately limited the participation of the
Chinese hosts.

This was my first trip to China, and I was very pleased!!!  The streets are not
crowed and cramped in the cities.  New construction is evident and impressive. 
The people are extremely friendly, but not "in your face" (such as with beggars,
of which I only saw only a few in two highly tourist-centered locations).  Also,
I felt exceptionally safe and secure at all times and would not hesitate to take
my family members to China.

This message is about China and ARECOP.  Notes about usage of gasifier heat and
also about combustion technology will be in the next two messages.

Paul
-- 
Paul S. Anderson, Ph.D., Geography professor - Emeritus
Telephone:  USA-309-452-7072 (residence and office)
Internet site:  www.ilstu.edu/~psanders
For my gasifier stoves info, go to:
http://bioenergylists.org/contributors#Paul_Anderson





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