[Stoves] History of the KAKUTE plant oil stove

Tue Sep 12 23:36:46 CDT 2006

Jonathan,

Thank you for a very interesting and timely post. I took the liberty to put
it on the website at www.bioenergylists.org <http://www.bioenergylists.org/>
along with links to Protree and Kakute Ltd. We often hear about Jatropha so
it's nice to fit a plant to a name, to hear the story and to see photos of
the whole process.  

It looks like a plant and a process that would fit well with other light,
cooking and agricultural activities.

Regards,

Tom Miles

  _____  

From: Jonathan Otto [mailto:ottojonathan at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 1:28 PM
To: e.j.rodenhuis at student.utwente.nl; stoves at listserv.repp.org;
tmiles at trmiles.com
Subject: History of the KAKUTE plant oil stove

Dear All,

Maybe I'm jumping in at the wrong moment, but I can tell you about the
KAKUTE (not Kakuta) stove and lamp, as I have been part of the group working
on it (on and off) since the start in 1997 in Tanzania.

Erwin Protzen did the original write-up 7 or 8 years ago, a fine piece of
work, but the models have progressed a lot since then.

The problem with adapting a kerosene stove to plant oils is much more one of
varying viscosities than purity of the oil. Jatropha oil will not willingly
mount the 4 or 6 inches required of the liquid fuel in the usual Asian
cookstove -- it's just too damn thick at room temperatures. The challenge
seems to be finding the best (affordable) wicking material and other optimum
design elements to supply enough oxygen for this hot, clean buringing oil.
Maybe that design already long perfected and a million units in use in
India, but we have not been able to get definitive information on
successfull adaptations of  liquid fuel stoves for use with plant oils. So
iin brief, we have a fine lamp design for household use, but the stove is
not ready for prime time, yet.

Lack of funds, and maybe plain old ingenuity, prevented us from making a
breakthrough plant oil stove design in the 90s. The team split up to pursue
other interests, and those of us who were left turned our energy (bad pun)
to stimulating more Jatropha planting and thus seed/oil production against
the day when better minds would produce an affordable and otherwise
appropriate stove design. We focused on another and more immediately
marketable use of the oil -- its excellent saponific qualities -- to make a
cold-process inexpensive soap with interesting medicianl properties that I
will not go into as they do not fit with this listserve's focus. 

6 years later, 50 tons of Jatropha seed have been grown, gathered and sold
for soapmaking, planting and research, but the stove design issue
languishes. Given the ubiquitousness of this tropical hedgerow species --
I've seen it grown from Cuba to Mali to Bangaladesh -- a simple stove design
for Jatropha and other plant oils would be a boon to humanity, and a
blessing to the environment, as half of all the trees cut down in the world
go to cook dinner.

That is the short story of the KAKUTE stove to date. Anyone want to write
the next chapter?

Salaams,

Jonathan Otto, Pamoja Inc.

  _____  

From:  "Rodenhuis, E.J. (Erik Jan,Student TBK)"
<e.j.rodenhuis at student.utwente.nl>
To:  <stoves at listserv.repp.org>,<tmiles at trmiles.com>
Subject:  Re: [Stoves] Kakuta stove / stoves for vegetable oils/ wick stoves
Date:  Tue, 12 Sep 2006 20:50:52 +0200
>Dear Tom, list,
>
>
>
>Good point Tom!  For list: the original topic can be found at: HYPERLINK
"http://bioenergylists.org/en/vegestove"http://bioenergylists.org/en/vegesto
ve
>
>
>
>I came across conflicting information on this topic. In an article by Erwin
Protzen HYPERLINK
"http://www.jatropha.org/lamps/protzen2.html"http://www.jatropha.org/lamps/p
rotzen2.html, he states that the wicks on a wick stove choke up after two
hours of burning.
>
>From another source HYPERLINK
"http://www.saipetro.com/"http://www.saipetro.com/ I understood that using
jatropha oil in kerosene burners is common practise in India. On this site
you can see something like a Feuerhand lamp and also a stove, that I think
is a Butterfly stove by Lea Hin Group from Singapore HYPERLINK
"http://www.butterflyleahin.com/prod.asp?page=2&cate_id=3&cate_name=Kerosene
+Stove&cate_level=1&parent_id=0"http://www.butterflyleahin.com/prod.asp?page
=2&cate_id=3&cate_name=Kerosene+Stove&cate_level=1&parent_id=0
>
>The people of Lea Hin don't know how their stove will function on vegetable
oil.
>
>
>
>Difference characteristics namely the purity of the oil could explain this
difference in outcomes.
>
>
>
>Transesterification to a bio diesel is the solution I guess...
>
>HYPERLINK
"http://www.castoroil.in/reference/plant_oils/uses/fuel/bio_fuels.html"http:
//www.castoroil.in/reference/plant_oils/uses/fuel/bio_fuels.html
>
>HYPERLINK
"http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_yield.html"http://journeytoforever.or
g/biodiesel_yield.html
>
>HYPERLINK
"http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html#biodnew"http://journeytofor
ever.org/biodiesel_make.html#biodnew
>
>HYPERLINK
"http://www.attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/biodiesel.pdf"http://www.attra.ncat
.org/attra-pub/PDF/biodiesel.pdf
>
>HYPERLINK
"http://www.biodiesel.org/pdf_files/fuelfactsheets/Production.PDF"http://www
.biodiesel.org/pdf_files/fuelfactsheets/Production.PDF
>
>HYPERLINK
"http://www.homebiodieselkits.com/"http://www.homebiodieselkits.com/
>
>Maybe something for the bioconversion reference sites?
>
>
>
>Comments are welcome.
>
>
>
>Erik
>
>
>
>    _____
>
>Van: Tom Miles [mailto:tmiles at trmiles.com]
>Verzonden: zaterdag 19 augustus 2006 17:46
>Aan: Rodenhuis, E.J. (Erik Jan, Student TBK)
>Onderwerp: RE: Kakuta stove / stoves for vegetable oils
>
>
>
>Erik,
>
>
>
>Is the problem with the Kakuta a problem with the stove or with the purity
of the oil? I noticed the oil purification articles on Keith Addison's
JourneytoForever site.
>
>
>
>Tom
>
>
>
>
>
>
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