[Stoves] Dung as fertilizer and fuel

[adkarve]

Dear Jeff,
you are reading too much in the use of dung cakes in India.  In the
predominently agricultural areas of the country, there is a dearth of wood
and therefore dung is used as fuel. The introduction of hybrid cow (heifers
born to an Indian cow artificially inseminated by a pedigreed European
bull's semen) has lead to higher milk yield with  farmers switching over to
dairy farming. Dung is a byproduct of the dairy industry and there is good
demand for dung cakes as fuel, which gives additional income to the dairy
farmers. Cremation of dead bodies requires a lot of fuel and in areas short
of wood, dung cakes come in handy for this purpose. Since everybody has to
die some time, there is a steady demand for dung cakes for this purpose.
Some of the larger dairy units have already started to use a filter press to
remove the water from the dung and to use a briquetting machine to make dung
briquettes. Such a standardised and densified product is used as fuel by
brick manufacturers.
Yours
A.D.Karve
----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff Davis <jeff0124 at velocity.net>
To: <stoves at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 9:08 AM
Subject: Re: [Stoves] Dung as fertilizer and fuel


Dear List,

While driving home last night I was thinking about A.D.Karve words about
how India uses cow dung for making fuel and wall/floor plaster. Also the
fact that they use cow dung balls to fuel crematories. Then the thought of
the sacred cow came to mind.

******This is only IMHO!*****

It starts to make sense that people and kids would make fuel by hand from
sacred cow dung and it would be used to fuel crematories! Also house
plaster! Lots of meaning here, that is if I'm reading the signs correctly.

So if we barge in and tell these people that you should be briquetting
your manure this way (what ever method) they might just turn up their
noses and walk away from our methods and rightfully so.

So lets take a look at fireballing in a mythological way or a meaningful
way:

- The sacred cow ask little in return: One could say the same for
fireballing, no pressure, no expensive machine, small scale (or large,
maybe), low maintenance and, no great skill to operate.
- The sacred cow has gentle qualities: Fireballing operates with zero
pressure.
- The rotating drum is like the circle of life, on and on, for every turn
it goes just a little further. The circle is complete. Over and over
again.
- Within this circle of life (rotating drum) the sacred cow dung brings
forth agglomerations of life. Children could use this and watch how the
agglomerations appear out of nothing, spontaneously. Well not nothing but
out of the mass of dung, from the sacred cow springs forth live.



A.D.Karve wrote,
>The sugar industry in India uses bagasse containing about 50% moisture as
>fuel, to produce steam for generating electricity.

I have retted switchgrass for about a year and then I was able to fireball
this material with a new method that I call "rock & roll". I add a
five-gallon bucket of retted switchgrass (compost like) into the cement
mixer (with paddles removed) and add rocks. Next turn on the mixer. After
material is reduced and agglomerations start to form I remove the rocks
and continue to rotate the drum for final shaping/forming. I suspect that
worms help to break down the switchgrass.

If large operators and small family operations used/made fireballs then
both large and small operators would be on a level playing field, maybe.


Jeff


--
Jeff Davis

Some where 20 miles south of Lake Erie, USA

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