[Stoves] Re Alexis Belonio article

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Hugh

Well...it is a pretty clever hat you're talking through...

Can you make a tiny spreadsheet with that formula in it so people can fiddle 
a little to see if it matches something they are doing?

You can post it to the site or send it to Tom Miles who can handle that task 
in about 4 seconds (taken from his no doubt copious spare holiday weekend 
time).

Thanks!
Crispin

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Burnham-Slipper Hugh" <eaxhb at nottingham.ac.uk>

When wood burns, the char initially burns with (primary?) oxygen to give 
carbon monoxide, because there generally isn't enough oxygen at the char 
surface to burn to completion.

C + 0.5 O2 --> CO

The carbon monoxide then moves away from the fuel by diffusion and 
convection and burns with (secondary?) oxygen to give carbon dioxide.

CO + 0.5 O2 --> CO2

The rate of the carbon-monoxide-to-carbon-dioxide reaction is given by:

[CO] x [O2]^0.25 x [H2O]^0.5 x 2.24e12 x exp(-1.8e8/RT)

where [CO], [O2] and [H2O] are concentrations of carbon monoxide, oxygen and 
water vapour. R and T are the gas constant and temperature. Presumably this 
Chinese stove burns cleaner because there is a lot of [H2O] kicking about, 
and all the carbon monoxide can burn to carbon dioxide with relative ease 
(releasing extra heat at the same time). If that is the case, injecting a 
jet of air won't make as big an impact as injecting a jet of steam... or am 
I talking out of my hat?

Happy Easter all, Hugo.