[Stoves] Heat Content of Ethanol (Gel?)

[Paul S. Anderson]

Dear Crispin, Philip and all.

Quoting Crispin Pemberton-Pigott <crispinpigott at gmail.com>:

>  My conclusion about the ethanol is that there is far less  heat than 
> I thought and I thought there wasn't much.

Did I miss a message?  Are you only referring to GEL?  Does not ethanol have
somewhat more (possibly 20% more) energy per kg than does wood?  (My 
tables are
not available at the moment.)  Please enlighten me more about what you are
trying to say.

Crispin wrote:
>  The only advantage ethanol seems to have is that it is  a high 
> quality fuel and therefore totally predictable.

As a renewable fuel, this advantage is MASSIVE.  The processed fossil 
fuels have
the predictablility but are not renewable.  Is there another renewable high
quality liquid fuel that is anywhere near as potentially abundant and low cost
as ethanol?  I know there are some great seed oils for fuel, but supply
possibilities are probably one or two orders of magnitude less than for
ethanol.

Crispin wrote:
>  We should be able to design extremely efficient stoves in terms of heat
>  transfer, but the combustor issues will have to be worked out.  Most gel
>  stoves have very high CO because the flames are so long and touch the pot.

I agree with you about the gel fuel.  But for the combustion of liquid 
ethanol,
there are very favorable emissions measurements done at Aprovecho this year
with the modified CleanCook Stove and with the Lily Stove.  I am working daily
on the Lily ethanol burner, so stay tuned for more info.

Philip, you are the only person who has indicated having tried to replicate a
Lily burner (but with disappointing emissions).  Please send me (via the
Listserv or personally to me) the specifications of your unit, especially the
diameter of the holes for the gases, and, I hope, a few photos.  I will
critique your unit in relation to mine and we can see about making an
equivalent unit for you to test.  Thanks.

And are you getting close to telling us about your own alcohol stove 
design that
you once mentioned?  We are very interested.

Paul



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