[Stoves] Burning low quality ethanol

[nari phaltan]

PLease again visit www.nariphaltan.org/ethstove.pdf for full discussion on
the use of low grade ethanol. Besides using less energy in production it is
a very safe fuel to use. In rural household settings this is one of the most
important attribute.

We have now developed a very efficient lantern running on low concentration
ethanol. It runs on 50% ethanol/water(w/w) solution and produces 1400 lumens
or slightly more light than a 100 W electric bulb.

With these two developments we have produced cooking and lighting
technologies using the same environmentally clean fuel chain.

All the best. Anil K Rajvanshi


On 8/30/07, Paul S. Anderson <psanders at ilstu.edu> wrote:
>
> Stovers,]
>
> Harry Stokes and others can correct me on the technical stuff.  This
> message is
> about low quality ethanol.  Hydrous ethanol contains some water.  A major
> expense in the production of ethanol for vehicle (IC engine) use is the
> removal
> of the final percentage of water, which I believe is about 5%.  I suspect
> that
> exceptionally low quality alcohol might have up to 20% (or more?) water.
>
> Does anyone have information about production of LOW quality ethanol?
>
> Anil Rajvanshi has a pressurized alcohol stove that he says can use fuels
> up to
> 50% water.  Even at 40% or 30% or 20%, that is significant!!  I assume in
> his
> stove that water is evaporated, which does represent a loss of some
> quality
> heat because of the energy to evaporate the water that only comes out at
> 100
> deg C, which is not contributing much to the higher temperatures that are
> needed to bring the cookpot contents to boiling.
>
> The gel fuels have about 5% water, and that hinders their output of heat
> at
> cooking temperatures.
>
> In the Lily burner, several months ago I ran a test of ethanol that I
> intentionally diluted by higher and higher percentages of water.  I think
> I
> stopped at about the 50% mark.  Interestingly, high water-content ethanol
> does
> still burn in the Lily burner.  Clearly you do not get any extra energy
> from
> the water.  But in the case of the Lily burner, it did not lose/waste much
> energy boiling away the water.  If there is only 5% or maybe 10% water
> content
> in the ethanol, it is possible that percentage might be evaporated during
> normal use.
>
> In my simple testing, I found that the burner ran out of ethanol and still
> had
> significant weight remaining.  This was most of the water.  Later that can
> is
> heated (using waste heat above 100 deg C) to drive out the accumulated
> water,
> so that the burner can be re-used many many times.
>
> Explanation:  The ethanol vaporizes at 78 deg C and the water stays behind
> in
> the metal can unless temperatures of 100 deg C are reached or exceeded.  I
> suspect that this selective vaporization occurs in the "beverage can
> stoves"
> (Pepsi can stove and Zen stove) that are self-pressurizing with only small
> holes for the vapors to escape into the air where the flame consumes
> them.  For
> the "open top" containers with liquid alcohol exposed (such as the Trangia
> campstove and some fondue burners) I suspect that more water is
> evaporated, but
> I have no testing to support nor refute that opinion.
>
> In the case of the pressurized ethanol burners, the water is still mixed
> in with
> the ethanol when it moves through the tube to where both water and alcohol
> are
> expelled and evaporated.
>
> What does this mean?  Maybe a lot IF there are production quantities and
> cost
> savings making low quality alcohol.  Maybe nothing in other situations.
>
> Comments please.
>
> 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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Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI)
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          anilrajvanshi at gmail.com
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