[Stoves] Avocado Peel

[Thomas Reed]

Dear William Carr:

You are a true researcher, asking the right questions, then checking out 
what answers you can in very simple fashion.  In addition to being a lab 
scientist, I'm a "kitchen scientist" and there is an amazing amount of 
science you can do with the simple tools of the average kitchen. 

And it's amazing how much you can learn just by thinking about 
yesterday's experiment before running another one.

Now for some questions beyond the kitchen.  How much of Avacado pit is 
starch, how much oil, how much other? 

I'd like a few kilograms of pits to run in our gasifiers.... hmmm...

Yours truly,

TOM REED      BEF/BEC

William Carr wrote:
> On Jan 1, 2007, at 8:41 AM, Thomas Reed wrote:
>
>   
>> Dear William and All:
>>
>> In the movie "Oh God" (played by George Burns) God says he made a few
>> mistakes, in particular for avacados he says "I made the pits too  
>> big."
>>
>> For eating that is, but for fuel and maybe biodiesel, they should be
>> fabulous, probably full of oil.
>>     
>
>
> And on that note...  I saved a couple of Avocado pits.   After 1 day  
> wrapped in a paper towel sitting on a table, I checked them.
>
>
> They had a loose paper-thin husk on them that was starting to peel  
> off.   Interesting.   That husk burns like a torch !
>
>
>
> I peeled the husk off and learned that the pits are just like  
> cashews, they split apart down the middle.
>
>
> Of course the flesh of the pit was very moist, and cut into 3/16"  
> slices was flexible, almost like rubber.
>
>
> I put the slices in an aluminum pie pan on top of my pellet stove for  
> 24 hours.
>
>
> It's warm but not too hot there.   You'd take your hand away  
> quickly.    A pan of water set there will evaporate but never boil or  
> even steam.
>
> Tonight, I checked the pit slices.   They had shrunk and turned  
> brittle, just in 24 hours.
>
> I tossed one in the stove and it burned.   Flames were coming off the  
> piece within five seconds or less.
>
> "Six seconds or less"  is my rule for whether kernel corn is dry  
> enough to burn in the pellet stove, about 13% moisture content.
>
>
>
> So I held another piece in my pliers and tried to burn it with a  
> butane lighter.
>
> Five seconds, stop and check.   It smoked a lot and burned in the  
> butane flame but the flame went out in a second after I took the  
> butane lighter away.
>
> Another five seconds of butane flame, and this time the slice burned  
> on it's own for just over ten seconds.
>
>
>
> I found this very, um,  'illuminating'.
>
>
>
> Does anybody have an figures on how long you'd have to dry a green  
> wood chip before it would burn on it's own?
>
>
> The only downside, BTW, might be using the Avocado pits, not the  
> peels.   The pits contain cyanide compounds.   I just wonder what  
> happens when that burns.   Is it in the smoke?   Or is it destroyed?
>
>
>
> The inspiring thing about this research is that with just a little  
> drying time Avocado peels and sectioned pits will give off some  
> considerable heat.
>
>
>
> Compare that to kernel corn.    The local mill hasn't given me their  
> cost figures, but I know they get in kernel corn at 15% or so  
> moisture content and then dry it to 13.5%.
>
> In November-December around here you can listen for the sound of the  
> grain dryers running all night and see the steam coming off the  
> hoppers as you drive by.
>
> Drying kernel corn costs a good bit of money in terms of natural gas  
> or propane.
>
> Drying Avocado peels would only require strong sunlight for a few days.
>
> I emailed a major Avocado producer about this subject but I doubt  
> they'll be in a rush to reply.
>
> Check Google yourself for the amount of Avocados shipped to this  
> country per year.   My mind just can't handle the concept of that  
> many metric tonnes...
>
>
>
> If we have any list members in New Mexico, Mexico, Arizona, etc,  
> perhaps some local research would be helpful.   Any guacamole  
> factories around?
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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