[Stoves] Charcoal production, improved

[adam u partner]

Tom Miles schrieb:
> Chris,
> Dan and Rob still advocate more efficient charcoal production and
> combustion. Few people seem to be interested in charcoal or understand its
> potential impact.
>
> What's the typical investment and production of an Adam+Partner kiln? What's
> the fuel input/charcoal output compared to a typical kiln?
> Tom 
>   
Dear Tom
let me make some rough calculations:
We calculate first on the base per day. In this calculation we want to
know how much charcoal can be produced per day from 1m3 volume:

*retort : *3m³ gives *~0,233 tons charcoal per 2,3 days* (=3 times
per week, =7days divided by 3 = 2,3days)
follows
1m3 gives 0,078 tons charcoal per 2,3 days
follows
*1m3 gives ~0,034 tons charcoal per day*
*
**_Which is favorable towards a retort kiln_**_

_**earth mount kiln: *9m³ gives *~0,405 tons charcoal* per 7 days
follows
1m³ gives 0,045 tons charcoal per 7 days
follows
*1m³ gives ~0,006 tons charcoal per day*
*
(Concerning our calculations, (*we take a medium size earth mount kiln
with about 9m3 volume)
and we also use a yield of 18% which might be less in reality.
Volume of earth mount kiln 9m3 x 250kg tons of wet wood bulk weight
=2250kg of wood loaded. Charcoal received after one week: 405kg)
-----------------------------

Now we calculate production costs and profit retort kiln per month:

1 ton of wood costs about 900 rupees (Rps) in India = 16 Euro
(1€ (Euro) =56 Rps, (1Rps= 0,0179) Indian rupees, (2004))

1 ton of charcoal can be sold for about 7000 Rupies in town
lets assume it can be sold at 6000 rupees at the spot of production

Retort kiln production per 4 weeks = 1 month
the retort can be loaded per week with 2250kg of wood = 9 tons per month
= 8100 Rps = 145 Euro

charcoal sold:
233kg x 3 times per week : about 700kg or about 2800kg per month
2800kg x 6 Rps = 16800Rps = 301 Euro
Profit: 156 Euro per retort kiln and month, from this 1 worker must be
paid and investment for the retort and other costs.
The operation with the retort looks profitable
--------------------------------------------------
Production costs earth mount kiln
earth mount kiln production per 4 weeks = 1 month
the earth mount kiln can be loaded per week with 2250kg of wood = 9 tons
per month
= 8100Rps = 145 Euro

charcoal sold:
404kg per week : or about 1616kg per month
1616g x 6 Rps = 9696Rps = 173 Euro
Profit: 28 Euro per retort kiln and month, from this 1 labor must be paid
the operation is more or less not profitable- unless the wood is received
at a cheaper price! (or more unlikely the charcoal sold at a higher price?)
- - -
Best
Chris ADAM

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Appropriate Technology + Industrial Design

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