[Stoves] Would anyone out there help turn coffee husks into some useful renewable energy source in Karagwe, tanzania?

[Frank Scott]

Dear Joseph

Have a look through the feasibility study at
http://www.q-net.net.au/~franks/dalite/
The University of Applied Science in Switzerland is currently in the process
of fabricating a Cremasco unit to use coffee pulp as fuel to dry the green
coffee beans. Once testing is completed this unit will be utilized in a
coffee mill in El Salvador.

Cheers
Frank Scott
Perth
West Australia


From: stoves-bounces at listserv.repp.org
[mailto:stoves-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of David G. LeVine
Sent: Monday, 3 September 2007 6:58 AM
To: sekiku Joseph; Discussion of biomass cooking stoves
Subject: Re: [Stoves] Would anyone out there help turn coffee husks into
some useful renewable energy source in Karagwe, tanzania?


>These factories produce a lot of coffee husks (thousands of tons).
>Unfortunately, these husks have no commercial value at all. Instead, 
>after the season, they are set on fire. The fire goes on for months.

Joseph,

Were I to go to a factory and tell them that I would let them pay me to haul
off the husks, hey would tell me to "take a hike."  However if I told them I
would pay them (let's say) $0.25 (US) per ton, they would probably be happy
to have me remove them and not need to worry about the fire hazard.  I might
even be able to offer to take them for free and get them.

Briquettes of fuel are common, but will you be able to get the investment
back?

The questions are simple:

1.) What is the cost of raw materials?
2.) How much does it cost to create the final product from the raw
materials?
3.) What do the alternatives cost?
4.) Is there a market for the final product?
5.) What is the initial capital investment needed?
6.) Will there be sufficient ROI (Return On Investment) to encourage
investment?

If the final product (including labor, etc.) costs less than the
alternatives, it may be viable, but inertia will make the battle long and
uphill.  Then the popularity of the product will cause the supply of raw
materials to dry up.

In the US, wood pellets were a cheap source of heat, they now cost $275.00
(US) a ton.  Let's assume you can package one briquette and a stove body for
less than the alternative fuels cost.  Would the people be willing to
experiment with it?  What if a few prominent people (like the village
religious elders) were given samples?  Would their endorsement be
worthwhile?

Regarding the stove, I envisioned a "tin can" with fins and a perforated top
and bottom holding one briquette and being discarded (like a food can) once
the center burning briquette was consumed.  Imagine the briquette as a
cylinder (like a coffee can) with a star shaped hole in the center.  On
initial firing the hole is small but the area is large, as it burns, the
narrow "fins" burn off more quickly and the opening gets rounder until the
entire fuel supply is used up.  Because the fuel is an insulator, the can
stays cooler until the end (when it gets hot enough to discolor the can.)

One of the smoke burners might also be a viable stove.  The stove itself
might not be replaced, only the "fuel can."  Even if the savings are good in
the long term, getting people to pay for their stoves might be difficult,
look at the US Cellular Handset market.  In the cell world, the handsets are
heavily subsidized to get the buyer to contract for services.  If the fuel
canister cost $1
(US) and the stove cost $5 (US) "giving away" stoves with a 6 pack of
canisters selling for $12 (US) might be worthwhile if repeat sales of the
canisters at $2 (US) each were a reasonable expectation.

The economics of the product and the social engineering of the sales and
marketing effort are difficult, the engineering is simple.  With little (or
no) profit, the product and business are doomed to failure.

David G. LeVine
Nashua, NH  03060


_______________________________________________
Stoves mailing list
Stoves at listserv.repp.org
http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_listserv.repp.org
http://stoves.bioenergylists.org
http://info.bioenergylists.org