[Stoves] Binder for those who do not have

[Jeff Davis]

Dear Roger and All,


Roger has hit a lot of good points. In regards to retting I would like to
re-post an email I sent some time back:

Below is some interesting information about retting. Source; VITA
Tech. Paper #46.

My retting may be beyond their retting. In other words, maybe my
fuel value is less.



 "RETTING AND PRESSING

Partially decayed and processed cellulosic materials give a much
higher heating value than if the materials are simply dried.  For
example, dried rice straw (10 percent moisture content) has a
heat value of only 3,000 BTU/pounds (7 million joules/kilogram
[J/kg] or 0.0698 gigajoules/kilogram [GJ/kg]), but this will
increase to between 7,500 (17.4 million J/kg or 0.0174 GJ/kg) and
12,000 (28 million J/kg or 0.0279 GJ/kg) when the material has
partially rotted before it is dried.   In the Philippines, the
MAPECON research group has set up a pilot plant producing such
fuel, with 25 percent moisture content and an average of 10,000
BTU/pounds (23 million J/kg or 0.0232 GJ/kg) which they call
`green charcoal,' at the rate of one ton per hour.   The group
reports that it is very competitive with other types of fuel."


Best Wishes,

Jeff



Roger wrote:
snip:
>The problem I see
> with the process is that if you leave wet grasses out in warmer
> temperatures
> (especially the tropics) you will get serious loss of dry matter (ie.
> Energy) and that not very interesting as biomass globally now is getting
> more valuable.
snip:


-- 
Jeff Davis

Some where 20 miles south of Lake Erie, USA