[Stoves] Briquete from paper (and alternatives)

[Ronald Hongsermeier]

Hi Crispin,

some answers and thoughts from one of the other Rons
Ci:

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: "Crispin Pemberton-Pigott" <crispinpigott at gmail.com>
> Gesendet: 30.01.09 17:51:00
> An: "'Discussion of biomass cooking stoves'" <stoves at listserv.repp.org>
> Betreff: Re: [Stoves] Briquete from paper (and alternatives)


> Dear Ron
> 
> Taking advantage of the small picture capability of this list, here is a few
> pics from the vault:
> 
> Shortened plain newspaper has been rolled and cut to a toilet-roll size
> complete with a centre hole, and burned a Vesto, which is the second
> picture. The burn is quite good. The hole in the centre tended to block so
> it was perhaps too small. The newspaper was not wetted - just rolled.
> 

Below you mentioned that typing paper has a lot of clay in it. I heard here in Germany that the high adhesive content of cardboard box material make it problematic to burn cleanly. Don't know however, of the quality of this information or whether crushing and mixing would mitigate any of the problems.


> As I recall there was a lot of light charred paper (charcoal) flying around.
> 
> 
>      My motivation in answering Tufa was to get maximum value out of paper -
> 

Your paper brick maker is very interesting.

Our paper disposal economics here in Germany are going topsy turvy. Previously paper separation and disposal in special large bins at collection areas here in Bavaria was something that brought at least a little income to the communal government. Recently the bottom has dropped out of the used paper market, at least according to my landlord, who part times in the practical management of about a third of the county's total paper, glass and tin recycling collection points. I'm wondering what using paper as a binder to make briquettes will look like economically in the near future as a result.


>     There is little waste of paper in Ethiopia, and I found paper to be 
> almost non-existent in rural Ethiopia.  But Tufa's question makes sense in 
> Addis and we certainly don't want paper to go un-used.  But I might prefer 
> to have my own waste paper (too much of it) be turned to char for garden use
> 
> over the next best - which is recycling.  We for sure don't want paper to go
> 
> to a landfill.

We sure don't want that here. Massive amounts of paper go through these recycling facilities every week.


>     When I use paper to light a fire in my home-heating stove, it can be a 
> terrible bother if I use too much or don't ball it up just right.  It seems 
> to take forever for the paper-char to be consumed - and is a great means of 
> preventing adequate air flow.  It was in this sense that I was thinking of a
> 
> retort approach in a small cook stove.  Making briquettes and bricks makes 
> good sense - but not one for all markets.
> 

I have invested in Richard Stanley's plans and instruction manuals, but have that project on hold for the time being while working on my Kachelofen insert-- and trying to figure out how to do a test run of the briquettes without raising the ire of either landlord, mother-in-law, neighbors, etc...

I have a drying scheme figured out. Fruit boxes, like apple flats would stack to an adequate height, are moisture resistent and would have a good air circulation pattern, I think. They are also flexible in that even youth could stack them up and move them around.


> Paper is often taken to be 'wood' but that is only true for one class of
> paper. There are 'chemical' and 'mechanical' papers.
> 
> The mechanical papers are those made from bashed up and cooked wood and
> include kraft paper and newspaper. They have the same heat value as wood,
> per kg.
> 
> Typing paper has a lot of clay in it. When you are looking at burning paper,
> you must realise that you might be burning thin sheets of clay which make is
> smooth and nice to print on.
> 

Where does newprint fit in this continuum?

> Glossy magazine paper has all sorts of things in it to give good photo
> reproduction.

They are using all kinds of biodegradeable inks here now.

> 
> Thus saying 'paper' is like saying 'biomass' rather than 'wood'.
> 

yes
> The char produced by paper will therefore contain lots of unexpected things.

> Perhaps the best thing for it is to make it into more paper and char
> something else.

I think one factor here putting negative pressure on the market is the freight costs. Roadmiles are just getting too expensive.

> 
> >If the "biocharpaper" proves to be lousy in soils, then I am all for 
> >more use of bricks/briquettes...
> 
> I am going to make an expanded version of the Paper Brick Maker to assist
> George of the jungle get the number he needs and a very large (possible)
> customer in Africa who wants to feed institutional stoves with paper
> briquettes.
> 

I'm interested to see what happens.

> Once we get the volumes up, we can attack the municipal dumps.
> 
> Regards
> Crispin
> 

regards,

Ron Hongsermeier