BIOMASS GASIFICATION 1 Motivation: Human Health, Deforestation, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

BIOMASS GASIFICATION

Erin Peiffer Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering University of Dayton DESS: Old Guard Competition Wright State University November 1, 2016

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Motivation: Human Health, Deforestation, and Social Issues

• Human Health:

– Incomplete combustion results in the release of toxic chemicals [1] – Over 2 million premature deaths each year due to respiratory illnesses (almost 5x the annual deaths caused by malaria) [2,3]

• Deforestation:

– Nearly 3 billion people currently use and nearly as many are projected to continue to use traditional open, biomass cook stoves in the future [4] – 52% of deforestation in Africa due to traditional cook stoves [5]

• Social Issues:

– Women typically have to spend more time collecting wood and are susceptible to rape, robbery, and

• ther bodily harm (~28 hours a week)[6]

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Figure 1. Kenyan Woman Using Traditional Cook Stove [7]

Traditional Cook Stoves

• Inefficient method to cook

requiring mass amounts of fuel

• Release harmful emissions into
• ftentimes poorly ventilated

homes [8]

Rocket Stoves

• Efficient and portable

stoves

• Reduce the amount of fuel

needed

• Reduce emissions [10]

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Figure 2. Three Stone Fire [8] Figure 3. Rocket Works rocket stove [9]

Traditional Drying Equipment

• Responsible for 12% of

deforestation in Southern Africa alone [11]

• Typically overfed with

wet wood to minimize tending [11]

– Reduces temperatures produces but increases emissions – 18% of drying barns in Malawi burn down a year [11]

• No preheating of air

[11]

“Rocket” Drying Equipment

• Scaled up version of rocket

stove gasifier implemented with insulated structure

• Efficiently dries crops with

minimal fuel while minimizing emissions

• Preheated air gets

recirculated throughout structure

• Internal ducting designed

for improved heat exchange and consistent temperatures inside the barn

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ETHOS Internship at Rocket Works in Durban, South Africa

Rocket Works, a small company located in Durban, South Africa that manufactures and sells rocket stoves

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Rocket Barn

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Results

• Theoretical Fuel to Dried Crop Ratio: 4.1:1 from testing

– Significant improvement from the 7:1 ratio often seen when traditional drying methods are used [12]

• Burn temperatures confirmed gasifier design can provide

necessary temperatures to dry crops

– New feed system design needed to reduce temperature variance

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Conclusions

• Human Health:

– Implementation of rocket stoves/barns can significantly decrease the amount of lower respiratory infections, chronic

• bstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancers, heart disease,

and cataracts [13]

• Deforestation:

– Implementation of one rocket barn can offset nearly 9,000lbs

• f wood in one drying season [14]

– This equates to almost 400 acres of trees saved per year with the switch to rocket barns in Malawi alone [11]

• Social:

– Through use of more efficient cooking and drying methods, the amount of time spent collecting wood will significantly decrease

• Increase educational opportunities
• Women can get jobs and provide financially to family
• Decreased risk of assault from long trips collecting fuel

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Nyaboth, a 6 year old South Sudan girl with her Rocket Works rocket stove/personal seat at school [15]

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Acknowledgements

• Thank you to Rocket Works for being a gracious

host to me while in South Africa

• Malcolm Daniels for serving as an advisor both

before, during, and after my ETHOS trip

• Joshua Heyne for advising me in both the DESS

and my honors thesis

• Financial support for this work was provided by

the ETHOS Center and the GAR Foundation

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Bibliography

[1] “Products and Effects of Combustion." BBC. BBC, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2016. [2] "Household Air Pollution and Health." World Health Organization. World Health Organization, Feb. 2016.

• Web. 18 Mar. 2016.

[3] "10 Facts on Malaria." World Health Organization. World Health Organization, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2016. [4] Akhilesh, Khopkar. "The Past, Present, and Future of Improved Cookstove Initiatives." North Carolina State University, n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2016. [5] "Stoves Save Lives." Clean Cookstoves for the World. BURN Design Lab, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2016. [6] “Household Cookstoves, Environment, Health, and Climate Change: A New Look at an Old Problem.” The Environment Department (Climate Change) The World Bank, May. 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2016 [7] Kammweru, Alex. "Cooking Smoke and Public Health: What We Saw in Kenya."United Nations Foundation Cooking Smoke and Public Health What We Saw in Kenya Comments. United Nations Foundation, 10 Feb. 2016.

• Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

[8] "Three Stone Cooking Fires." Appropedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2016. [9] "Well-Tended Fires Outperform Modern Cooking Stoves." Low-Tech Magazine. N.p., June 2014. Web. 16

• Oct. 2016.

[10] "Why Stoves?" Rocket Works. Rocket Works, 03 Sept. 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2016. [11] ProBEC/GTZ, Limbe Leaf, Aprovecho. “Development of Tobacco Rocket Barn for Small Holder Farmers in Malawi.” n.d. Pdf File [12] Scott, Peter. “Development of Improved Tobacco Curing Barn for Small Holder Farmers in Southern Africa.” (n.d.): n. Pag. 24 June 2008. Web. 10 Oct. 2016. [13] “The State of the Global Clean and Improved Cooking Sector.” Energy Sector Management Assistance Program and Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, May. 2015. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. [14] Cornali, Michael, and Adrian Padt. "Rocket Works Hybrid Tobacco Drying Barn." YouTube. YouTube, 13 Aug. 2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. [15] UNICEF. 13. Sept. 2016. In Facebook Page. Web 18 Oct. 2016

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