Erin Peiffer Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering University of Dayton DESS: Old Guard Competition Wright State University November 1, 2016 BIOMASS GASIFICATION 1
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 other bodily harm (~28 hours a week)[6] Figure 1. Kenyan Woman Using Traditional Cook Stove [7] 2
Traditional Cook Rocket Stoves Stoves • Efficient and portable • Inefficient method to cook requiring mass amounts of fuel stoves • Reduce the amount of fuel • Release harmful emissions into needed oftentimes poorly ventilated • Reduce emissions [10] homes [8] Figure 3. Rocket Works 3 rocket stove [9] Figure 2. Three Stone Fire [8]
Traditional Drying “Rocket” Drying Equipment Equipment • Responsible for 12% of • Scaled up version of rocket deforestation in stove gasifier implemented Southern Africa alone with insulated structure [11] • Efficiently dries crops with • Typically overfed with minimal fuel while wet wood to minimize minimizing emissions tending [11] • Preheated air gets – Reduces temperatures produces but increases recirculated throughout emissions structure – 18% of drying barns in • Internal ducting designed Malawi burn down a year [11] for improved heat exchange • No preheating of air and consistent temperatures [11] inside the barn 4
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 5
Rocket Barn 6
7
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 8
Conclusions • Human Health: – Implementation of rocket stoves/barns can significantly decrease the amount of lower respiratory infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancers, heart disease, and cataracts [13] • Deforestation: – Implementation of one rocket barn can offset nearly 9,000lbs of 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 9
Nyaboth, a 6 year old South Sudan girl with her Rocket Works rocket stove/personal seat at school [15] 10
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 11
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. 12 [15] UNICEF. 13. Sept. 2016. In Facebook Page. Web 18 Oct. 2016
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