Results of the recent test runs showed that the carbonizer-pump system could pump water at a rate of 15 liters per minute or around 900 liters per hour. This is quite an encouraging result considering the fact that we are just using the otherwise-wasted heat generated during the rice hull carbonization process to provide the needed energy to pump water.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Sunday, December 5, 2010
RH Carbonizer-Pump System: It's Working!
There had been a lot of challenges encountered during the past months of prototype development. Among them were as follows:
a. Designing and fabricating a small steam generator that could be mounted inside the carbonizer's ignition chamber - something that could generate adequate pressure and enough amount of steam to drive a 1-inch diameter jet pump for pumping water at a height of at least 2 meters.
b. A simple but efficient design of a jetpump - something that could easily be fabricated mostly from GI pipes and fittings and other locally available standard parts.
Finally, we were able to come up with a prototype of the whole system (carbonizer + pump) and subjected it to preliminary test just to see if it works before we schedule another one for data gathering. I attached a video footage taken during the conduct of the test. It's working!!!
a. Designing and fabricating a small steam generator that could be mounted inside the carbonizer's ignition chamber - something that could generate adequate pressure and enough amount of steam to drive a 1-inch diameter jet pump for pumping water at a height of at least 2 meters.
b. A simple but efficient design of a jetpump - something that could easily be fabricated mostly from GI pipes and fittings and other locally available standard parts.
Finally, we were able to come up with a prototype of the whole system (carbonizer + pump) and subjected it to preliminary test just to see if it works before we schedule another one for data gathering. I attached a video footage taken during the conduct of the test. It's working!!!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
It's now Clean!
A visitor of this site provided me some insights on the possibility of burning the combustible gases before allowing them to escape through the chimney. As I studied the needed modification requirements, it is very possible and feasible with very minimal modifications to be done on the current prototype. Hence, during the past months, some modifications had been done to further enhance the performance of the carbonizer.
I posted a video footage of our recent testing for you to see the clean emission. The temperature generated at the combustion chamber has increased to around 900 degrees C.
My team is currently working on making the carbonizer generate steam while producing biochar. There are also some minor fabrication refinements that need to be done to minimize unnecessary entry of air that cause some of the carbonized rice hull to be transformed into ash while still at the bottom chamber.
I hope and pray that by the end of this year (2010), we can already come up with the complete prototype of the carbonizer-water pump system.
I posted a video footage of our recent testing for you to see the clean emission. The temperature generated at the combustion chamber has increased to around 900 degrees C.
My team is currently working on making the carbonizer generate steam while producing biochar. There are also some minor fabrication refinements that need to be done to minimize unnecessary entry of air that cause some of the carbonized rice hull to be transformed into ash while still at the bottom chamber.
I hope and pray that by the end of this year (2010), we can already come up with the complete prototype of the carbonizer-water pump system.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Update of the CT Rice Hull Carbonizer development
Although the first prototype of the rice hull carbonizer was able to perform its intended function, there were some problems encountered which called for design improvement. One of these problems is the bridging or caving in of rice hull such that mixing or stirring of the rice hull bed had to be done more often. With the first prototype, this was quite difficult to do. Moreover, I wanted to attain a much higher operating temperature since I will be using the heat generated for some applications. Hence, the second prototype of the rice hull carbonizer (with pictures above) was designed and fabricated. With this prototype, I was able to attain temperature readings within the range of 700 to 800 degrees C which is already appropriate. This prototype is much easier to operate especially in terms of stirring or agitating the rice hull bed so that the bridging or caving in of rice hull is no longer a serious problem.
Here are some of the pictures and video cuts taken during one of the test runs conducted.
Pictures taken at the top of the carbonizer before (top) and during (bottom) operation.
Video No. 1: Starting (Firing) the Carbonizer
Video No. 2: Harvesting the carbonized rice hull
The next program of activity would be the development of the heat recovery component. Watch for an update!
CleanEarth/02August2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Rice Hull Carbonizer - Pump System
What I plan to undertake as my first project is the rice hull carbonizer-pump system
This is something that could be used as an alternative to the conventional irrigation pumps driven by gasoline or diesel engines.
The system shall have the following components: (a) a rice hull carbonizer, (b) heat recovery and steam generation component, and (c) a water pump. I choose the process of carbonization rather than complete combustion as heat source because I want this system to be more sustainable. The carbonized rice hull that would be generated as by-product of the system could be applied to the soil as organic fertilizer or soil conditioner thus making the system more sustainable and environment friendly.
I am currently working (starting just last January 2009) on the development of a continuous-type rice hull carbonizer. Its design is very simple such that it could be easily fabricated in small welding shops.
The picture shown is the first prototype of the rice hull carbonizer fabricated in January 2009. It is already able to produce carbonized rice hull. It took 3 hours to carbonize 40 kg of rice hull with this prototype. Temperature attained at the flue gas chamber ranged from 300 - 400 degrees C. I am still doing some refinements in order to come up with higher operating temperatures as well as to make its operation more convenient and safe. Watch for the result of my next test runs!
This is something that could be used as an alternative to the conventional irrigation pumps driven by gasoline or diesel engines.
The system shall have the following components: (a) a rice hull carbonizer, (b) heat recovery and steam generation component, and (c) a water pump. I choose the process of carbonization rather than complete combustion as heat source because I want this system to be more sustainable. The carbonized rice hull that would be generated as by-product of the system could be applied to the soil as organic fertilizer or soil conditioner thus making the system more sustainable and environment friendly.
I am currently working (starting just last January 2009) on the development of a continuous-type rice hull carbonizer. Its design is very simple such that it could be easily fabricated in small welding shops.
The picture shown is the first prototype of the rice hull carbonizer fabricated in January 2009. It is already able to produce carbonized rice hull. It took 3 hours to carbonize 40 kg of rice hull with this prototype. Temperature attained at the flue gas chamber ranged from 300 - 400 degrees C. I am still doing some refinements in order to come up with higher operating temperatures as well as to make its operation more convenient and safe. Watch for the result of my next test runs!
CleanEarth/17February2009
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