Post by elbrechtel on Jun 1, 2015 12:56:12 GMT -8
Hi Forum!
This is my first thread but I have been following the forum for a long time. You guys are amazing for keeping the rocket stove world so alive and innovative! I am happy to finally get involved!
For many many hours, I have enjoyed reading through most of the posts that were relevant to my design problem and I have learned so much. After being involved in RMH heater projects and building lots of aprovecho style rocket stoves, I thought I was pretty experienced but the forum blew my world open (in a good way :-) ) Now I realize there is so much to learn from everybody here!
Ok, here we go!
I am working on fitting a highly efficient wood fired combustion unit under an essential oil distiller for geranium in Kenya and I will be building prototypes in the upcoming months and post my results on the forum.
The distiller looks like this:
The space under the distiller is limited (about 65 cm height) but it is possible to go lower than ground level. (digging in the ground)
The goal is to make 160 liters (40 gallons) of water boil in 30 minutes. The starting temperature is 60°C. (at the beginning of the day, the starting temperature is 20°C but doing that in 30 minutes is quite crazy) and after that, 32 liters of steam needs to be produced during 2,5 hours.
I have calculated the energy requirements and on average, I need approximately 80 kWh (I realize this is really really high) at 25% total process efficiency (that includes combustion losses and heat transfer losses) Of course it would be amazing if that 25% efficiency could be higher and I have a gut feeling it could and i will find out while prototyping. My intuition tells me to start with one 7" batch box and register boiling times. See if I need to add another 7" (wouldn't that be crazy) or perhaps a smaller unit. (I am even interested in testing a batch box - J tube combo (each with their own heat riser of course)
A quick sketch of the distiller with a simple heat skirt and two heat risers arriving:
My questions to help me decide how to start prototyping are the following:
1) If I wrap an insulated heatskirt around the distiller, is it possible to use the height of the skirt as part of the heat riser length? (in other words, can my heat riser be shorter?)
2) How can I best calculate the most appropriate gap between heat riser and water pan / skirt and water pan?
3) I am looking for a way to quickly diver the flames away from the pot and I am wondering if it is possible to integrate a bypass in a batch box style combustion unit? If yes, what is the best location for it and any ideas on how I could achieve that with firebricks
4) What in your opinions is the best insulator for a distiller (temperature is approximately 100-104°C)
Thank you all!!
Brecht (from Belgium)
This is my first thread but I have been following the forum for a long time. You guys are amazing for keeping the rocket stove world so alive and innovative! I am happy to finally get involved!
For many many hours, I have enjoyed reading through most of the posts that were relevant to my design problem and I have learned so much. After being involved in RMH heater projects and building lots of aprovecho style rocket stoves, I thought I was pretty experienced but the forum blew my world open (in a good way :-) ) Now I realize there is so much to learn from everybody here!
Ok, here we go!
I am working on fitting a highly efficient wood fired combustion unit under an essential oil distiller for geranium in Kenya and I will be building prototypes in the upcoming months and post my results on the forum.
The distiller looks like this:
The space under the distiller is limited (about 65 cm height) but it is possible to go lower than ground level. (digging in the ground)
The goal is to make 160 liters (40 gallons) of water boil in 30 minutes. The starting temperature is 60°C. (at the beginning of the day, the starting temperature is 20°C but doing that in 30 minutes is quite crazy) and after that, 32 liters of steam needs to be produced during 2,5 hours.
I have calculated the energy requirements and on average, I need approximately 80 kWh (I realize this is really really high) at 25% total process efficiency (that includes combustion losses and heat transfer losses) Of course it would be amazing if that 25% efficiency could be higher and I have a gut feeling it could and i will find out while prototyping. My intuition tells me to start with one 7" batch box and register boiling times. See if I need to add another 7" (wouldn't that be crazy) or perhaps a smaller unit. (I am even interested in testing a batch box - J tube combo (each with their own heat riser of course)
A quick sketch of the distiller with a simple heat skirt and two heat risers arriving:
My questions to help me decide how to start prototyping are the following:
1) If I wrap an insulated heatskirt around the distiller, is it possible to use the height of the skirt as part of the heat riser length? (in other words, can my heat riser be shorter?)
2) How can I best calculate the most appropriate gap between heat riser and water pan / skirt and water pan?
3) I am looking for a way to quickly diver the flames away from the pot and I am wondering if it is possible to integrate a bypass in a batch box style combustion unit? If yes, what is the best location for it and any ideas on how I could achieve that with firebricks
4) What in your opinions is the best insulator for a distiller (temperature is approximately 100-104°C)
Thank you all!!
Brecht (from Belgium)