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Spreading innovative biomass stove technologies through China and beyond
[top] [end]A new partnershipIn May 2005, a new partnership between China’s Association for Rural Energy Industry (CAREI), the Center for Entrepreneurship in International Health and Development (CEIHD) at University of California, Berkeley, Shell China, and the Shell Foundation was formed to speed the spread of highly improved biomass stoves. The partnership’s main goals include:
[top] [end]Fostering the spread of innovationThe partnership is delivering a project that has three phases.[top] [end]Phase 1The partners collaborated with a team of Chinese and foreign experts to draft a set of impartial criteria for an industry award recognizing superior biomass stoves (Table 1). Criteria focus on the energy-efficiency, emissions, ease of use, and product durability, as well as the overall management quality of the stove enterprises.
[top] [end]Phase 2Entrepreneurs have been invited to compete for the awards through an application process that includes the testing of their stoves using standard protocols in a specially designed facility and the evaluation of their products and manufacturing processes by a team of independent experts. Phase 2 will conclude with an award ceremony where the winners will receive a cash prize and publicity.Twenty stoves entered the competition and nine were selected as qualifying to proceed through the evaluation process. In March and April all nine stoves were tested (burning crop residue and briquette fuels) in the Beijing laboratory for thermal efficiency, combustion efficiency, emissions, and room concentrations of CO. Factory site inspections were conducted in April and May 2006. Final results were scheduled to be compiled in June. [top] [end]Identification and evaluation of foreign marketsAnother aspect of Phase 2 of the project is the identification and initial evaluation of foreign markets suited to the Chinese stoves. Populations in many other developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America also suffer from indoor air pollution exposure from household solid fuels, which is estimated by the World Health Organization to claim 1.5 million lives annually around the world. The Chinese stove industry could play a role in meeting the need for highefficiency, low-emissions biomass stoves beyond its borders.[top] [end]Phase 3The final phase, yet to be committed,will focus on capacity building of the Chinese enterprises both for domestic markets and for entry into foreign markets. Activities would include development of strategy and marketing plans, market research, manufacturing capacity expansion, and partnerships with foreign producers and distributors.[top] [end]The development of stove innovations in ChinaIn rural China, most families depend on solid fuel, such as wood, coal, straw, and other crop residues, for the majority of their household energy needs. The specific characteristics of household heating and cooking systems vary widely according to season, region, and household economic status. A recent rural survey in three provinces found everything from simple hand-built stoves to sophisticated, commercially engineered and manufactured units, and catalogued more than 30 stove/fuel combinations in common use, many simultaneously (Sinton et al). The norm in rural China is that most solid fuel is burned directly and inefficiently, leading to fuel wastage, poor indoor air quality, and significant health risks.In the early 1980s, biomass shortages led to the development, through the government-based National Improved Stove Program (NISP), of fuel-saving stoves that focused on more complete combustion (Figure 1). To achieve better performance, NISP staff made several changes to conventional stoves:
They found that when the height of the chimney was more than three meters, they achieved thermal efficiencies of 30% or more based on simple water-boiling tests. However,recent research indicates that these efficiency rates may not be consistent across fuel types and may not have held up over time (Sinton et al). As NIPS progressed, a semi-fabricated approach was adopted to improve the performance of handbuilt stoves. A standardized cast iron secondary air ring could be purchased and installed by a trained technician into the hand-built stove body. This further improved performance: for example, 1.9 kg firewood could heat 35kg of water in 28 minutes with a thermal efficiency of 39% during the temperature rising phase. Today in rural areas, several types of household stove combustion units can be purchased and installed in hand-built bodies.One of these models, the NG-1, won the golden price at the 1985 World Expo in Tsukuba, Japan. This successful programme, run by the Minister of Agriculture, was responsible for installing energy efficient stoves in 60 to 80% of rural households, raising national awareness of the need for cleaner household energy solutions, and creating regional and local infrastructure for an improved stove industry. While NISP has been less active in recent years, there are government and multilateral initiatives to promote sustainable rural development and improve living conditions in more remote rural areas. [top] [end]Stove commercialisationChinese stove entrepreneurs are now designing highly efficient biomass stoves that employ densified, compressed, or pelletized fuels and gasification technologies (Figures 2 & 3); (gasification is when the gases in solid fuel are driven out of the fuel and these gases are burnt cleanly to produce the heat.) These innovations are driven and financed by a stove industry that is successfully selling more than 10 million improved cookstoves annually, in areas that are becoming more urban, and where standards of living are rising. The industry is worth 240 million RMB ($29.6 million US) and growing at rate of 10% per year.Currently 90% of its revenue comes from coal stoves, but some innovative manufacturers see the opportunity to increase the sales of biomass stoves.
Some Chinese companies have now developed a range of cast iron gasifier and semi-gasifier biomass stoves. Biomass fuel is converted to gas fuel, resulting in greater fuel quality and efficiency. Theses stoves have thermal efficiencies of 65%–80%, and their emissions have been tested using the Ringelmann test (which compares the darkness of the smoke against a tandard scale). This test shows that the smoke density is less than 50mg/Nm3 and thus they meet the strictest environmental protection standards in China. Due to the current government emphasis on sustainable development, it can be highly beneficial to the company’s reputation, brand, and image to develop low-emissions stove technologies, and 60 000 units are currently manufactured annually.
Despite these significant gains, millions of poor rural households, especially in western China, continue to use inefficient stoves that emit healthdamaging pollutants. The scaling up of production, marketing, and distribution of new biomass stove technologies targeted to this market segment is key to improving health and well being in rural China. [top] [end]Fuels for stovesThe stoves with the lowest emissions and the best gasification results burn either block-pressed or pelletized biomass fuels, which provide a more uniform feedstock than raw biomass. The cost of the block-press biomass cubes or briquettes is about RMB 250 per tonne ($30), while fuel pellets average 400 RMB per tonne ($50), depending on the region. Since these fuels are more expensive than unprocessed biomass, they are currently only affordable to wealthier farmers. However, these fuels are generally cheaper than coal, which costs approximately 500 RMB per tonne ($62) and, like coal, they can be used for heating the home in winter, as well as for cooking throughout the year. The distribution networks for these processed biomass fuels are currently limited, but production and distribution are both expected to expand rapidly, creating better availability and lower prices.Some manufacturers are targeting less affluent farmers with gasifier stoves designed to burn unprocessed fuel such as twigs and straw. The farmer cuts the fuel into segments before feeding it into the stove. The gasification efficiency of this kind of stove in laboratory tests is more than 60%, with thermal efficiency of 45%. Although these stoves do not emit dark smoke, their total emissions of small particles and other unhealthy pollutants has not yet been established under field conditions. These stoves have yet to be manufactured and marketed on a large scale. [top] [end]Current challenges to spreading innovation and adoptionWhile the need for the clean household energy provided by gasifier technology is great, there are currently significant barriers to dissemination and adoption.
The industry lacks channels for distributing advanced stove technologies in other developing countries [top] [end]Future partnership activitiesIn the final phase of the project, Phase 3, the project will focus on building the capacity of the winning enterprises and promoting the award-winning stoves outside of China. It will aim to identify market and export opportunities for these stoves elsewhere in Asia, and in Latin America and Africa. Currently evaluation of potential markets in Asia is underway. The first venue is India, where indoor air pollution is widespread and where there are a number of ongoing programmes which might benefit from a Chinese stove in the growing portfolio of improved biomass cookstoves.This project is intended to serve as the pilot for a permanent award programme that would stimulate ongoing innovation and highlight to governments and the public the important role that cleaner-burning stove technologies play in sustainable rural development and improved quality of life in rural communities. In China, the programme could also be expanded to other energy products, such as household coal stoves. [top] [end]References1). Jonathan E. Sinton, Kirk R. Smith, John W. Peabody, Liu Yaping, Zhang Xiliang,Rufus Edwards, Gan Quan, An Assessment of Programmes to Promote Improved Household Stoves in China, Energy for Sustainable Development 8(3):33–52, 2004.2). Hao, Fangzhou. Development and Countermeasures of Rural Stove in China. 3). Xiliang, Y. and Smith, K. Programmes promoting improved household stoves in China, Boiling Point No. 50. 4). Report from the NISP Dissemination Workshop 2005, Beijing, January 14–16, 2005, http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/hem/ page.asp?id=29#7. [top] [end]Download the original article Spreading innovative biomass stove technologies through China and beyond by Laura Spautz, Dana Charron and JoAnn Dunaway, Hao Fangzhou and Chen Xiaofu (420 KB)[top] [end]Contents: Boiling Point 52 - Health, safety and household energy
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26 June 2007; Last edited:
26 June 2007; Version: 2 | ||||||||||||||
Pagename: SpreadingInnovativeBiomassStoveTechnologiesThroughChinaAndBeyond @HEDON: QBFA | ||||||||||||||
