The lò trấu ("rice husk stove") is a type of versatile fuel burning cook stove used in Vietnam since the 1950s. Lò trấu comes from lò (stove) and trấu (rice husk). A kitchen with this kind of stove is a bếp trấu, "husk kitchen."
The lò trấu ("rice husk stove") is a type of versatile fuel burning cook stove used in Vietnam since the 1950s. Lò trấu comes from lò (stove) and trấu (rice husk). A kitchen with this kind of stove is a bếp trấu, "husk kitchen."
The timeline of the development of the lò trấu is unclear, however, it is known that the Lo Trau has been in use in Vietnam at least since the 1950s. The fixed version Lo Trau stove is thought to be strongly related to the Castrol stove design of the architect François de Cuvilliés in 1735 and similar European designs in the 1830s, with flue pipes connected to the chimney, oven holes into which concentric iron rings on which the pots were placed. Depending on the size of the pot or the heat needed, one could remove the inner rings. A recent innovation is the portable Lo Trau. Its compact design and efficient operation has been the target of a number of studies. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Recently it has been distributed in the Negros area of the Philippines in The Southern Negros Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Projects in the 1990s. [1] This relatively late uptake of apparently long-used innovation means the potential of rice husk as fuel has been overlooked by many for a long time, as well as the obscurity of the Lo Trau designs to the wider world.
The stove is started by burning easily ignited material such as bundle of coconut leaves, newspaper partially embedded in the rice husks or other fuels in the combustion chamber area. After the fire is established, the updraft air from the stove designs will quickly sustain and magnify the combustion. The rate of combustion is regulated by removing an appropriate amount of ash from under the combustion area with a poker, thus enabling more fuel to enter.
Contrary to the name, the Lo Trau is quite versatile. It can burn wood chips, sawdust, small branches, small logs (with reduced heat controlling ability) and leaves.
Open fire has four major disadvantages: It is dangerous, it produces much smoke, soot blackens the cookware, and the heat efficiency is poor. The enclosed design of the Lo Trau means complete combustion of the fuel, better use of the heat that it generated and thus reduce the fuel consumption by its furnace-like burning generated by the updraft through the chimney. Due to its furnace-like operation, most fuel will be burned thoroughly into fine ashes with almost no waste. In situ test findings showed that it took only 5 minutes to boil water using an approximate 180g of rice husk. This figure is impressive when compared to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), fuelwood, and charcoal stoves, which required 5, 15, and 20 minutes respectively to boil the same amount of water. At the present time both wood and charcoal fires are frequently ignited using kerosene, a cost that would be eliminated with the rice husk stove. [1]
Wood gas is a fuel gas that can be used for furnaces, stoves, and vehicles. During the production process, biomass or related carbon-containing materials are gasified within the oxygen-limited environment of a wood gas generator to produce a combustible mixture. In some gasifiers this process is preceded by pyrolysis, where the biomass or coal is first converted to char, releasing methane and tar rich in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typically vertical, or as near as possible to vertical, to ensure that the gases flow smoothly, drawing air into the combustion in what is known as the stack, or chimney effect. The space inside a chimney is called the flue. Chimneys are adjacent to large industrial refineries, fossil fuel combustion facilities or part of buildings, steam locomotives and ships.
Outdoor cooking is the preparation of food in the outdoors. A significant body of techniques and specialized equipment exists for it, traditionally associated with nomad in cultures such as the Berbers of North Africa, the Arab Bedouins, the Plains Indians, pioneers in North America, and indigenous tribes in South America. These methods have been refined in modern times for use during recreational outdoor pursuits, by campers and backpackers.
Solid fuel refers to various forms of solid material that can be burnt to release energy, providing heat and light through the process of combustion. Solid fuels can be contrasted with liquid fuels and gaseous fuels. Common examples of solid fuels include wood, charcoal, peat, coal, hexamine fuel tablets, dry dung, wood pellets, corn, wheat, rice, rye, and other grains. Solid fuels are extensively used in rocketry as solid propellants. Solid fuels have been used throughout human history to create fire and solid fuel is still in widespread use throughout the world in the present day.
A stove or range is a device that generates heat inside or on top of the device, for local heating or cooking. Stoves can be powered with many fuels, such as electricity, natural gas, gasoline, wood, and coal.
Wood fuel is a fuel such as firewood, charcoal, chips, sheets, pellets, and sawdust. The particular form used depends upon factors such as source, quantity, quality and application. In many areas, wood is the most easily available form of fuel, requiring no tools in the case of picking up dead wood, or few tools, although as in any industry, specialized tools, such as skidders and hydraulic wood splitters, have been developed to mechanize production. Sawmill waste and construction industry by-products also include various forms of lumber tailings.
A kitchen stove, often called simply a stove or a cooker, is a kitchen appliance designed for the purpose of cooking food. Kitchen stoves rely on the application of direct heat for the cooking process and may also contain an oven, used for baking. "Cookstoves" are heated by burning wood or charcoal; "gas stoves" are heated by gas; and "electric stoves" by electricity. A stove with a built-in cooktop is also called a range.
A briquette is a compressed block of coal dust or other combustible biomass material used for fuel and kindling to start a fire. The term derives from the French word brique, meaning brick.
A beverage-can stove, or pop-can stove, is a do it yourself, ultralight, alcohol-burning portable stove. It is made using parts from two aluminium beverage cans. Basic designs can be relatively simple, but many variations exist.
Corn construction refers to the use of corn (maize) in construction. The tassel, leaf, silk, cob in husks, and the stalk are the parts of corn. According to the Michigan Department of Agriculture, "corn can be made into fuel, abrasives, solvents, charcoal, animal feed, bedding for animals, insulation, adhesives, and more. The kernel is used as oil, bran, starch, glutamates, animal feed, and solvents. The silk is combined with other parts of the corn plant to be used as part of animal feed, silage, and fuels. Husks are made into dolls and used as filling materials. The stalk is used to make paper, wallboard, silage, syrup, and rayon ."
Pellet fuels are a type of solid fuel made from compressed organic material. Pellets can be made from any one of five general categories of biomass: industrial waste and co-products, food waste, agricultural residues, energy crops, and untreated lumber. Wood pellets are the most common type of pellet fuel and are generally made from compacted sawdust and related industrial wastes from the milling of lumber, manufacture of wood products and furniture, and construction. Other industrial waste sources include empty fruit bunches, palm kernel shells, coconut shells, and tree tops and branches discarded during logging operations. So-called "black pellets" are made of biomass, refined to resemble hard coal and were developed to be used in existing coal-fired power plants. Pellets are categorized by their heating value, moisture and ash content, and dimensions. They can be used as fuels for power generation, commercial or residential heating, and cooking.
A pellet stove is a stove that burns compressed wood or biomass pellets to create a source of heat for residential and sometimes industrial spaces. By steadily feeding fuel from a storage container (hopper) into a burn pot area, it produces a constant flame that requires little to no physical adjustments. Today's central heating systems operated with wood pellets as a renewable energy source can reach an efficiency factor of more than 90%.
A chimney starter or charcoal chimney is a device for igniting charcoal lumps or briquettes. It consists of a metal tube with a grate to hold charcoal. A lighting cone is a similar, conical, device placed over an existing grate. The tube is typically cylindrical, but may also have other cross-sections. The tube may also be made of combustible material designed to resist burning long enough for the coals to ignite.
A kamado is a traditional Japanese wood- or charcoal-fueled cook stove.
A wood-burning stove is a heating or cooking appliance capable of burning wood fuel, often called solid fuel, and wood-derived biomass fuel, such as sawdust bricks. Generally the appliance consists of a solid metal closed firebox, often lined by fire brick, and one or more air controls. The first wood-burning stove was patented in Strasbourg in 1557. This was two centuries before the Industrial Revolution, so iron was still prohibitively expensive. The first wood-burning stoves were high-end consumer items and only gradually became used widely.
Alexis T. Belonio is a professor, engineer, scientist, innovator and inventor from the Philippines. He was "the first Filipino to receive the Rolex Award for Enterprise" in 2008 for his invention of a low-cost and environment friendly rice husk stove. Belonio was included by the Rolex watchmaking company on its list of 10 model innovators in November 2008. He serves as the incumbent chair of the Agricultural Engineering and Environmental Management department of Central Philippine University.
A top-lit updraft gasifier is a micro-kiln used to produce charcoal, especially biochar, and heat for cooking. A TLUD pyrolyzes organic material, including wood or manure, and uses a reburner to eliminate volatile byproducts of pyrolization. The process leaves mostly carbon as a residue, which can be incorporated into soil to create terra preta.
A package boiler is a factory-made boiler. Package boilers are available in a range of standard designs. Package boilers are used for heating and act as a steam generator for small power purposes such as self-powered industrial plants. Package boilers are low pressure designs. A low pressure means low temperature water in the heat exchanger. The large difference between the flame temperature and the heat exchanger discards most of the available entropy. Discarding most of the entropy caps the thermodynamic efficiency below the range needed to make a low pressure boiler suitable for a co-generation plants even when the available capacity is adequate for the application. Advantages of package boilers are that they can be delivered and installed as a complete insulated assembly that doesn’t require a large exclusion zone around itself. The required steam, water, fuel, and electrical connections can be made rapidly. These boilers are inexpensive to operate because their automatic burner management system doesn’t require continuous supervision and they have low scheduled maintenance costs.
Pellet heating is a heating system in which wood pellets are combusted. Other pelletized fuels such as straw pellets are used occasionally. Today's central heating system which run on wood pellets as a renewable energy source are comparable in operation and maintenance of oil and gas heating systems.