Corn cob/ stalk briquette update

Ok, time is just passing by way too quickly. We've been making a lot of progress on the briquette project.

First, I wanted to enclose the pictures I mentioned before of all the people carrying firewood. This is a huge loss of time and money for the families. All are involved: men, women and children. The people do their best like I mentioned in my other post, but to show how they struggle, I have a few pics of a man helping the lady adjust her load. There is a picture of a kid adjust his load of firewood. I am missing pictures of the elderly women carrying similar heavy loads.
We went on a short hike this morning and passed a family of five trekking down with their load of wood. The first three pictures were taken during this hike.

Back to the update: we have completed four batches - two were made with corn cobs (batches 1 and 3) and two were made with corn stalks (batches 2 and 4). I like the corn stalks better for a few reasons:

1. They're more readily available. Families keep dried corn on the cob in their house and de-kernel them (is that a word?) as they need it to make the masa for their tortillas. So, it's hard to get a large supply of corn cobs at one time. Corn stalks however, are currently lying in the fields in abundance. We have a small window to collect large batches of them though. Folks are starting to burn their fields to clear them and prepare for the next planting season.

2. They're easier to burn. Corn cobs take longer to burn. We're still working on our process and timing to be able to yield more carbonized pieces rather than unburned cobs/ stalks, but we get better yield with corn stalks.

3. They're easier to pulverize. Stalks are just easier to step on/ beat/ grind into powder. Corns cobs are really hard some times.

We burned the first two batches on a grill to barbecue food on an excursion to the waterfalls. It was a great way to prove out the charcoal works really well for the grill. We wanted to see if there was a difference between performance in corn cob based briquettes vs. corn stalk based briquettes. We didn't see any difference as we were grilling the food. That was good to know.

Next, I wanted to try the briquettes in the estufa mejorada -- the improved stoves (picture attached). Our group sells a simple stove with metal plancha and chimney to reduce the amount of smoke in the house, to use less wood, and to decrease the danger of children getting burns from playing around an open fire. I wanted to see if how the carbon works -- if it gets hot enough, if it can perform as well as firewood -- to see if it can be a viable alternative to firewood. Good news is that it gets hot. Hot enough for the ladies to be able to make tortillas on the plancha. Apparently that is good criteria. If the metal plancha doesn't get hot enough, the tortillas don't rise. So we passed that test. Bad news is that in the first 15 minutes after lighting the charcoal, Ricardo's kitchen was filled with smoke. That's not acceptable. There is a chance their chimney was blocked so we're going to clean it and then try burning batch 4 in their estufa again (just made last week - 96 pcs, best yield yet - pics of the process attached). I need to reevaluate what the market opportunity is if it doesn't work with the stoves. There are still many families who can't afford stoves so if they cook on an open flame, this coal would still work for them.

I'm not too familiar with how one goes about assessing a market opportunity, but that's what my next goal is. Also, we need to quickly secure more corn stalks (if it's worth) because our time is running out. I'm also asking Ricardo and his brothers (who are also agricultores on the weekend) to think about other agricultural waste products we can use to make charcoal.

I extended my stay so that I could work on this project. I only have another 6 weeks left here in Guatemala, so I feel a sense of urgency to scope this project out properly. Wish me luck!

Corn cob briquettes - let the experiments begin!

Hi all,

Happy 2010! The pictures I'm attaching have nothing to do with the post; they are from December -- Shreya's last art class and a picture of Shreya and me in Tikal. We took a quick trip over there to check out the famous Mayan ruins (a great investment for a 36-hour trip).

Our team is back in Nebaj and we're excited to take on new projects for the year. I'll still be following up with campaign support, and I'm hoping to go back to Rio Azul yet again in late Jan/ early Feb to offer solar lamps to the community. I'm sure that will be an amazing experience -- once the lamps clear customs. There were production delays and it sounds like there was a five month lag between ordering the product and it docking in Guatemala. The other problem is that the lamps were purchased in dollars and with the Guatemalan currency, the Quetzal, weakening against the dollar, the products are more expensive to clear through customs. These extra duties will drive up the cost of the products significantly. I am concerned to see how the people will react when they hear the new price of the solar lamp. We will have to see. I have seen that people really value these solar lamps, especially since the solar panel also carries adapters to charge some cell phone models (= huge value to communities without access to electricity). I can't wait to see what happens as we finally sell this product in all the communities.

Back to corn cobs... at the end of November, I was finally successful in making contact with someone from the MIT D-Lab who had worked on the corn cob briquette projects (actually should be applicable to agricultural waste in general). Amy B. has been great to share their process with us re: how to make a charcoal press. If it succeeds, we can offer the community an alternate fuel source to firewood. Families spend so much time and money collecting wood for their stoves. Some families go directly into the forests to chop down trees to collect their firewood, so it will also help with the deforestation problem. We see women and children (and men) carrying logs on their heads (see one of the Rio Azul pics where I note the Mayan way to carry heavy loads). I will take pictures of these people because it's hard to explain why it hurts when I see it. It looks painful to me; I know the methods demonstrate the resilience of the Mayan people, but also their poor situation. Ricardo and I talk about how we respect the people in the community when we see that they are fighting hard to make a living to support their families, and this circumstance applies. However, if we can introduce other options that can help alleviate some of this backbreaking work, it will be amazing.

I'm giving myself the month of January to characterize this project. We've secured materials for the charcoal press and the oil drum. We'll be working on securing corn cobs this Monday. Ricardo and Miguel both have offered locations we can use to develop the briquettes. It'll be interesting to run experiments to get the process down to make the briquettes, to increase the yield, to see how well the briquettes ultimately burn. It's a low-tech project, but we do have some issues that could be deal breakers. One challenge is that Nebaj is currently very cold and damp. I'm not sure how we'll be able to dry the briquettes if we have no sun. (if anyone has any suggestions, I am very open to them). I'll keep you all updated as we make progress.

If you're curious about how it works, I'm attaching a link to a youtube video made by the MIT team. Amy Smith is the mastermind behind this great work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqI63IEg3MM

Oh, I guess I should say mention that I just moved my return date home to April 2. I decided I wanted to plan for success with this briquette project and think that I need three months to make it work (provided we hit the development milestones along the way). That's only a month extension on top of my two-month extension. =) Shreya is joking that I'll never leave, but that's not going to happen. Wish me luck, guys! I'm really excited to work on this project because I believe that it has the potential to make serious impact in the community. If we are successful, I already know I can leave this project in the hands of Ricardo and his brothers because they are really excited by this project already and have an entrepreneurial spirit.

Hope all is well!
Helen