Efficient Charcoal (EC) Project

Mt. Hood Community College

Sustainable Engineering Class






Presented by:

Yenori Vasquez
Moises Maqueda
Hovard Guerrier
Ariel Rodriguez

June 5th 2014















Efficient Charcoal
(EC) Report

Efficient Charcoal (EC) Project



Introduction

People every day use 2.5 lb of wood to cook their food in developing countries around the world.
According with studies made every time you burn 1.3 lbs of wood, leave, grass or any woody
debris you are putting in the atmosphere 300 g of CO which later will become CO2. Since
Electrical power is hard to get in very rural areas in Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and in The State
of Guerrero in Mexico, and the cost of electric stoves or the payment of natural gas or methane is
just not at peoples reach our team has focus to work on a sustainable solution which supplies
peoples need of cooking, but also protect the local forest through not cutting trees. People are
already creating alternatives for reducing the reforestation caused by the needs of fuel, among
them efficient stoves, solar stoves, briquettes out of sawdust, news paper, leaves. Our solution is
focus on making charcoal out of local resources we find in rural communities for example the
corn plant after harvesting or any grass from three feet tall. Indeed research shows that the
charcoal from grass specifically corn works supplanting the charcoal made out of wood.

Problem Statement

Deforestation has increased over last decades, since it has become the main fuel for many
families to cook and make their own income. In most cases, in Mexico, C.A people in the rural
area burn wood and the intention of this project is to replace that wood by making charcoal from
local resources in communities for example corn stick or cones in case of Oregon. Since people
started to use charcoal from grass or any other local resource, it will reduce the deforestation.
Objectives
Reduce levels of deforestation in rural communities in C.A, Mexico and the Caribbean, by
making charcoal in an efficient way, which means elaboration of briquettes without wood.
Increase income for families in the community by selling the briquettes.
Methodology
Project materials and tools list:
Material Units Size
Almidon 1lb
Metal tube 1 12 inches
Metal blade 2 10*10 inches
Metal bucket 1 small
Wood 1 6*6 inches
Matches 1 box
Efficient Charcoal (EC) Project



In order to have ready all the equipment to start to do the project on Tuesday 15th was necessary
to buy some of the materials to build the charcoal machine. For this sustainable project is not
necessary a lot of equipment so, the expenses were minimum. Tuesday April 22th was the cones
collection and after that the amount of collected cones was approximately 15 pounds. The
collection of the cones was successfully because that day was perfect to collect them dry. The
group had meeting the same day and come up with ideas for the project.
After the meeting and all the process discussed was necessary to collect some data such as at
what temperature do the cones burn, what chemical can it produce etc. The researching wasnt
successful because it wasnt possible to find. On Tuesdays 6th, the group started to burn the
cones. The first try was in a kiln approximately 4 pounds in a container. The cones started to
burn at 430 degrees in 10 minutes, after that the result wasnt effectible because just the cones
that were at the top of the container get fire and the others not.
After that was necessary to burn the cones in a different container. The second try was to burn on
a thing that has holes and can have more air between the cones. This time the cones get so much
fire so the cones started to turn ash. After seen the results it was necessary to find another
solution so the solution was to burn the cones in an open space to get the right temperature and
the cones get the enough air.
This process was outside of the ceramic art facilities. With this method was possible to get the
right temperature to burn the cones. After 2 hours and 30 minutes was necessary to start grind
the cones to get them ready to mix with the others materials in order to start the charcoal. The
majority of this preprocess was at the burning place at Mt. Hood Community College. Some of
the results after do all this process is that in order to burn the cones it is necessary to do that in an
open place because in this process was necessary to use file and it is not the best way to do that.
After all of this process it was necessary to bring the material to a close space, in order to keep it
save and ready to mix it the text week with others materials. A brief meting after finishing with
the burning was necessary to discuses some of the result of this project, and also talk about how
can the project be improve in order to have better results next time.
Efficient Charcoal (EC) Project


Result
First, this project focused on the efficient charcoal by using corn or other waste instead of cutting
down trees. In fact, after all of the process followed the result of product was acceptable in
reason to see how efficient it is.
For the first experiment, taken two of briquettes and put it in a barbecue stove. During that time,
with two pound lasted about one hour and thirty-five minutes. However, this experiment of this
project was a success, and that time the name value of the project and result found work to make
in better, and in a bigger scale. The more efficient it is the more people will be interested to make
it an open their own business to feed and support families.
Conclusion
This sustainable project can be applicable in different parts in the world especially in our rural
communities where we come from. By using local materials, we came up with this idea thinking
in the different benefits that it can produce for the community and the environment. Adopting
this sustainable project, we are reducing the deforestation in our communities and the possibility
for income for them. Lung-function declines by the smoke from wood or grass burning, and the
project could affect humans health, but in comparison with the amount of wood people burn
every day, the effect of the charcoal will be in a small scale. There will be an educational
component since we will teach everyone on how to make the efficient charcoal.
Some material will need to bayed, and the corn grass will obtain after the harvest time in the
community plantations. The machine to make the charcoal can last for more than 20 years; it
does not require maintenance every month. How urgent is this project (does this challenge affect
peoples health)? Well deforestation is a very critical issue, because it contributes to global
warming, after that temperatures change around the world, and in our communities is becoming
hot, making rivers to get dry, and increasing health risks. This project is also a long-term solution
to the challenge because people can keep doing that as many times as they decide to. This project
we try to involve the whole community and make them work together to have better
communication and interaction with each other.