Making fuel briquettes from waste materials

We came across this innovative little piece of appropriate technology developed by Beaverton Rotary during our research prior to the consultancy trip this March which is has been used successfully in other developing nations to start microenterprises:

The device uses a car tire jack to compress locally available organic waste material (such as rice or coffee husks, shredded paper, dried grass or leaves, etc) into a high-density, slower-and-cleaner-burning fuel briquettes.  

This could be adapted to Mongolian conditions, although adjustments would need to be made:

• Briquettes can only be made during warmer months, when rivers are flowing and the briquettes can dry out.
• Water squeezed from the press during the manufacturing process should be caught and used on crops, as this water will contain 'pulp' organic matter that will break down and help build soils. 
• Suitable organic matter needs to be found: paper waste is plentiful in urban areas, and once trees and/or crop systems are established, the plants may drop enough organic waste matter to be used for briquettes.  

Populus laurifoila grow prolifically on the floodplain we crossed en route to Altaitsudz soum.

Once again, we can see how valuable tree-cropping systems can be for creating food security and economic opportunity.  Appropriately selected species of trees can provide:

• Renewable sources of winter fuels (coppiced woodlots).
• Emergency animal fodder (Ulmus and some Salix species).
• Human nutrition (fruit & nut trees).
• Construction materials (Larch and Spruce).
• Bimoass (all of the above species + more), which can be used to protect & build soils (mulches, green manures & biochar) and create an additional fuel supply through biogas (fermentation process).

For more information about the Peterson Press, download this information brochure:

How_to_Make_Fuel_Briquettes_-_web.pdf Download this file

 

Permaculture project in Mongolia provides low-energy solutions —on Transition Voice.com

via transitionvoice.com

We sent Transition Voice a postcard from Mongolia, and they decided to publish it!

Reforesting the Barrens of Bayan Ulgii (Day 09)

It should be duly noted here, that upon entering Bayan Ulgii province, we did not see any trees until we arrived in Ulgii City.  Locals can remember that only two generations ago, the river flats of Ulgii City, and much of the rest of the province, were covered in trees.

 

All were cut down for winter fuel and building materials.

 

However, the Trees are making a comeback, locals are recognizing the importance of these Guardians of the Earth(i), and in most fenced public spaces (which keep the grazing animals at bay) trees, almost exclusively Siberian Larch (larix siberica), have been planted to beautify the City Center streets.  The river flats of Bayan Ulgii want to be treed; you can tell by how vigourously they grow given the slightest chance.

 

Special Guest Instructor (and student) Dr Beket gave the lesson on Trees today, from his work over the past few years in Bayan Ulgii:

 

Photo: Dr. Beket teaches about trees.

Of special interest, the Doctor's Bastama School Project, in which the Superintendent gets excited about planting 100 trees on the schoolgrounds, and organizes for workers to be there one weekend to accept delivery of what he thinks will be a caravan of lorries carting in trees by the truckload for transplanting, only to be met by Dr Becket holding two small plastic bags full of sticks.

 

The next school day, as bewildered grownups walked past 100 oversized pencils sticking out of the ground, one parent declared the Old Man crazy, and promised to cut his own nose off if any of those sticks actually grew any taller than his child.

 

Fast forward three years later, and the results speak for themselves (although we are pretty sure the aforementioned parent's nose remains intact):

 

Photo: 4 year old 'saplings'.

Meet Populus laurifolia (known locally as 'Fast White'), a tree that strikes easily from cuttings, can grow at a rate of about a meter-and-a-half each year (in a 90-day growing season, mind you), and can withstand -50C winters in an area which receives only 114mm of rainfall (most of which falls over 3 months).

 

The Barrens of Bayan Ulgii can be reforested.

Photo: Dr. Beket and I in front of his school tree plantation.

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(i) 'TREES: Guardians of the Earth' by Bill Mollison, 1998