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Beschrijving:
Adapted from Utria, B., “Ethanol and gelfuel: clean renewable cooking fuels for poverty alleviation in Africa” – in Energy for Sustainable Development, volume VIII no. 3, September 2004
Roughly two-thirds of African households, more than 580 million people, depend on woodfuels for their daily cooking and heating needs. International Energy Agency (IEA)
projections indicate that by 2030 that number will grow to more than 820 million, equivalent to a 27 % increase.
The prevailing patterns of forestry resource exploitation in most African countries are destructive and unsustainable, and the use of woodfuels in poorly ventilated spaces poses a disproportionate health hazard for women and children. As population continues to grow across the continent, pressure on existing forest resources will also increase through the clearing of land for agriculture and the higher demand for wood and non-wood forest products.
Between 2000 and 2003 the Millennium Gelfuel Initiative (MGI) was started, a public-private partnership aimed at adapting and disseminating an existing ethanol-based cooking fuel – gelfuel – for the African household sector. Gelfuel is based on ethanol produced through the fermentation and distillation of sugars (derived from molasses, sugar cane, sweet sorghum, etc.) or starch crops (cassava, maize, etc.). To produce gelfuel, denatured ethanol is mixed with a thickening agent (cellulose) and water through a very simple technical process, resulting in a combustible gel. The gelfuel is thus renewable and can be locally produced in most countries in Africa. Jellified and/or solidified liquid fuels (kerosene and ethanol) have been in use since World War II, when they were used by soldiers for cooking. More recently, and until the MGI, several variations of jellified ethanol have been produced in small volumes in various countries for up-market recreational (camping, barbecue fire-lighting, etc.) and catering applications.
The FACT Fuels Foundation, represented by TU/e prof. Kees Daey Ouwens and company Diligent Energy Systems, is interested in the development of ethanol gelfuel. Your task as a group will be to make this fuel on a lab scale, to investigate possible feedstock sources and experiences in the synthesis, and to determine an energy balance for the production. The objective of the FACT Fuels Foundation is to develop biological fuels for developing countries.
Your reference for questions about this project: ir. Thijs Adriaans, Diligent Energy Systems, 040 – 236 4322, question@diligent.nl.
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