Meeting with Partners for Development

On Tuesday, we met with Mark Pommerville, the country director of Partners for Development, and Bjarne Laustsen of Kiwia & Laustsen Limited. PFD has contracted Kiwia & Laustsen to produce an improved cook stove, “Jiko Bomba,” which burns biomass pellets. It was very helpful to learn about their stove distribution model as well as to share with them our stove design and discuss some of the challenges we have faced.

The ”moto bomba” pellets which fuel  the “Jiko Bomba” gasification stove are made out of jatropha press cake, rice husk, and sawdust. Overall this gasification stove burns the pellets very efficiently with low carbon monoxide and particular matter emissions. The stove is made out of 1.2mm sheet metal and has a lifespan of about two years. One challenge PFD has faced is that the primary air mixing tab plate has a shorter lifespan of about nine months. They are considering constructing this piece out of a more durable stainless steel. Additionally, PFD is considering painting the stove with heat resistant paint to protect the metal from rust and corrosion. Unfortunately, both of these options add significant cost to a stove which is already more expensive than PFD would like.

One key feature of PFD’s stove is an adjustable gate for primary air. The gate is left open to start the burn but is gradually closed off as the burn progresses. After closing off the primary air, only secondary air is available and the flame is generated solely from gases released by the pellets. This lengthens the burn time of the stove. If a fast and hot burn is needed, the primary air gate can be opened. The amount of primary air needs to be monitored somewhat to keep the flame at the desired intensity, but otherwise the stove does not need to be tended. After the flame goes out, the top part of the stove can be removed and the pellet embers can continue to cook food for another 45 minutes. We observed that the stove burned very cleanly and we could not discern any smoke produced.

PFD has a target price of 30,000 shillings per stove, although currently the production costs are slightly higher. Nevertheless, they have begun distribution. PFD has an entire sales team devoted to selling the stove. They visit various churches, women’s groups, VICOBAs, and community groups to demonstrate how to light the stove and prepare meals on it. Furthermore, they describe the Jiko Bomba’s advantages:  the stove has a much longer lifespan than the typical charcoal stove and the user will see huge savings on fuel after about a month of use.

Target users of the “Jiko Bomba” are households which currently use charcoal stoves. Charcoal stoves cost about 10,000 to 12,000 shillings and must be replaced every six months. Additionally, households pay about 45,000 to 60,000 shillings per month for charcoal. Therefore, charcoal stove users would benefit from fuel savings within one month of purchasing the “Jiko Bomba.”  Other potential users are those who live in areas where firewood is very scarce. Typically, families spend about 20,000 to 25,000 shillings per month on firewood, although these figures can be much higher in some regions. These numbers seem accurate based on the VICOBAs we visited with EARD-CI. Households in two VICOBAs spend about 24,000 shillings per month, while households in the other spend about 48,000 per month.

Although some users may complain that an improved cook stove isn’t as effective as a three stone stove in heating a home or repelling mosquitoes with the extra smoke, PFD hasn’t found such criticisms to be large obstacles.  The “Jiko Bomba” emits some excess heat which could easily warm a room. Furthermore, not very many families rely on smoke to remove insects, and the health benefits of a smokeless stove are extremely desirable. We learned that in some rural areas, women are killed because the smoke turns their eyes red and they are then considered to be witches. Clearly there are huge benefits to a smokeless stove, and overall the stove has a had a very positive reception.

After learning more about PFD’s stove, we’ve continued to think more about DHE’s stove and its distribution. First, we’ve realized the importance of allowing the user to adjust the amount of primary air and thus the flame intensity. Bernard has helped us develop a gate for adjusting the primary air on our stove prototype. We also see the merits of having a stove that needs little tending. Our stove requires some stirring and sometimes kicking every few minutes to keep the flame going. We’re working with Bernard to improve the stirring process and reduce the amount of tending. We also see that at the end of the burn, the embers are still hot enough to continue to heat food. If we stick to a two piece design like we have so far, we can remove the lid and create a sort of stand for the pot to sit on at the end of the burn. This is yet another design modification for us to consider.

We feel that PFD’s stove specifications are good targets for our stove as well. Our goal is to develop a stove with a two year lifespan (although the wire mesh insert will need to be replaced more frequently) and a price under 30,000 shillings. The target price will be very difficult to meet, considering PFD still hasn’t reached its target. We will continue to try our best to keep the price low while producing a quality product. Mr. Pommerville emphasized that the durability and quality of the stove is crucial, as people won’t invest in a stove if they don’t think it will last. Additionally, more thought and research must go into developing a durable insert. Bernard suggests that we try to find a material and design which would last at least one month (about 90 burns), or else replacing the insert will become an obstacle and financial burden for stove users.

Moreover, we learned that most widely available waste biomass in the Arusha region are sawdust, coffee husk, rice husk, corn husk, and corn cobs. Some supply factors inhibit the use of some of these materials. For example, coffee is processed in Moshi, about an hour away, so the husks aren’t as readily available in Arusha. Also, corn cobs are good to burn, but aren’t collected on a large scale. Additionally, once a use is found for these waste materials, they will no longer be free and may have a minimal price. If we would like to move forward with burning coffee husks rather than sawdust, we may want to consider working more with partners in Moshi or Karatu.

We also feel that DHE would benefit by using a distribution model similar to PFD’s, albeit on a much smaller scale. Once we have completed the technical development of the stove, we can work with Kakute Limited and NGOs in Arusha to develop a distribution model.  Like PFD, we may want to have pilot programs in two areas distributing about ten stoves in each community.

Seeing PFD’s stove has given us much of food for thought. It has taken PFD and Kiwia & Laustsen about three years to develop their stove, and they still continue to make modifications and improvements. Although DHE’s stove won’t  be ready for distribution this summer, we feel that time invested in developing the stove and testing the biomass available in the Arusha region would be time well spent. We truly learned a lot from our meeting with PFD, and we hope that DHE may continue to draw upon PFD’s expertise as we move forward with our improved cook stove project in Arusha.