Briquetting

In our first week at EARD-CI, we've made quite a bit of progress on briquetting. We've gotten the press built and some sample briquettes drying. The building of the press was quite an ordeal and took place over four days. EARD-CI found a woodworker, Kalalu, who came to their office on Tuesday morning ready to build the press. We spent the morning going over the press design and explaining the concepts. We then went out and bought the wood and bolts needed for making the press and headed to Kalalu's work station which happens to be in a very nice eco lodge being built. We enjoyed exploring the empty lodge site while Kalalu began to work on the press. When we left, the frame of the press was completed. On Wednesday, we bought some materials needed for building the press and some buckets and other materials as well. We were fortunate to have some EARD-CI volunteers with us to make sure we didn't get ripped off at the market. 

On Thursday, we worked on ripping up the paper and preparing everything to make the briquettes. Kalalu brought the press over and we adjusted some things on the press and called it a day. The next morning, we sanded some tight connections in the press and began making our briquettes in EARD-CI's yard. Unfortunately, Kalalu was unable to finish the press with oil, so some of the parts did begin to show wear, primarily the stick which goes into the middle of the briquette. After drying out, the press seemed fine overall and we aim to finish it with oil sometime this coming week. It was more expensive than we were expecting, maybe $130, but Kalalu did a wonderful job, and it is a sturdy and strong machine.

While we were making our briquettes, the staff and volunteers at EARD-CI and various guests were very impressed. Edith, the director of the organization was leaving for Sweden for a few weeks, so many people were coming by to say good bye. They all touched the briquettes and took turns manning the press. A principal of a school nearby had stopped by and was impressed to see what we were doing and asked if we could do a demonstration at his school sometime. He said that they have many agricultural and paper wastes at his school and that this could be an effective alternative fuel there. We thought that this could be a great place to implement briquetting as the materials were available and the children would enjoy shredding the paper (a task we found to be rather tedious). 

We made our first set of briquettes with rice husks, sawdust, and paper. Naomi mentioned that paper would be hard to come by for the villagers EARD-CI works with, so we also set some local biomass to begin composting. We hope to spend this coming weeks experimenting with the briquette compositions and the stove a bit. We've decided to move from our current location to a hotel that is only a five minute walk from EARD-CI's office so that we can spend our spare time (which has been minimal so far, eaten up by transportation, eating, and preparing things for the next day) working on our projects. Coffee husks have yet to be harvested, so we are looking to test the coffee husk stove with rice husks and look at other biomass for the briquettes.

During the day next week, we will be visiting various VICOBA meetings and demonstrating how to use the press with a sample mixture we've created. Once the sample briquettes have dried, we also hope to demonstrate them burning to these villagers. Currently, we are thinking to leave the press at EARD-CI or the most interested VICOBA and letting them practice and experiment before the summer group comes to do a more formal training. This model also fits a business model EARD-CI is considering which is to have on VICOBA village produce the briquettes and sell to the other villages. Overall, the project seems very promising and we've been having a great time getting it rolling. 

During our work week, we have had the pleasure of seeing many exotic insects (or horror for me), getting a tour of Arusha from Ferdinand from EARD-CI, trying out  wali roast (rice and beef) and wali kuku (rice and chicken) and after that sticking to just wali maharage (rice and beans), trying ugali (yes for Julie Ann and Misha, not a favorite for me), and finding some nice western restaurants in town when we wanted a break (crepes, pasta, pizza, and pancakes, yum!). Julie Ann and I also had the opportunity to learn how to handwash our clothes for the first time, and all turned out okay. This weekend, after finally running some much needed errands today of buying modems and sim cards, we're taking a short break from DHE tomorrow to go on a waterfall hike. It should be an exciting coming few days!