Development of a low-firepower biomass dust combustor
Date
2018
Authors
Greer, Kyle C., author
Mizia, John, advisor
Windom, Bret, advisor
Ham, Jay, committee member
Journal Title
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Abstract
As of 2017, the World Health Organization estimates that 2.3 billion people globally lack access to basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines. 892 million of these people defecate in the open, which increases the spread of disease and intestinal parasites. Incinerating desiccated human waste provides a low-cost opportunity to safely mitigate this public health risk. Over the last five years, the Advanced Biomass Combustion lab at CSU has developed a 2-kW fecal gasifier as part of the Gates Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, but the combustor lacks scalability to low firepowers. Continuous low-firepower biomass combustion has eluded development due to several technical challenges, however it is advantageous in many situations and opens the door for many low energy devices. Development of a low-firepower fecal combustor could act as a pilot light for the existing gasifier, it could be a low-cost standalone incinerator for household use, it may have higher combustion efficiencies and lower emissions than the gasifier, and it could be scaled to high firepowers by creating arrays of flames. A 100 Watt idealized biomass dust combustor has been developed to investigate the feasibility of creating a low-firepower fecal dust burner. Despite extensive research on dust explosion dynamics, few stable dust-flame burners have been researched and developed. This project utilized dust combustion fundamentals and iterative hardware development to create a low-firepower biomass dust combustor. Cornstarch, wheat flour, and lycopodium spores were explored as idealized biomass fuels, and human feces was briefly tested in the combustor. The hardware development process will help guide the transition to a stable low-firepower fecal dust burner.
Description
Rights Access
Subject
dust
combustion
feces