Hello – I’m new to Afrigadgets and look forward to sharing the interesting innovations we come across every day.
A small group of innovative conservationists have come up with a solution to save the Virunga National Park in eastern Congo from destruction by charcoal producers who are devastating the forests to serve the needs of Goma’s burgeoning population of displaced people.
Their approach to ending the dependence on charcoal is to provide an alternative form of energy – briquettes made of organic wastes. Here are some photos of the gadget and results!
“The beauty in these briquettes is that they are made from what has been considered, up to this point, waste. Furthermore, the material is available locally, so there are virtually no transportation costs. And, once the burn characteristics of the briquettes are understood, they burn very similarly to charcoal. If introduced to the marketplace properly, the presence of biomass briquettes should dramatically reduce the consumption of illegal forest charcoal. That’s good for mountain gorillas and people alike”. Robert Williams from Ending Charcoal
Indeed as I write the briquettes are on sale at half the price of charcoal and are selling well. It has been calculated that with 100 presses at work at once, the dependence of the town of Goma on charcoal will be ended (though they do have to find alot of trash for it)! The technology is available elsewhere but I’ve yet to see it put to use so successfully for such an important social and environmental cause.
Paula is our newest AfriGadget contributing author. What a way to start off! Great job, and welcome to the team. 🙂
This looks fascinating. Can you tell us what the biomass consists of and how it is prepared before pressing?
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds
Hi and thanks Erik. Dave the biomass used comprises any waste paper, leaves (eucalyptus leaves work well), grass, any leaves, saw dust, charcoal fines, any green or other wastes, twigs, husks of seeds etc ….anything really. Check out the posts on http://endingcharcoal.wildlfiedirect.org which describe what the villagers are collecting
Looks like the same thing that Amy Smith was doing:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/amy_smith_shares_simple_lifesaving_design.html
Amy Smith is still working on it. There was another project using corncobs as a feedstock for charcoal briquets at this year’s International Development Design Summit. Pictures at http://www.globalswadeshi.net/forum/topic/show?id=2097821%3ATopic%3A2963
Ran into one of the students who worked on that project by accident today and referred him to afrigadget and this article.
Best wishes over there.
This is a great idea. In fact, to save gorilla lives in the Virunga National Park, not the town of Goma should be the target of the project , but also the town of Butembo (around 300 km north Goma). So the question is: how to produce biomass briquetees at a high scale in order to address the demand? What about the markeing side of this kind of project? is there any best practices in this area?
With thanks
Claude Kakule
Well done! A very interesting idea. Here in Mozambique, charcoal makers are doing unbelievable destruction to woodland forests and there is no (enforced) law to control this mass de-forestation. A 20kg bag of charcoal sells for around USD4.50
I would like to know more details of the construction and estimated output per press, plus ideas on what biomass can be used. obviously to stop charcoal manufacture, the briquetes must be easier to make and cheaper to sell…