Protos-Plant-Oil-Stove-Breaking-News

An Innovative Cooker

A cooker powered with plant oil?

That doesn't seem so unusual in an age in which even automobiles run on rapeseed or other common cooking oils. But, a high-tech, high-quality stove that is nevertheless so inexpensive that even poor families in developing countries can afford it, is a special challenge that requires a unique focus.

All people eat. Around the world we prepare many different types of food in many different ways. Over 2.5 billion of the world's population prepares food on open fires. Up to 700 kilograms of wood are needed per person per year to fulfill such cooking requirements, often leading to severe deforestation as well as health and safety problems. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that every year as many as 1.6 million people die - mostly women and children - from indoor air pollution caused, in large part, by those fires. Furthermore, deforestation leads to ecological problems like flash floods and mudslides - as seen recently in the Philippines and elsewhere. 

The Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group (BSH) is working to provide a viable alternative to open fires, charcoal, kerosene, or gas used for cooking. Specialized in developing world-class home appliances, BSH is dedicated promoting sustainable living all members of society around the world. In 2003, BSH acquired the plant oil cooker technology and offered to apply its considerable know-how to further develop the technology and create a market-ready, plant oil cooker.

The plant oil cooker with "protos" technology, developed by BSH, was conceived to be more than just another appliance; in addition to fulfilling the basic human need of food preparation, it also has the potential to generate positive ecological, economic, health, and social benefits. The innovative protos technology allows the use of any type of available plant oil as fuel for cooking.

protos. 

Protos-Plant-Oil-Stove-News-Update

Filipino scientists develop environment-friendly cooking with 'Protos'

MANILA, Dec 5 (PNA) -- Responding to mounting calls to act on climate change, residents of Leyte turn to environmen-friendly stove that uses plant oil as fuel, instead of liquefied petroleum gas, in cooking their foods.

Protos, a locally-manufactured environment-friendly technology first noticed by Germany-based company BSH Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group, can run on coconut oil which emits lower carbon monoxide.

Aside from coconut, other suitable plants are palm, sunflower, castor, corn, soybean, and jatropha, expert from Visayas State University (VSU) Dr. Roberto C. Guarte said.

"Generally, its overall performance is almost the same as gas stove and much better than other local stoves in terms of cost of operation, safety, carbon monoxide emission, and sustainability," he said.

The stove consists of a tank, pump, frame, valve, fuel line, and a vaporizer originally made at the University of Hohenheim and acquired by BSH Group in Germany.

Traditional stove, uses firewood, hence resulting in depletion of forest resources and often lead to ecological disasters like erosion and flooding.

Smoke from burning firewood damages human health - such as eye and lungs - and aggravates air pollution.

LPG stove on the other hand emits high levels of carbon monoxide, a chemical that harms the environment. This type is also too expensive to majority of the Filipinos.

Protos has been tested by 100 households in selected areas in Leyte, which yielded a monthly average of 11.64 liters per month of plant oil consumption at a daily cooking time of 1.53 hours.

Six small restaurants at the VSU market also tested the device and consumed an average of about 28 liters per month at an average daily cooking time of 5.24 hours.

Guarte also said that commercial production of the plant oil stove can provide Net Present Value of P666,017 and Internal Rate of Return of 25 percent and Benefit Cost Ratio of 1.02.

This was based on a computed financial analysis, as of year 2007, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD) said.

The VSU engineering workshop produces 1,500 units of plant oil cook stove per year in coordination with BSH Group in Germany.

VSU established a complete production line to ensure sustainable production of the plant oil stove for marketing and distribution in Region 8.

By expanding its production to cooperatives, this project has a potential to help create jobs in the rural areas, provide income to the poor, and cooperatives with additional profits, hence bringing not only environmental, but also economic and social benefits, the PCARRD said. (PNA)
DCT/MPC

Wanted-Dead-Or-Alive-Protos-Plant-Oil-Stove

Protos Plant Oil Stove Wanted - Projects Pending!

Will Pay For Delivery To UK & Donation To Supplier

Anyone At Leyte State University With A Surplus Stove?

Anyone Living In India, Indonesia or Tanzania With A Protos?

Mail Us HERE





Kind regards


Andy Mahoney
Home Brew Power
Off-Grid Power Installer - UK)
www.homebrewpower.co.uk
Mobile: 07504 50 50 89
HomeBrewPower Yahoo Group On Carbon Neutral Power
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homebrewpower/

Protos-Plant-Oil-Stove-Wanted-UK

We are looking to purchase a Protos Plant Oil Stove - Any Offers?



As many of you will know there is a Stove in production that runs on plant oils (Vegetable Oil)
We at Home Brew Power are actively looking to source one for testing and evaluation.

We would be happy to accept a donation unit from anywhere around the world as we would like to be the first to evaluate it for a number of end uses.

We believe that this technology can be suitably adapted for use in a modified Wood Stove with a back boiler to help heat a DCH (Domestic Central Heating) system. Our main goal will be to run one for extended periods on WVO (Waste Vegetable Oil) that has been filtered to 2 Microns.

Are there any readers out there who would like to work with us here at Home Brew Power to assist us in obtaining the elusive Protos Plant Oil Stove?

Email Click HERE

Protos-Plant-Oil-Stove-Samuel-N-Shiroff-BSH-Bosch & Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH

An Email Homebrewpower received today regarding Protos developments in UK / Europe

Dear Mr. Mahoney,

Thank you for your request below which reached me as the individual responsible for the market introduction of Protos.

Since April last year, when BSH introduced Protos to the Press and subsequently millions of people, we have had numerous requests to purchase our cooker in Germany, Europe and North America.

At this point, we have not been able to fulfill these requests for several reasons. The first is that the resources we have devoted to the dissemination of the cooker have been focused exclusively on developing countries. Protos is currently for sale on the islands of Leyte and Samar in the Philippines and will soon be available in Arusha in Tanzania. In the other countries where we plan to introduce Protos in 20097, we are currently preparing or just at the beginning of the necessary test and adaptation phase which our internal quality standards require for each new region.

Additionally, introducing a new technology in Europe/North America requires navigating some complex legal issues which are also time-intensive and potentially costly. We are carefully considering the potential of introducing Protos – perhaps as a camping cooker – at some point in 2008. However, this has not yet been determined.

In mid-2007, we will be re-launching the Protos website www.plantoilcooker.com. The new website will contain significantly more information that is currently available as well as the opportunity to sign up for a newsletter and place your information in our database. The newsletter will keep you up to date on where Protos is available and other interesting developments.

I appreciate your understanding and patience.

Regards,

********************************************
Samuel N. Shiroff
BSH Bosch and Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH
Carl-Wery-Strasse 34
81739 Munich
Germany
T: +49 89 4590-3039
F: +49 89 4590-5079
E: samuel.shiroff@bshg.com
www.bsh-group.com / www.plantoilcooker.org

Protos. The Plant Oil Stove.

Protos-Plant-Oil-Stove-Background-Information

High-Tech for Reliable Cooking Energy in Developing Countries A stove working on oil from plants – with automobiles already running on rapeseed oil, that doesn’t seem to be very spectacular. But if the stove is to function with oil from diverse sources including coconuts, rapeseed, and sunflowers while remaining cheap enough for poor families in developing countries, things are starting to become more difficult. The solution is called Protos, the plant oil stove developed by Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group (BSH) in cooperation with its partners. The basic principle of the Protos stove resembles to the familiar camping stoves, except that it runs on plant oils instead of kerosene.

The stove consists of a tank, a pump, a frame, a valve, a fuel line, and an innovative burner. The functioning principle of Protos: The plant oil is filled in the tank. Through application of the pump, a pressure is created in the tank. The oil rises into the stainless steel vaporizer, where the heat of the flame converts the liquid into a gaseous mixture. The gas flux emits from a nozzle into a burning area, where it mixes with surrounding air and burns in a blue flame. The power output of the flame can be adjusted with a valve in the fuel line. Seems to be simple but Protos presented a number of tricky technical challenges to the engineers. Before starting the research on Protos, the vaporization and combustion of plant oils in a simple stove had to be investigated. This vaporization alone involves more than 10,000 different chemical reactions which are different for every plant oil, depending on its origin, quality, and means of extraction.

In the new burner a combustion temperature of up to 1,400 °C is reached which ensures continues vaporization and combustion with very low emissions. However, this high temperature requires special materials in the stove construction. A further challenge was presented by the carbon residues which values are more than 100 times higher than the values for kerosene. For protecting the vaporization tube from clogging special burner geometry was required to maintain a specified temperature profile which minimizes soot formation. Because plant oils are natural products, their chemical and physical properties vary widely – not only for different oils but also for oils from the same plant variety when produced in different places and with different production methods. Regarding the set-up of a locally sustainable systems is it crucial that fuel for the stove can be produced locally by simple means even in remote areas. In those areas only limited quality control is possible.

The stove also works with used oils which were used for frying before. However, it also works with refined oils and plant oil esters as well as kerosene if applicable. Since end of 2004, Protos has been tested in the Philippines in 100 households and small restaurants. Moreover, a village level production center for the extraction of coconut oil has been developed. BSH project leader Dr.-Ing. Elmar Stumpf summarizes the very encouraging results: “The plant oil stove is easy to operate and offers a very safe cooking environment since plant oils can neither burn nor explode. Moreover, the Protos design is very stable. Users of the new stove are excited about this new cooking technology.” Preliminary marketing of the plant oil stove Protos is about to start.

The production will take place mostly in the Philippines. Only the technically delicate burner unit, which demands a sophisticated production process with very exact tolerances, will be delivered from Germany.

Protos-Plant-Oil-Stove-Burner-And-Cowel-Detail

Details of the Protos 'Plant Oil Stove' Burner & Cowel.

Note the needle valve control 'Bottom right of the picture.'

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Protos-Plant-Oil-Stove

Protos plant oil stove for developing countries

Download Picture (300dpi, 1 MB) Video (wmv, 12 MB) FAQ Protos (175 KB)

A stove powered with plant-oil? That does not seem so unusual in an age in which even automobiles run on rapeseed oil. But, a high-tech, high-quality stove that is nevertheless so inexpensive that even poor families in developing countries can afford it, is a special challenge that requires a special idea. The plant-oil stove Protos, developed by BSH, is more than just a cooker; it is also generates positive ecological, economic, health and social benefits beyond basic humans needs of daily food preparation.
More than 2.5 billion around the world prepare food on open fires. Up to 700 kilograms of wood are needed per person per year to fulfill the cooking requirements, leading to severe deforestation, health and safety problems. The World Health Organization WHO estimates that every year 1.6 million people die as result of the indoor air pollution caused by those fires. Furthermore deforestation leads to ecological problems like flash floods and mudslides – as seen recently in the Philippines and elsewhere.
BSH is working to provide a viable alternative to the open fires, charcoal use as well as imported kerosene or gas used for cooking. With a core competence in developing world-class home appliances, BSH is dedicated to sustainable development for all members of society.
But, BSH cannot tackle this challenge alone. Support for the initial research and development in conjunction with the University of Hohenheim was provided by the German Environmental Foundation and other members of the Bellagio Forum for Sustainable Development.
On the ground, BSH is working in cooperation with the Leyte State University in the Philippines as well at the German GTZ and DEG and European Environmental Heritage Fund.
Protos. The Plant Oil Stove.An Initiative of Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group.
For further information:
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The Project - Using Plants Oil Stoves for Improved Health and Against Deforestation
(19 KB)
The Product - High-Tech for Reliable Cooking Energy in Developing Countries
(15 KB)
Our Project Partners
Impressions of the test operation of the cooker on the island Leyte