Can something as simple as a briquette made from grass and leaves make a difference in the survival of the mountain gorilla? The answer is a resounding YES!! We have been busy working on finding alternatives to the forest charcoal being produced deep in mountain gorilla habitat. As you may know, charcoal production is decimating the last populations of mountain gorillas.

I just got back from a 3-day briquette making seminar with Richard and Joyce Stanley of the Legacy Foundation. They have been “briquetting” for 17 years and have led the introduction of biomass briquettes all over Africa. As yet, they haven’t been to Congo, but are happy to see that WildlifeDirect is leading the charge.

My biggest concern has been whether or not the people of the Congo will accept the briquettes. As you know, old habits die hard. After cooking a meal for 10 people using just a metal pan as a stove, I gained a new confidence in the viability of the biomass briquettes. For starters, have a look at the following pictures of the briquettes being burned:

Start-up: First we got a little pile of kindling going and then set the briquettes on top with the holes facing upward (this is about 5 minutes after lighting). To make up for not having air holes in the bottom of the stove, we propped the briquettes up on pebbles to allow for air flow. We also positioned the briquettes close together, which helps them burn better.

15 minutes out: Very HOT and burning without visible smoke.

“The PhD is in the finger tips…”
That’s Richard’s mantra. Perhaps the biggest challenge to the briquette maker is getting the mix right. This is where science becomes an art. The first step is to gather all of the “green” biomass that is going to be part of the briquette. Only charcoal fines and sawdust are ready to go “as is”. Everything else must be gathered, dried, ground or thrashed, and composted. The composting is the big challenge because it can sit around and seem to be doing nothing, and then all of a sudden, take off. The time between being at a standstill and turning into ash can be a matter of 24-48 hours. So, the briquetter must pay close attention, knowing when the mix is kicking into high gear and then stopping it before it starts to turn into soil — or worse, into ash. A perfectly composted mix will feel woody and granular, not muddy. It’s all in the feel. There is no setting a timer. Once the compost is ready, it’s time to make the briquette “slop”. Getting the proportions right is again, by feel. Once sawdust and small amounts of shredded and soaked paper have been added (if available), it’s time to test the mixture. Here are the steps:

Squeeze the mix

Open the hand: the mix should form into a mass and leave the imprint of your hand.

Hold the squeezed mass vertically and gently shake it. It should not fall apart. It’s easier to see the imprint of my fingers in this shot.

Press the material. A good mix will hold its shape perfectly. The corners will be sharp and the briquette will come out of the mold without breaking apart.

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.

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We shared experience in briquette technology with Virginia in Bukavu in order to learn more before implemeting a full programme in Goma. Virginia is working with 2 groups of women from IFRADE and from the nuns of Dorotee di Cemmo at the General Hospital of Bukavu. With abused women using the wooden press , she is making briquettes from different biomass: fresh leaves, grass, shaving, charcoal residue, fermented leaves, etc.

View of different Kinds of biomass 

Making briquettes with Eucaliptus fresh leaves

By the colour, there are three different kinds of biomass : fresh Eucaliptus leaves at the right, charcoal residue with fermented Eucalyptus leaves (dark colour) and tea residue (4 brown colour).

We tried also to burn some dryied briquettes comparing its combustion to charcoal.

We heated 1 liter of water with the same quantity of biomass (briquettes and charcoal). What did we learn?

1. Charcaol is still more energetic than briquettes, water boiled before.

2. Stove’s quality is very critic. With  bad stove, briquette’s combustion can make smokes with few energy.

Therefore we tried to make an ameliorated stove with recycled USA oil cans.

Briquettes burnt well but when we tried to boil water, it made smokes because of a lack of air. The pan was directly on the flame.

This smoke deasapered when removed the pan on the stove.

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Robert here.

I want to share some more about the discovery process that has been going on with alternative fuels program. Our network of contacts in the world of alternative fuel and stove technologies has grown exponentially thanks to an international group of great people who are openly sharing their ideas, in hopes of ending deforestation, helping the rest of the species that share the planet with us — and helping people. The Legacy Foundation has been the common denominator in all of this. They have graciously welcomed us into their community and as a result, we have been in touch with some incredibly helpful people.

Last week started with an hour Skype conversation with Crispin, the head of New Dawn Engineering in Swaziland. Richard at the Legacy Foundation had alerted the alternative fuels community to the problems Virginia was having with smoking briquettes and Crispin jumped right in with suggestions. He, in turn, passed the alert on to an even larger group. As a result of that email, later in the day, I had three exchanges with George in Gambia who offered his advice, too. Then on Monday, Richard of the Legacy Foundation invited me to come to Portland, Oregon for three days of training. He went to the trouble of contacting the two groups that hired him to do the seminar and asked if “a guy who is trying to help the mountain gorillas” could join them. Both groups gave a resounding “yes”. My tuition? Cook a meal for the group. Being a foodie, it feels like they are letting me off easy. Come May 22-24, I’ll be hanging out with these folks and learning all that I possibly can.

So, instead of being all alone in our search for new technologies, we have a global community of experts willing to help. The importance of this support can’t be overstated. Aside from the obvious benefits of so much intellectual capital (and new friends), personally, it makes me feel as though I am living up to my fiduciary responsibility to those of you who have donated funds to this program. You can rest assured that we are not shooting from hip, but rather carefully researching the best ways to invest your hard earned money. And, through all of this research and collaboration, the way forward is beginning to come into focus.

Donations: Thank you Alex P. for your $50.00 contribution!

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Hello all, this is Robert.

Amidst all the terribly disturbing news about the elephant massacre in the park and the continued burning of the Virunga forests for illegal charcoal, there actually is some good news. First off, I want to thank those of you that donated your hard earned money to help us this month: Carrie A. $100, Carmen E. $40 and our anonymous donor who contributed $50. Thank you!!

BSH - WildlifeDirect Alliance
We have finalized and signed an agreement with Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH (BSH) to bring 100 of their Protos plant oil stoves to Goma for a pilot test. We are working hard to get the shipping from Nanjing, China to Mombasa/Goma in order. As you might imagine, there is a lot of paperwork required to get our shipment successfully through customs. The BIVAC certificate, our biggest hurdle, should be issued soon, and once it has, the shipment will be on its way to Goma.

Protos Stove Training
In the beginning of June, we plan to attend an intensive one-week training at Visayas State University in Cebu, Philippines. The Philippines are the site of BSH’s largest Protos project, and as such, the best place for training. Our training will include operation and maintenance of the Protos plant oil stove, fabrication of Protos parts, strategy of marketing the Protos plant oil stove, Jatropha seedling production and plantation establishment, and process & equipment for the production of plant oils from coconut, and Jatropha, and other oil plants.

We will also be spending a significant amount of time with the local villagers using the stoves on a day-to-day basis, in hopes of getting those critical pieces of advice that only come from those who are using the stoves in a real-world, rural setting.

Biomass Briquettes as a Charcoal Alternative
As reported a few weeks ago, I put together my own briquette with the help of the Legacy Foundation. Virginia and I had several back-and-forth Skype sessions (her building a press in Bukavu and me building mine in Boulder), in an effort to make sure that we both ended up with a briquette press and not a go-kart. As many of you know, she got her press back from the wood shop, and they did a great job — true craftsmen. She and the abused women that she is working with are making great headway. See for yourself. The press I made came out fine, but I wouldn’t put myself in the same league as the Congolese wood workers.

Laying out the grid for the piston cylinder holes which let water exit during pressing

Drilling the first holes. Only 210 to go…

The finished press. The piston and cylinder gets placed on the bottom beam.

The Briquette Challenges Ahead
Creating biomass briquettes that fully combust and don’t create too much smoke is one of the big challenges. Scrap paper, which acts as a binder, makes for easy briquette making, but the downside is excess smoke. Briquettes made of grass and leaves tends to burn cleaner, but require up to a few weeks of composting before the feedstock can be pressed. None of these issues are unsurmountable, but it will take time to get the hang of making the perfect briquette.

Another issue is output. Although a single press with 6 workers can put out 1000 briquettes per day, we will have to find a way to increase production to the point of being able to compete with charcoal. I have been sending out all sorts of inquiries and doing Google searches, trying to find a more automated way to produce the briquettes. And, although I haven’t found anyone mass producing briquettes yet, the inquiries have led me to many of the experts in the field of briquetting and high-efficiency stoves.

Today, for example, I spoke with people at the University of Colorado Engineering School who are working in this area. In fact, a group of them is leaving for Nepal tomorrow to head up a briquette and stove project in Eastern Nepal. I also spoke with someone at Colorado State University’s Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory. Among projects like creating biofuel from algae, they are also working on high-efficiency stoves for developing countries. And, of course, the Legacy Foundation and it’s network of briquetters and stove makers continues to provide invaluable guidance. With minds like this working the issue, I can’t help but be optimistic amidst the recent rash of bad news.

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This is Augustin Kambale.

Last Monday, I led a patrol on the south side of Nyiragongo with 10 men. It was an “out and back” patrol, meaning we left early and came back the same day. Spending the night would have been too risky because we had heard that the FDLR militias were operating in the area, protecting the network of illegal charcoal kilns. This was the first patrol in Shahero in quite some time because the Interhamwe (FLDR) presence has been too strong. The Interhamwe, for those of you that don’t know, are made up of extremist Hutus, the band credited with the Rwandan genocide in 1994. We left our camp at 5 am and climbed the slopes of Mt. Nyiragongo. By 7 am, at an altitude of 2850 meters, we found a large deforested area, the obvious site of illegal charcoal production. The tip-off we received about the kilns proved to be true. We found 70 kilns burning and 10 sacks of charcoal staged and ready for transportation. In the following hours, we destroyed all 70 kilns, seized 10 hoes, burned 2 make-shift camps, and apprehended two kiln workers. It was because our patrol started so early that we didn’t catch more workers. The majority were not back yet from spending the weekend in Goma, where they go to re-supply and relax. The charcoal “bosses” in Goma are the ones who pay these men to go into the park to make illegal charcoal. These workers are paid an average of 1US $ per day to cut trees, make kilns, and to burn and put the charcoal into sacks. Once the charcoal is ready (normally it is a 6-day process), the bosses hire people as “mules” to transport the charcoal from the Virunga NP to Goma city. They don’t cross Kibati checkpoint to reach Goma any more because of all the recent seizures of illegal charcoal. Instead, they use a footpath far to the south-west. One look at the area makes it apparent that charcoal production in this area is rampant. Now that we know the FDLR isn’t operating in the Shahero area, we need to step up our patrols to shut down all the illegal activity. We must protect the vulnerable flora and fauna in the area.

Destroying a charcoal kiln

Augustin Kambale destroying a kiln

Trees cut down to make yet another illegal kiln

What was once beautiful forest is now moon scape

The camp site of a kiln worker

Kiln workers being arrested

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Enquiries lead by Congolese Wilidlife Authority ICCN has established that the six elephant poachers caught Sunday were not FDLR as I wrote. They are local villagers hired by some corrupted Congolese Army Officers. They are from Kibirizi, a village at 15 km in the Western side of Rwindi, the ICCN HQ of the central sector of Virunga National Park. The one in yellow T-Shirt is the shooter.

local villagers from Kibirizi who shot elephant

They shot the elephant just 200 m near a position of the FARDC in Kahunga. Being in the forest, they didn’t realize that they were just near an Army position. That is the reason they were caught. The total number of elephants killed might be more than 14 because some elephants shot far in the bush couldn’t be recorded. In the central sector, ICCN has lost the control of large Mammals habitat occupied by FDLR-Interahamwe (Rwandan Militias). Also, two brigades of the Army (9^th and 15^th) are deployed in that sector. In these conditions, wildlife rangers have problems to put an end to this poaching.  The poachers are still in the hands of the 9^th Brigade in Rwindi. Conservationists should keep a close eye to make sure the poachers are prosecuted. Tusks have been collected by ICCN HQ in Goma.

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