That is, carabiner (mispelled), I think, which will be explained by visiting the website:

http://worldstove.com/products/the-beaner-backpacking-stove/

Not so lightweight as is (244g), but a interesting idea from an innovative company thinking mostly about fuel-miser stoves for developing third-world economies.

Many here could take the concept a bit further, I think.

Looks extremely easy to replicate in titanium. Ahem...

I found out about this stove when researching biochar. I wonder how the burn temperature compares to the Bush Buddy and how the type of burning (with or without oxygen?) compares to the Bush Buddy.

If their stats are to be believed, they are getting good cook-times from 100g of biomass.

I'm interested. Does seem heavy, though.

Also, this stove, at 134mm x 51mm would seem to fit in a Fosters can.

Edited by tomasito on 12/16/2009 09:09:24 MST.

Does the aluminum can function as the outer layer of the Bushbuddy does, where it doesn't get hot and char the ground, while creating the secondary burn?

looks like, but it looks to use a 12 or 8oz beverage can. That means the stove must have a very small burn chamber. I wonder how much it must be feed.

-Tim

Edited by MarshLaw303 on 12/16/2009 15:25:45 MST.

And I doubt that pyrolysis -- anaerobic burning at 500 C producing charcoal, not ash -- can really take place in such a small container.

I looked into Worldstove and the Beaner in particular in some greater depth. After jumping around at their site, I might characterize them as a "Green Innovation" company that happens to have a sideline in backpacking stoves.

Based on the degree of seriousness I see manifested on that site, I'd expect that these Beaner stoves do indeed produce biochar, because that is one of their main goals.

They want users, particularly in poor communities around the world, to be able to use their stoves to get greater cooking efficiency out of biomass, and then be able to use the cooking byproduct (biochar) to enrich the earth in their community, which in turn makes the production of stove-usable biomass easier.

It's a great idea, and considering that their point of entry into this is the production of biochar and biomass fuel efficiency, I would be quite surprised if the stove isn't producing biochar as advertised (as well as being relatively efficient).

In a video on their YouTube channel, the inventor says that 100g of biomass cooks for 22 mins and generates 30-40g of biochar.

That's pretty awesome.

I hope you're right. To produce biochar the temperature needs to be about 500 C with no or very little oxygen available. Typically a fire is started around a central cylinder containing the main mass of wood/biomass, and the heat from the fire begins the process of gasification within the central cylinder. Some of these gases then ignite on their way out of the cylinder, further fueling the heating.

I've seen pictures of genuine biochar cookers the size of large buckets, but I don't know how you'd get the same process out of a tiny cooker like this. That's why I figured the smallest ones were merely wood stoves like the Bush Buddy, which produces ash instead of charcoal, and releases a lot of CO2 during the burning process.

Edited by Legkohod on 12/17/2009 15:36:16 MST.

Well, here's a 3rd party report on that:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Hands-On-How-To/Biochar-Stoves.aspx

This stove isn't the Beaner. It's another stove invented by the same guy. Given this report and that these stoves can and do produce biochar according to at least one reporter, the inventors' video:

http://www.youtube.com/user/WorldStove#p/u/6/7fZenKsDamQ

. . . makes a reasonably plausible claim to have produced biochar in the Beaner. Though the cooktimes are very, very long from my perspective. 42 mins, not 22, on 100g? Wow.

Cool gadget!

Edited by tomasito on 12/17/2009 16:29:09 MST.

Here's some more info on the small stove suggesting it might indeed produce true biochar, from http://climatetoday.org/?cat=30 :


"Outside demonstrations of small-scale cookers creating biochar were fascinating. Here are two of the world leaders in small-scale biomass cookers. Paul Anderson (on left) demonstrates larger cookers made with cheap materials, including paint cans, using what he calls TLUD- Top-Lit UpDraft. Nathanial Mulcahy of World Stove demonstrates a very small cooker, using a soda can with a stainless steel insert (see below). All of these devices have double layers and holes placed in critically important places to control the gases correctly. Both men have traveled the world spreading the use of these simple but important cookers, in many sizes, not just the small ones shown here.

soda can as biochar cooker Nathanial Mulcahy

A simple soda can for a cheap biochar camping stove with its stainless steel insert.

no ignition paper in biochar burner

Here’s a demonstration showing one way a biochar stove differs from a regular fire.
This piece of ordinary paper dropped into the flame does not ignite immediately. It stays as paper for quite awhile until it turns to charcoal. It does not burst into flames. "

I guess I have more to learn about biochar. It appears that the Beaner stove produces biochar at a lower temperature than larger stoves by creating a controlled slow burn, possibly by restricting oxygen flow to the stove. Just a guess. I'd like to understand how it works exactly..

ADDED LATER:

Aha, here's the info I was looking for:
http://www.biochar-international.org/technology/stoves

Edited by Legkohod on 12/17/2009 17:42:38 MST.

Apparently, the design of the stove's jets is such that it creates a vortex once the stove is lit or within 5 (seconds? minutes? don't remember), which, since it is a vortex of heated air, completely prevents oxygen from entering the burn chamber from the top.

This also probably explains why they machined the Beaner out of stainless. They need the jets to be pretty exact. I imagine that the intakes on the bottom of the stainless insert are equally exact.

They are now selling them in the US. If anyone is interested, I have their store info, because I contacted them after reading the OP's post.

This is really rejuvenating. I'm sync'd to try the Beaner stove in lieu of my own double wall gassifier design. But I'm most excited by the video of his LuciaStove

http://www.youtube.com/user/WorldStove#p/u/19/qK99va4NwkY
http://www.youtube.com/user/WorldStove#p/u/21/zULyGW7EnFQ

There's questions, for sure. But this is exciting stuff. I'm not sure they could make their design economical for countries in need. Not like some other inverted downdraft gassifiers that may not produce bio-char, but do run efficiently and cleanly, and can be built cheaply, possibly locally'lylyly. (lot of those ly words)

What is the process and cost of getting hold of the eaner, maybe even the Lucia? I could contact them myself, but you mentioned having done that.

cheers,
-Michael

I believe that they will only be offering the Beaner in the US, at least at the present time.

They are distributing through an online shop at EBay. The shop name is worldstove, product is Beaner. I have a direct link in my email, but I can't access it at present.

$50 for a small, steel tube with a few holes in it? You have to be kidding me!

The price of some their stoves includes a 1/4 payment on a free stove to a person in the developing world.

So yeah, it's spendy.

Considering that the best I was able to do with a home-made double-walled woodstove resulted in less than half the cook-time, I am interested anyway.

Here's the ebay link for anyone interested:

http://stores.ebay.com/WorldStoveUSA

>> "Considering that the best I was able to do with a home-made double-walled woodstove resulted in less than half the cook-time, I am interested anyway."

Yeah, but the Beaner produces biochar!:)) It's designed to produce a slow burn. That means it might not be the best stove for backpacking.

True.

Supposedly the Beaner went to Nepal on someone's backpack already, and that is how it got its name, actually. To my mind that is at least an argument that it's not completely unsuitable.

If it cooks smokelessly at a lower heat for a long time, that could be pretty great from my perspective, depending on what Mr Mulcahy means by 'blue flame cooking' for 42 mins.

Got myself a beaner.

I'll have more to say when I have had more time, but at present, I have a few comments.

I have now tried to cook with it twice. The first time, after filling it with 'found' wood, I was not successful lighting it in windy conditions. The second time, I filled it with about 70g of wood pellets, and gave it some wind screening. This worked well.

1) the result of combustion is indeed charcoal and not ash, for the most part. There was some ash.

2) 100g of wood pellets did indeed burn for ~40 mins. The one problem I have with this claim is that the stove is not large enough to hold and burn the full 100g of pellets at the same time. Also, wood pellets are probably pretty ideal as fuel, and I am curious as to how well the beaner will function with less ideal and wetter fuels.

3) The operation of the stove was almost smokeless. The only time there was really any smoke was when I added new fuel (about 30g) at about the 30 minute mark.

4) the heat generated appears to be sufficient to boil water for most or all of the 40 min period, though the time the beaner took to boil ~400 ml appeared to be over 10 minutes. I say 'appeared' because I set up the stove on my grill and walked away.

Neat gadget. My next plan is to make some tea.

Edited by tomasito on 02/26/2010 14:15:35 MST.