Biofuel with Rocket Mass Heaters

Have you had success with using biofuels in rocket stoves? What if one was to make small biofuel bricks. Would they be a viable fuel option for a rocket mass heater? Would they burn longer than sticks and the normal fuel?

Jen Shrock : Have you been to YouTube land and looked at the web4deb channel ? It is as simple as type in / click on ! Then you want to scroll down to his
Rocket Mass Heater playlists.

It is definitely worth checking out, germane to what you are looking for, and a good exception to the usual Jreck on You tube ! I'm sure it will provoke a lot more
questions in your mind ! Big AL !

BigAl - I remember watching a video quite some time ago about the pellet feeding system for a rocket stove. I am actually guessing that it was probably theirs. I was actually thinking of a burnable material that I could make, instead of buying and that is why I was thinking along the line of small biofuel briquettes. I remember reading a topic on permies in which someone talked about using small briquettes and maybe trying it, but I have not read any activity on that topic for a very long time. I was hoping to hear of some success.

Keep in mind that I have not ventured into the rocket stove build realm yet, but it is on my list of things to do and I am hoping that I don't try to re-invent the wheel on some things if I don't have to.

Thanks for the tip on the youtube videos, though. It looks like plenty there to stimulate the grey matter!

Hi Jen.

I see no problem burning bio briquettes in your stove. Mine burns them just fine.
You can get a better burn if you put holes all through your briquettes. More surface area to burn. I drive nails through the holes in the mould before pressing, then pull them before ejecting the briquette.

There are a lot of videos on YouTube showing how to make briquettes, both regular and charcoaled. They really aren't difficult. Adding sawdust, cardboard, or paper makes it stick together nicely after pressing.
A solar dehydrator would really help dry them quicker and better, I think. I plan to build a small one and try it out. We'll see how that goes.
Everyone talks about efficiency, but when briquetting waste material, I find that concern fades a bit. The more you burn, the less waste left to deal with. And it's free fuel, as much as you want. I use paper waste from local print shops. They don't care how much I take off their hands.

Just jump in and start doing it. You'll be banging them out in no time.

Thanks for the tip with the nails Bill. I hadn't even thought of that. I did watch a little on making briquettes on youtube, but where I primarily got my ideas for a press was from www.home.fuse.net/engineering. I haven't tried it yet, but it is on my list of things to do. I totally agree with your comments on reusig "waste" materials. Recycle instead of taking down another tree. Thanks again for your input.

Thanks for the engineering site tip. I'd like a better press to use, for sure. Mostly, I'm experimenting with a rocket-type stove, so I'm not currently putting the briquettes to real world use, just testing to see if it'll work for me for real when I integrate the stove for my home power needs before this winter. So I'm no expert---yet. .
Right now, my press is crude and only does a small stack of briquettes in a tube mould each time, so there's tons of room for improvement. It really does have potential, though. That much I can see.
I'm dying to try making charcoal briquettes next. Biochar is my latest area of research, or the latest manifestation of my obsessive drive to find cheap, viable, clean alternative energy sources that are not controlled by corporations. Briquetting works on so many levels toward that goal, from boosting local economies and cleanly dealing with waste products to self sufficiency and soil amendments for farming/gardening.

When you implement this, and I have every confidence you will be successful in that, be sure to show others so they can get onboard, too.