Tier 4 Forced Draft TLUDs at ETHOS and the ARC Open House
In 2001 Dr. Tom Reed invented the forced draft TLUD and the high power 2mg/minute PM2.5 stove was manufactured and sold as the WoodGas stove. The Philips and British Petroleum forced draft TLUD stoves were also clean burning. The new Mimi-Moto stove we saw at ETHOS and at the ARC Open House, however, is the first forced draft TLUD that achieved all eight Tier 4 scores when tested at Colorado State University. The Mimi-Moto has two removable combustion chambers so the stove operates efficiently at both high and low power. The WoodGas, Philips, and British Petroleum stoves did not have sufficient turn down ratio to score in the Tier 4 Low Power PM 2.5 categories. The ARC forced draft TLUD has to either meter fuel or use the made charcoal to simmer effectively.
The 2016 all Tier 4 Mimi-Moto demonstrates that the forced draft TLUD design is becoming mature, well understood. Many clean burning Chinese forced draft TLUDs are batch fed and use well made pellets to burn cleanly. The 10 to 15 Kw high power only 150 million cooking stoves with chimneys that will be built for use in China by the Chinese government will probably be forced draft TLUDs. Chinese cooking does not generally require low power simmering which makes the task easier.
Fifteen years of forced draft TLUD development has resulted in a wood burning design that can meet all of the metrics designed to protect human health when using well made pellets. The batch loaded stove allows users to make their own wood gas. Cooking with wood becomes almost as simple as burning natural gas. If the wood is sustainably harvested, the process can be carbon neutral, which is a valuable improvement. Forced draft TLUD inventors and advocates like Tom Reed, Paul Anderson, Paal Van der Sluis (Philips), Dr. Makunda (BP) and Mr. Anne Osinga, the Managing Director of the Mimi-Moto project, have made an idea a reality culminating in a biomass stove that meets the Tier 4 requirements. Thank you!
