Dakota Stove

There is no other type of fuel a single person can self-conduct all of the following.

• Harvest
• Haul
• Process
• Store
• Burn

What is the best firewood?  Well, you think oak and ash are the best, right?  Well,  that is not the case.   To explain it simply and in my own words, it is like this:

               Trees take in water.  Through the process of photosynthesis, trees give off oxygen.  The oxygen is taken from water.  What is left over from the separation of oxygen from water is hydrogen.  A very large part of the heat that comes off of burning wood is the recombination of hydrogen in the wood and the oxygen in the draft coming into the stove.   The more water in the wood while alive, the more hydrogen in the tree when dried for firewood.

            Trees with a lot of water in while alive are Chinese elm, cottonwood, willow, and maple.  The number one tree I cut with very little water in it is green ash.  There is so little water in the tree that it does not have enough water to allow proper flexing in the wind and many ash trees suffer from broken branches and with minor temperature changes the tree losses leaves easily (water acts as a thermal mass to slow temperature changes).

            As you will read below, the amount of hydrogen and carbon helps with charcoal and charcoal while burning in a stove produces a lot of heat.    Soft wood firewood produces more heat.

 Poor firebox/stove designs burn soft woods

fast. The new heat technology and firebox

 design takes advantage of soft woods

and you get more heat and a long burn time. 

Cotton wood is great firewood,

a square stove is a poor design.

 

   This is a excerpt from:

Wood As An Energy Resource,

David A. Tillman, 

1978 Academic Press

Page 69,  last complete paragraph

 

                                     ” Table II presents the ultimate analysis of numerous wood fuels on a dry weight basis.  The Btu/lb values presented are higher heating values.  These data demonstrate generally that wood is a highly oxygenated fuel with about two-thirds the energy content of coal.  Softwoods generally contain more energy than hardwoods on a dry weight basis due to higher lignin (hence carbon) content plus the presence of more resins in the extractions [9].”

 

  Page 77, first 3 complete paragraphs

                                     “The ultimate analyses presented in Table II show wood to be very low in sulfur and ash.  For the eight species presented, the mean sulfur content is 0.013% (by wgt) and the mean ash content is 1.12%.  These values demonstrate that wood is essentially pollution free, although wood combustion requires some particulate control measures.

                         The ultimate analyses presented in Table III show other solid combustible fuels to be in a less favorable position.  Coal, for example, has sulfur contents ranging from 0.6 to 3.1%.  It is well known that Illinois coal can have 5+% sulfur, creating significant SO2 control problems.  Ash content varies from 4.1 to 13.8% in Table III.  Lignite coals from North Dakota and Texas are even higher in ash content.  The waste based fuels are low in sulfur (mean value from Table III, 0.3%).  Ash content is a serious problem, as all waste fuels have in excess of 10% inorganic matter.  The mean of the values presented in Table III is 25.3% ash, with municipal waste (38.0% ash) and sewage sludge (71.4% ash) having the most severe problems.

                        From the point of view of controlling formation of SO2 and prohibiting the release of particulate matter, wood is a more desirable fuel than any of the other solid fuels.  In an era of environmental consciousness, this advantage is a compelling attraction for the premium biomass energy source.”

  

Round For A Reason LLC

 

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