Creating a Fuel Briquette Press

An intention I had for my Dodoma stay was to help create a base for biomass fuel briquetting. The first step was a session with a dozen or so interested people, presenting a slide show of my own training session with the inventor, Richard Stanley. The response was very positive. We moved ahead to construct the hand-operated press. I had brought the metal parts from Portland, but we needed to purchase local timber. We went to a timber shop at the massive Dodoma market to buy that lumber (beautiful, red hardwood), then moved to a nearby workshop where it was planed and cut to size. The actual construction happened at a carpenter shop next door to the Catholic church, where skilled workers put it together entirely with hand tools. Because several large holes were needed, the press then went to another shop where a powered drill press was available. The final product, sanded and varnished, looks as beautiful as a fine piece of furniture.

The completed press at Iringa Road Mennonite Church.

To see photos of that process, check out this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/jandrewand/PressConstruction#.

There's much yet to be done before there's a functioning fuel briquetting program at Iringa Road Mennonite Church. The next step is training by a skilled African who will not only demonstrate the use of the press but also the gathering and preparation of waste materials to be pressed into briquettes, then dried in the sun and burned in place of wood or charcoal, the most common cooking fuels. The need for this new fuel source seems clear. The destruction of trees for cooking fuel is a perplexing environmental problem. Fuel briquettes seem to be a wise and inexpensive replacement. I'll continue to work with my friends in Dodoma to help the process along.