El Fuego del Sol Recycled Briquettes

Target SDGs

Market Suggested Retail Price

$0.08

Target Users (Target Impact Group)

Household

Distributors / Implementing Organizations

El Fuego del Sol, partnered with the Dominican NGO Grupo Jaragua, UN World Food Program in Haiti, and various other NGOs.

Competitive Landscape

Direct competitors include AEST Agricultural Waste Charcoal Briquettes.

Manufacturing/Building Method

The briquettes are mass-manufactured in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. After being collected, the organic waste is pulverized and mixed with water. The resulting liquid biomass slurry is pressed on an ergonomic industrial manual press, producing the briquettes. After this process, the briquettes are dried on the sun to be delivered to schools for cooking purposes.

Intellectural Property Type

Select Type

User Provision Model

UN World Food Program provides the briquettes to local schools and institutions. Briquettes cannot yet be purchased by individuals.

Distributions to Date Status

By 2015, more than 500,000 briquettes have been distributed. Interview with representative

Design Specifications

Recycled paper, cardboard, sawdust, and agricultural waste composition with a 1.9 cm diameter hole to allow airflow. Each briquette weighs from 0.16 kgs to 0.18 kgs and with dimensions (LxWxH): 10 x 10 x 4 cm. The recyclable materials are collected from schools, embassies, the UN, and other locations around Port-au-Prince separated sorted, and upcycled. The cardboard, paper, sawdust, and agricultural waste are pulverized and mixed with water. The resulting liquid bio-slurry is pressed, producing the briquettes which are dried in the sun. The briquettes are delivered to schools where are used for cooking student meals.

Product Schematics

Technical Support

Training of briquette use is manufactured and supplied by El Fuego del Sol.

Replacement Components

N/A

Lifecycle

Single-use, no warranty. Disposal of ash not specified.

Manufacturer Specified Performance Parameters

Fuego del Sol aims to replace the use of charcoal in Haiti. Part of their mission is also replacing charcoal related jobs with bio-briquette manufacturing jobs. Specified targets are:

• 60 tons of waste recycled
• 500,000 school meals fueled
• 8,000 trees conserved.
• Create long-term job opportunities

Vetted Performance Status

None

Safety

Safety precautions should be taken when working with burning briquettes.

Complementary Technical Systems

El Fuego del Sol's briquettes only work successfully in Prakti stoves and the newly developed Fuego del Sol household briquette stove since the square shape makes them obsolete in most stoves. A retained heating cooker designed by El Fuego del Sol maintains the temperature of the stoves to reduce the number of briquettes required.

Academic Research and References

Compliance with regulations

El Fuego del Sol follows international Fair Trade standards for all operations in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the U.S.A., and requires all business partners to do the same.

Evaluation methods

Using past results from previous briquettes, El Fuego del Sol started experimenting with ideas on the internet. In 2015, El Fuego del Sol was about to begin residential field testing of the briquettes in rural communities. Progress on those tests is unknown.

Other Information

Ideas winner for inner American ideas competition. Haiti energy globe award for Haiti.