We are in the fag end of our research in India, and ever since we connected last time, considerable amount of work has been finished. We organized certain activities or "design sessions" with people in the villages (mostly women) and employees of our host NGO, Avani. These activities are based on the theory of generative design, where the design of the product/service system is based on the tastes and preferences of the end user. Through these activities we have tried to gauge the preferred method of carrying the pine needles by the women, the local business/work culture and the cooking preferences (household cookstoves is a possible application of torrefied fuel) of the women in the area.We also visited two major regional urban towns nearby to get an idea of the need for biomass based solid fuels there. We visited hotels, restaurants,hostels, university campuses, dairy processing plants, financing institutions and some government offices to get knowledge on firewood policies in the state. As far as the 2nd reactor is concerned, we have started manufacturing it, and we should be done by early next week, to get some tests done in the later half of the week. Next week, we also plan to visit some small restaurants nearby to do some tests with a cookstove that runs on charcoal, which belongs to Avani.
Update Torrefraction
