The aaron stove, switching to agricultural residues to save firewood

Woodfire is widely used in Sub-Saharan Africa, even in urban areas. The use rate largely exceeds the plants growth rate, and areas close to cities are subject to progressive deforestation. To stop this trend a switch to other sources of energy is necessary. The aim of the present work is to illustrate how a biomass gasification stove has been set up and is being built in Niger, and how a supply chain of pellets produced from agricultural residues has been set up, in the framework of a European Union development project. The equipment for pellets production underwent several tests in Niamey to optimize it and then it was installed in a location 80 km South-West from the capital, where agricultural residues are relatively abundant. At present, the stove production and pellet production have passed the experimental phase and both are ready to pass into a first market diffusion. The presentation explains in details all the above mentioned points and discusses the efficiency of the system and its value for the environment and the users.