Refining a technology to reduce black carbon emissions from South Asian brick kilns

Team: Steve Luby, N. Grant Miller, Jeff Wood, Lester Su
Planning (Scoping)

Emissions from brick kilns across South Asia cause around 50,000 deaths per year. This team proposed to deploy a prototype of an automatic coal feeder that would reduce the pollution and emissions generated by brick kilns. It would eliminate the need to load the kilns by hand and also reduce costs for kiln owners by using less coal. The team encountered an unexpected problem: The coal became moist when people added water to limit coal dust or when rainwater seeped in. The moisture caused the coal to clump and undermined the smooth delivery through the automatic feeder. To resolve this problem, the project team developed new designs with engineers at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, mounted them atop brick kilns, and confirmed their ability to deliver coal successfully. The team will optimize the power system for the automatic coal feeder and evaluate the technology thoroughly.