Optimize the Charcoal Manufacturing Process and Implement a Design in Benin to Improve Lives
Why This Project Is Important
Everyday nearly 3 billion people in developing countries cook food or heat their homes with traditional cookstoves or open fires. Smoke exposure produced by these methods causes 4 million premature deaths each year, with woman and children being affected the most. Providing better technologies and more options to users will lessen the health and environmental impacts while also reducing the intensive manual labor required by women.
Project Description
Consumer Product Manufacturing Enterprise (CPM) is a student led organization on the campus of Michigan Tech who works with project sponsors and outreach groups to improve the lives of consumers through innovation while developing students into professionals. For this project, CPM is partnering with Agriculture & Forestry Investment RAK (AFI). AFI is a partner of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a public-private initiative led by the United Nations Foundation to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women and preserve the environment by creating a thriving global market for clean cooking solutions.
Charcoal is currently produced in the rural communities of West Africa using methods hazardous to both users and the environment. Consumer Product Manufacturing Enterprise (CPM) at Michigan Tech is partnering with the French Company Agriculture & Forestry Investment to develop a clean charcoal production method to be offered as a replacement to current methods used in the area. The method would be a low cost alternative and would lessen the impact on one’s health and the environment. CPM specifically will be designing, prototyping, and testing a charcoal production method. A finalized design will then be presented to Agriculture & Forestry Investment for construction and implementation in the West African country Benin. Additional project inputs from Michigan Tech’s Peace Corps Master’s International program will bring relevant intercultural experience to the team.
Project Timeline:
- Design Phase: January-April 2014
- Prototype Development: August-December 2014
- Finalize Design: December 2014
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What Your Donation Can Help Us Do:
- Purchase construction materials
- Conduct testing on prototype design
- Educate students on the charcoal production process
- Improve the lives of people in Benin
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