Comparative evaluation of the performance of an improved biomass cook stove and the traditional stoves of Iran

Abstract

Abstract In international development programs on improvement of energy supply for cooking in remote regions, biomass gasifier cook stoves have a remarkable place. Fuel type and size play a key role on the performance of such stoves. The most abundant woody biomass waste in Iran is apple pruning waste (up to 1.32 Mt a year). This paper reports the result of evaluation of a top lit updraft biomass stove specifically modified to burn apple pruning waste. In addition, the improved biomass cooking stove (ICS) was technically compared with traditional cook stove (TCS) based on Water Boiling Test 4.2.3 and time to boil (TTB) instruction. Water and flame temperature variations were compared with a natural gas stove (GS), as the most common cooking device in Iran. The average TTB was 12, 13, and 20 min for the GS, ICS, and TCS, respectively. The comparison of regression equations indicated that the rate of increase in the flame and water temperature in the both ICS and GS were similar. In general, better thermal efficiency was observed in the ICS (about 35%) in comparison with the TCS (12.6%). The specific and the total fuel consumption in the ICS were 73 and 67% lower than that of the TCS, respectively.