Development of a practical evaluation approach of a typical biomass cookstove

Abstract

Abstract Exposure to air pollutant emissions from household combustion of solid fuels is leading risk factor for premature deaths in the developing countries. A natural draft Improved Cook Stove (ICS) was designed for household combustion of solid fuels. The objectives of the design included multi fuel usage, user friendliness, lower emissions and better efficiency. Comparisons of newly designed cookstove (ND) with Traditional cookstove (TCS) and three other ICS have been discussed. The performance of the ND when loaded with five different solid fuels has also been discussed. Modified Water Boiling Test (WBT) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS, 2013) methodology was used for performance evaluation of the designed ICS. The cookstove was designed for 2kW energy output and fuel consumption rate of 1.5 kg/hr. Turn down ratio of 3.23, fire power of 7kW and specific fuel consumption of 85 g/liter was estimated from the WBT. The ND performed better than TCS and other commercial ICS with 75% reduction in PM2.5 and 63% reduction in CO concentrations respectively. The thermal efficiency of ND indicated a significant increase of 106% from TCS. Outcomes from this study can be used for designing a multi fuel biomass stove with enhanced efficiency and lowered emissions.