Performance and Emission Characteristics of Commercial Kerosene Stoves using Waste Cooking Oil-Kerosene Blends

Abstract

Pump stoves and wick stoves are extensively used in and around India for cooking and other household purposes. Kerosene being a non-renewable source of energy is not expected to last longer. So in order to reduce the amount of kerosene consumption alternative fuels must be thought of. In this work, it is intended to use the Cooking oil in both the pump stove and the wick stove. Since the cooking oil has more viscosity it cannot be used directly. So the cooking oil and kerosene blends are being used for the study. This study includes the use of blends before esterification and after esterification. The suitable characterization and transesterification of the cooking oil is carried out in the laboratory before being subjected to testing. Blends of 20%, 30%, 50% and 70% cooking oil-kerosene mixture and cooking oil- kerosene ester have been tested for emission aspect also. Various performance parameters like fuel consumption per unit time, time taken to raise the water temperature for a 20° have been considered for the comparison of the blends. 20%-30% cooking oil and kerosene blend came out to be the most efficient and is ∼50% for pump stove and ∼30% for the wick stove. During the testing it was observed that the CO emission is decreased with the increase in the cooking oil proportion in the blend. The drastic change has been observed in the Flash point and Fire point of the blends before and after esterification. The viscosity of the blend increased with the increase in the cooking oil proportion in the blend.