Portable Rice Hull Stove: An Innovation

Abstract

This research is an innovation of the portable rice hull stove equipment to save time, investment, manpower and the environment. A desired distance of 5 cm bottom height of the inside burner from ash retainer is obtained as the critical point in achieving the best combustion process. The unique characteristic of this innovative design is the perforated inside and outside burners and the detachable inside burner for easy replacement and durability of this stove. Specifically, this rice hull stove consists of eleven major parts to wit: 1) inside burner & holder; 2) hopper; 3) flame controller; 4) combustion chamber; 5) outer burner; 6) tensioner (optional); 7) pot (base) rest; 8) retainer of rice hull fuel; 9) perforated holes (natural air supply); 10) leverage (optional) for ash/ aeration and disposal in the ash/char chamber); and 11) tripod stand. For easy removal of the ash and char in the stove at the ash chamber, a flat floppy type ash remover was keenly studied and observed through hand and or foot tapping of the leverage for every 2- to 5-minute combustion. The workability of the equipment was tested through an actual cooking utilizing the different input cooking materials like clean rice, fish, etc., and different weights of rice hull fuel. The rice hull stove has the following thermal efficiencies: for clean rice, it is 9.76%; for drinking water, it is 23.06%; for vegetable, it is 11.33%; for fried fish, it is 11.33%, and for fried chicken, it is 15.40%.