Biomass Cookstoves Research Articles

Performance Evaluation of a Biomass Cook Stove with Variation of Chimney Height and Air Intake System

Biomass cook stove is one of the conventional methodsof cooking in rural households and industries. Typical stove designs presume inefficient combustion processes along with harmful emissions. Subsequently a more efficient design of biomass cook stove has been a foremost research interest for scientists during the last decades. The study focused on enhancing thecombustion process altering the key parameters of a biomass cook stove i.e. height of the chimney and the air intake port opening. From the study, it is found that height of the chimney and the air intake port opening is very influential on the performance characteristics of the biomass cook stove. For estimating the comprehensive performance of the improved biomass stove water boiling test (WBT) was carried outfor varied chimney heights (95 cm, 80 cm, 65 cm & 50 cm) &varied air intake port opening (40%, 60%, 80% & 100 %). At chimney height of 80 cm & fully air intake port opening, optimum thermal efficiency has been found to be 33.76%, 33.79%, respectively. The highest concentration of CO was identified around 23 ppm during the 40% opening of the air intake port and it minimized to 9 ppm as the air intake port opened fully. Both the values for CO2/CO and indoor air quality were within acceptable limits.

Interaction of biomass fuels use and metals exposure on hypertension: A prospective cohort study in rural areas along the Yangtze River, China

Humans maybe simultaneously exposed to multiple-metals and indoor air pollution in daily life. However, limited prospective studies have assessed the interaction between multiple metals exposure and biomass fuels use on hypertension in China. The prospective cohort study in rural areas along the Yangtze River included 2625 adults in 2014–2015, and they were followed up till 2019. Among 1248 rural residents who were without hypertension at baseline, 377 hypertension events (30.21%) were observed after 4.5 years of average follow-up time. First-morning urine samples of residents were collected at baseline, the association between urinary metals level and hypertension were assessed using quantile g-computation. Additionally, we also examined the effect of biomass fuels use, fuels switching, and cookstove ventilation on the association of metals exposure with hypertension. Quantile g-computation analyses showed a positive joint effect of 17 metals on hypertension, with the odds ratio (OR) of 1.68 (95% CI: 0.89, 3.14) when increasing all seventeen metals by one quartile, and cadmium, lithium, copper contributed the largest positive weights. Biomass fuels use can interact with cadmium exposure on hypertension with OR for interaction of 1.28 (95%CI: 1.00, 1.73), and increase the association between copper, manganese and zinc exposure and systolic blood pressure, lithium exposure and diastolic blood pressure at the follow-up visit. Moreover, switching from biomass fuels to clean fuels during follow up, cookstove ventilation can alleviate the risk of higher blood pressure from metals exposure. In rural areas along the Yangtze River, China, biomass fuels use for cooking can interact with multiple-metals exposure on hypertension. Residents who switched from biomass fuels to clean fuels and who used ventilation had a lower risk of hypertension. Further cohort studies are needed to clarify the mechanism of combined effects of metals exposure and biomass fuels use on the human health.

Thermal performance and heat storage behaviour of three pots improved cookstove

The use of biomass cookstoves is widespread in the household sector of developing nations. Still, these stoves are inefficient and emit a lot of pollution, including gaseous pollutants such as CO, particulate matter, and other pollutants, due to insufficient thermal and combustion efficiency. The three pots improved cookstove was developed to enhance cooking efficiency for rural and low-income urban homes to address these issues. This cookstove consists of three burners that enable best heat utilization as it permits cooking on three pots simultaneously. Statistical analysis was made with ANOVA tool and t-test. The results were found significant at 5% level of significance. Moreover, developed cookstove has thermal efficiency and power rating of 34.45% and 1.72 kW, respectively. Typical CO, CO2, PM2.5 emissions were recorded as 8.8 ppm, 628 ppm, and 0.97 μg/m3, respectively based on findings of emission test. Although increased cookstove adoption is critical to addressing the public health issue, efforts to distribute cookstove technologies have been hampered, and adoption rates in many developing nations are reported to be very low. Thus, the policymaker should think about implementing such a cooking system in rural areas that minimizes the amount of fuelwood used and preserve the environment.

Improving Combustion Technology for Cooking Activities for Pollutant Emission Reduction and Carbon Neutrality

Inefficient residential solid fuel combustion contributes significantly to ambient and indoor air pollutants. It consumes large quantities of fuel and produces harmful effects on health. Improvements in residential biomass cooking stoves have great potential for energy savings and emission reduction. This study presents an advanced biomass gasifier cooking stove to overcome the disadvantages of high-pollutant emissions from widely used stoves in China. The most innovative features of the stove are (1) negative pressure produced by a jet fan located at the junction of the chimney, and (2) combustion and carbonization processes taking place in the same chamber. Compared with a traditional chimney stove, the advanced biomass gasifier cooking stove presented higher TE (thermal efficiency) and comprehensively lower pollutant emissions when raw crop straws, crop straw briquettes, and pellets were burned in it. Approximately 40% CO2 and 90% of PM2.5 (the aerodynamic diameter was less than or equal to 2.5 μm) EFs (emission factors) were eliminated, and TE drastically tripled. Furthermore, biomass briquette/pellet was identified as more suitable than raw biomass as a fuel to be burned in the new stove, especially because the raw biomass displayed an increase in the EFs of As, Se, and Pb when burned in the new stove. The advancement in biomass cooking stove technology is a practical approach to reducing the emissions of CO2, PM2.5, and other hazardous pollutants.

Design and Performance Analysis of Biomass Cook stove with Thermoelectric Generator

The aim of the paper is to design and evaluate the performance of an energy efficient biomass combustion store fitted with thermoelectric generator to produce both thermal energy and electrical energy from a single fuel source. The combustion chamber in the stove is designed in a way to utilize the primary and secondary air to provide complete combustion by not using any external source such as blower. Due to complete combustion process the stove never produces smoke which causes asthma and other respiratory diseases for women and children. The cook stove is fitted with a light and electric charger arrangement. This stove can be used in rural and hilly regions for producing thermal, light and electrical energy. The new design in the cook stove have been made for the better usage of sustainable energy and reducing worst impact of climate change on environment. Biomass cook stove is a combustion device which liberates a lot of lot of thermal process during cooking process. In the newly developed TEG biomass cook stove the liberated waste heat energy is utilized for the generation of electricity with the help of thermoelectric generator and the electrical energy is stored in a li-ion battery which is used for lighting a led light and charging a mobile phone. Water boiling test which ic used to measure the performance of cook stove was carried out in this stove and the stove is found to be efficient in the conversion of biomass fuel into thermal and electrical energy. This cook stove has been deployed in the rural areas to check its usability, viability, electrical and thermal performance under the umbrella of clean combustion.

Household use of biomass fuel, especially traditional stove is associated with childhood wheeze and eczema: a cross sectional study of rural communities in Kandy, Sri Lanka

Background Most households in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) rely on biomass fuel for daily cooking. Studies investigating the association between early life exposure to household air pollution and health outcomes in children in LMICs are limited. Objective To investigate the effects of biomass fuel for cooking and different types of stoves on wheeze and allergies in children of rural Sri Lankan communities. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 452 children aged 5 years and younger in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Mothers completed a questionnaire on the use of biomass fuel and respiratory and allergic outcomes in children. The associations between biomass fuel and outcomes were analyzed using logistic regression models, adjusting for potential confounders. Results Use of biomass fuel for cooking was associated with increased risk of childhood wheeze (aOR 2.29; 95% CI 1.04–5.08) and eczema (aOR 4.57; 95% CI 1.24–16.89) compared with households that used clean fuel (liquid petroleum gas (LPG), electricity and/or biogas). Among households that used biomass fuel, use of traditional biomass stoves was associated with a higher risk of childhood wheeze (aOR 2.95; 95% CI 1.19–7.33), allergic rhinitis (aOR 3.01; 95% CI 1.42–6.39), and eczema (aOR 7.39; 95% CI 1.70–32.06) compared with households that used clean stoves. Conclusion Children living in households that use biomass fuel, especially traditional biomass cookstoves, have a higher risk of wheeze and allergic diseases. Access to affordable clean energy sources that reduce air pollution may help improve the health of children in rural LMICs. Supplemental data for this article is available online at at www.tandfonline.com/ijas .

Speaking from experience: Preferences for cooking with biogas in rural India

Biogas has the potential to satisfy the clean energy needs of millions of households in under-served and energy-poor rural areas, while reducing both private and social costs linked to (i) fuels for household cooking, (ii) fertilizers, (iii) pressure on forests, and (iv) emissions (e.g., PM2.5 and methane) that damage both household health and global climate. While the literature has focused on identifying these costs, less attention has been paid to household preferences for biogas systems — specifically what attributes are popular with which types of households. We conduct a discrete choice experiment with 503 households in rural Odisha, India, to better characterize preferences for different attributes (smoke reduction, fuel efficiency, and maintenance) and for different cooking technologies (biogas and an improved biomass cookstove). We find that on average households value smoke reduction and fuel efficiency. Willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for the improved biomass cookstove is low, while willingness to pay a premium for biogas is high. Nonetheless, WTP varies by the type of previous experience with biogas (e.g., good or bad experience) and with time and risk preferences of households. While risk-averse and impatient respondents have lower WTP for the improved cookstoves, previous experience with biogas attenuates this gap. These findings suggest that biogas uptake and diffusion could be improved by complementing existing subsidies with technology trials, good quality products, maintenance, and customer services to reduce uncertainty.

Review on biomass cookstoves and latest innovations

Review on biomass cookstoves and latest innovations

Design, Development, and Performance Evaluation of Husk Biomass Cook Stove at High Altitude Condition

Design, Development, and Performance Evaluation of Husk Biomass Cook Stove at High Altitude Condition

Influence of Indoor Volatile Organic Compound Concentrations on Respiratory Symptoms Among Children Living in Rural Biomass Cook Stove Using Households of Tamil Nadu and Andrapradesh, India

Influence of Indoor Volatile Organic Compound Concentrations on Respiratory Symptoms Among Children Living in Rural Biomass Cook Stove Using Households of Tamil Nadu and Andrapradesh, India

Adoption of Improved Biomass Cook Stoves: Case Study of Baringo and West Pokot Counties in Kenya

Biomass cookstove improvement has been a global active research area for many decades and has resulted into much progress towards cleaner and more efficient energy conversion cooking devices. Irrespective of the perfection and development of improved cookstoves, many households in Kenya are still using three stone cookstoves. In Baringo County, 71.8% used three stone cookstoves. The focus of research needs to change towards adoption of improved cook stoves. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in rural, peri-urban and urban households regarding current cookstoves types in relation to fuel use categorized as improved and un-improved in Baringo and West Pokot counties. Biomass was the primary fuel in the two counties used in the form of firewood and charcoal at average of 70% and 26% respectively. The main un-improved cookstoves in the two counties were three stone and metallic jiko. The two were commonly used in Baringo County with 28.5% of the households using metallic stove. Whereas in West Pokot, Chepkube was the main cookstove used for cooking at 47.8% seconded by improved three stone at 36.6%. The use of un-improved cookstove was popular in Baringo County at 77.6% while infamous in West Pokot County at 21.7%. The results showed that West Pokot County is more conscious to energy related issues unlike Baringo County. The difference in dynamic of the two Counties in terms of land ownership, access to biofuel, social groupings, availability of cookstove installers and improved jikos could be the reason.

PERFORMANCE CHARACTERIZATION OF NATURAL DRAFT BIOMASS COOKSTOVE USING CHAKUNDA WOOD AND COCONUT SHELL FEEDSTOCKS

PERFORMANCE CHARACTERIZATION OF NATURAL DRAFT BIOMASS COOKSTOVE USING CHAKUNDA WOOD AND COCONUT SHELL FEEDSTOCKS

Improved Biomass Cookstove Use in the Longer Run: Results from a Field Experiment in Rural Ethiopia

This paper reports on electronically-monitored improved use of the biomass stove in Ethiopia over a relatively long period of three-and-a-half years, using stove use data collected at five points in time. The results show that 62 percent of the households surveyed still retained their stoves after more than three years, which is a low level of abandonment, as the lifetime of the Mirt stove is approximately five years. Dis-adoption of the stove is not correlated with any of three monetary incentives provided at the time of distribution. With and without adjusting for dis-adoption, no longer-run differences in stove retention are found across treatments. Among those who retained their stoves, average regular stove use increased over time, but generally it is statistically the same toward the end of the first year. Thus, despite the relatively long timeframe, no decline is observed in regular usage. Comparing the persistence of the treatment effects, the paper finds that, in the longer run, subsidizing the cost most effectively promotes increased regular use over time.

Hybrid draft direct-combustion with secondary air jets in cross-flow for reducing CO and PM2.5 emissions in biomass cookstoves

CO and PM2.5 emissions in household biomass cook stoves are affecting billions of lives and millions are suffering from related fatal diseases. An air supply configuration was proposed and tested experimentally to reduce emissions from a prototype biomass cook stove. The hybrid draft staged combustion with primary air by natural draft and preheated secondary air by forced draft was tested in a wood-burning cook stove. The secondary air jets were arranged in cross-flow to the primary flue. A mathematical model to predict the performance of a hybrid draft cook stove was developed and validated experimentally. The effect of different parameters such as excess air ratio (λ), Primary air to secondary air ratio (PA/SA) and Momentum flux ratio (J) was investigated. All three variables have shown a profound effect on CO and PM2.5 emissions. Optimum values of these parameters for minimum CO emissions were identified as λ = 3, PA/SA = 1.9 and J = 94 respectively. However, the mechanism of CO and PM2.5 destruction was found to be different and no such optimum was identified for PM2.5 emissions. The hybrid draft configuration resulted in a significant reduction of CO and PM2.5 emissions, achieving emissions performance corresponding to the Tier 4 level.

Health impacts of a randomized biomass cookstove intervention in northern Ghana

BackgroundHousehold air pollution (HAP) from cooking with solid fuels has adverse health effects. REACCTING (Research on Emissions, Air quality, Climate, and Cooking Technologies in Northern Ghana) was a randomized cookstove intervention study that aimed to determine the effects of two types of “improved” biomass cookstoves on health using self-reported health symptoms and biomarkers of systemic inflammation from dried blood spots for female adult cooks and children, and anthropometric growth measures for children only.MethodsTwo hundred rural households were randomized into four different cookstove groups. Surveys and health measurements were conducted at four time points over a two-year period. Chi-square tests were conducted to determine differences in self-reported health outcomes. Linear mixed models were used to assess the effect of the stoves on inflammation biomarkers in adults and children, and to assess the z-score deviance for the anthropometric data for children.ResultsWe find some evidence that two biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation, serum amyloid A and C-reactive protein, decreased among adult primary cooks in the intervention groups relative to the control group. We do not find detectable impacts for any of the anthropometry variables or self-reported health.ConclusionsOverall, we conclude that the REACCTING intervention did not substantially improve the health outcomes examined here, likely due to continued use of traditional stoves, lack of evidence of particulate matter emissions reductions from “improved” stoves, and mixed results for HAP exposure reductions.Clinical trial registryClinicalTrials.gov (National Institutes of Health); Trial Registration Number: NCT04633135; Date of Registration: 11 November 2020 – Retrospectively registered.URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04633135?term=NCT04633135&draw=2&rank=1

Experience and Learning with Improved Technologies: Evidence from Improved Biomass Cookstoves in Ethiopia

Experience and Learning with Improved Technologies: Evidence from Improved Biomass Cookstoves in Ethiopia

Battery-supported eCooking: A transformative opportunity for 2.6 billion people who still cook with biomass

Globally, 2.6 billion people still cook with biomass, resulting in interlinked health, environmental and drudgery challenges. The uptake of improved biomass cookstoves has barely kept up with population growth, yet SDG7 hopes for universal access to modern energy by 2030. This paper explores a potentially transformative new approach to facilitate access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for cooking by leveraging rapid progress in electrification and falling prices of solar PV and lithium-ion batteries: battery-supported electric cooking. This paper presents empirical evidence on energy use, menu choices and cooking preferences from 83 households in 4 countries who transitioned from other fuels to electric cooking. A techno-economic model demonstrates that battery-supported electric cooking can be cost competitive with current expenditures on cooking fuels. No significant change in household menus occurred and the energy-efficient devices enabled 100% of everyday cooking with just 0.87–2.06 kWh/household/day. Our initial findings have already directly influenced the development of a 5-year UKAid-funded programme in collaboration with the World Bank, ‘Modern Energy Cooking Services’, and the new draft energy policy in Uganda. The paper concludes with two key policy recommendations: design lifeline tariffs inclusive of cooking and develop local markets for culturally-appropriate, quality-assured, energy-efficient cooking appliances.

Development of wood-burning rocket cookstove with forced air-injection

Nearly 40% of the world's population still relies on biomass stoves as their primary cooking source. Indoor cooking with biomass stoves produces harmful emissions such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and can result in significant cardiovascular and respiratory disease. Air injection technology, in the forms of over-fire, under-fire, and staged (a combination of under- and over-fire), has been used for decades to reduce emissions in small-scale industrial biomass burners. Recently, researchers have begun integrating air-injection into biomass cookstoves, but the number of studies is limited, and improper air-injection can result in worsening stove performance. In this paper, we develop and analyze three wood-burning biomass rocket stove air-injection strategies using computational fluid dynamics and experiments. We consider over-fire and under-fire air-injection independently, and then develop a staged air-injection system that combines the optimal jet characteristics from the purely over-fire and under-fire systems. Results show that significant performance gains, both in terms of reduced emissions and increased burn-rate are achievable with forced air-injection. For a radial over-fire air injection system, jet momentum flux is found to control fuel and air mixing and is the driving metric for reducing particulate emissions. For the under-fire system, excess air ratio was found to control both the emissions rate and firepower. In a comparison of all three air-injection strategies, over-fire air injection was found to have the largest reduction in emissions, under-fire air injection had the largest increase in firepower and reduction in boiling times, and the staged air injection method achieved both improved emissions and burn-rate. Additionally, the combustion start-up phase was observed to account for the majority of emissions in all forced-draft stoves, and is most sensitive to under-fire injection, remaining an area ripe for improvement.

Household air pollution and personal CO:PM2.5 relationships during cooking in the GRAPHS cohort: important covariates include wearing compliance

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Prior household air pollution studies have seen conflicting results using carbon monoxide (CO) measurements as predictors of personal PM₂.₅ exposures. We evaluated CO:PM₂.₅ relationships in the large Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study (GRAPHS). METHODS: 1,414 expecting mothers were enrolled into the study in rural communities in central Ghana. Participants tended to cook outdoors in dry weather and in semi-enclosed kitchens in wet weather. At baseline all cooking was done on traditional biomass and charcoal cookstoves. Personal exposure was assessed for seven 72-hour periods on each adult participant. CO was measured using Lascar EL-CO-USB devices. PM₂.₅ was also assessed during 2 of the 7 sessions in ~60% of the mothers using RTI MicroPEMs, which measured both real time and integrated PM, and included a motion sensor. We developed regression models to predict PM₂.₅ concentrations based on CO and other covariates. We built linear prediction models using a dataset of 2,118 validated exposure sessions of 24-hour, estimating average exposures in two ways: 1) during cooking hours (6-10 am and 4-8 pm); 2) for 24-hour periods. We conducted a forward stepwise variable selection process, successively adding covariates to the base model. RESULTS:The base model for the cooking period had an R² of 0.17, which was higher than the model based on 24-hour averages (R² =0.05). Adding four covariates, month, day, compliance and community, to both models moderately improved statistics (R² = 0.34 to 0.31). When we restricted data to sessions with higher wearing compliance (based on the motion sensor), predictive ability improved (R² = 0.54 - 0.51). CONCLUSIONS:In general we found limited ability to predict PM₂.₅ from CO and covariates in both 24-hour and 8-hour cooking periods. Poor wearing compliance can weaken associations between personal CO and PM₂.₅. KEYWORDS: Air pollution, Particulate matter, Modeling, Exposures

A cluster randomised trial of cookstove interventions to improve infant health in Ghana

IntroductionHousehold air pollution from solid fuel combustion for cooking and heating is a leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortality worldwide. We hypothesised that clean cooking interventions delivered during pregnancy...