Performance Study Of Improved Biomass Cookstove

Abstract

The majority of the population of India, a developing nation, lives in rural areas. Some regions use the traditional cook stove (TCS), which is not good due to its poor thermal efficiency and negative impacts on the environment and human health. This issue can be sorted out by the development of better biomass cook stove. The present work is related to the investigation of the performance of improved biomass cook stoves. In the present study, experiments were carried out on a 3 kWth designed improved biomass cook stove (ICS). This stove is made of mild steel material and was developed based on the rocket stove principle. In most of experiments wood is used as fuel however certain study includes rice husk pallets as a fuel. ICS performance was investigated by the water boiling test (WBT) carried out as per IS Bureau of Indian Standards. Investigations are done through determination of thermal efficiency, firepower, burning rate and specific fuel consumption. The results of ICS were compared with Traditional biomass cook stoves (TCS). To improve the thermal efficiency heat box and insulation is used. The effect of secondary air is determined in the present work. The thermal efficiency of ICS was observed at 19.15%. Use of heat box improved it to 23.63%. The efficiency is further improved to 32. % by applying 3 mm thick rock wool insulation on stove and heat box. Supply of secondary air from 25% to 100% improves thermal efficiency from 18.9% to 23.6%. It is possible to operate the ICS with 100% rice husk pallets and 50% co-firing with wood. The efficiency of ICS improved by use of rice husk pallets as compared to only wood as fuel. Similarly specific fuel consumption is reduced by the use of a heat box, insulation, secondary air and rice husk pallets. Overall, ICS performance was found better than TCS and its performance is further enhanced in the present work by above mentioned approaches. Keywords: Improved Cook Stove, Heat Box, Insulation, Secondary Air, Rice Husk Bricket, Co-Firing