COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TRADITIONAL AND IMPROVED COOKSTOVES USING BIOMASS

Abstract

Majority of the population in developing nation including India live in rural areas depend on biomass especially wood, cow dung, charcoal etc., for cooking purposes. About three billion population use biomass in traditional cookstoves with very low efficiency level of 10-15%. The incomplete combustion of these traditional cookstoves leads to smoke and harmful emissions. These emissions cause several health effects. In this study, a comparison was made of the thermal efficiency and power output of the traditional cookstove (Chulha) and Improved cookstoves (Model A and Model B) using Water Boiling Test (WBT) as per BIS standards. The thermal efficiency and power output of the improved cookstoves were higher than the traditional cookstove. The maximum value of thermal efficiency and power output were found for the improved cookstove. The thermal efficiency for improved cookstove was 39.75% whereas for traditional cookstove it was only 22.05%. The power output of improved cookstove was also more i.e, for traditional it was 3.18kW, whereas for improved cookstove the power output was 5.74kW.