Performance and emission characteristics of a micro-gasifier-based cook stove using solid biomass, Melia dubia and Casuarina

Abstract

Many large-scale improved cooking stove systems have been introduced in various developing countries to replace existing obsolete conventional biomass cooking stoves. Improved cooker stoves exhibit higher performance and lower emissions. In this work, two solid biomass fuels, Melia dubia and Casuarina, were investigated on a dry basis in a forced micro-gasifier stove. The effect of the M. dubia and Casuarina fuels on the thermal efficiency and emission reduction of the forced micro-gasifier stove was analysed using the water boiling test protocol version 4.2.3. The experimental results revealed that the thermal efficiency of the micro-gasifier stove for the fuels M. dubia and Casuarina are 42% and 40%, respectively. The fuel consumption of the micro-gasifier stove was estimated to be 86 g/L for M. dubia and 90 g/L for Casuarina. The carbon monoxide and particulate matter emissions of M. dubia were slightly lower than those of Casuarina. Emissions of carbon monoxide and particulate matter were detected for M. dubia at 22 ppm and 0.05 mg/m3, respectively, and for Casuarina at 25 ppm and 0.07 mg/m3, respectively. The efficiency and emission values for the selected fuels, M. dubia and Casuarina, have shown promising results for the selected micro-gasifier stove.