Effects of insulation materials and fuel type on the combustion performance of a biomass cookstove
Insulation material is a vital component of a cookstove while determining the amount of useful energy converted to heat. The objective of this study is to assess two insulation materials (fibre glass and ceramic) and three biomass briquettes (saw dust, rice husk and sugarcane bagasse) to determine the performance of a double burner conventional biomass cookstove while conducting water boiling test. The dependent variables used for the test were the specific fuel consumption (SFC), thermal efficiency, ebullition time and cooking energy cost as key indicators for comparison. Three types of tests were conducted on the cookstove: cold start, hot start and simmer phase. Results obtained show that the fire power for the cold starts phases were 8.8 kW, 7.72 kW for the fibre glass combustion chamber (FGCC) and ceramic combustion chamber (CRCC), respectively when the saw dust briquette was used, while 8.1 kW, 7.72 kW were respectively obtained for FGCC and CRCC when Rice husk briquette was used. Similarly, 8.72 kW and 7.99 kW were obtained for FGCC and CRCC, respectively when sugarcane bagasse briquette was used. The thermal efficiencies for FGCC and CRCC of 21.23 % and 19 %; 22.23 % and 19.32 %; 21.25 % and 19 % were obtained for the three tests. The energy efficiency of 42.47% was observed for fibre glass grate as compared to 34.56 % of Ceramics grates. Thus, the absorption of heat into the body of the ceramic material in the cold start phase results in better performance than hot start phase while hot start and simmer phases recorded higher values of efficiencies.
Keywords: Biomass, Briquettes, Combustion Chamber, Cookstove, Insulation Materials
*Correspondence: salehaminu@gmail.com; +234803 577 4780
Download Paper