Producer gas stove: Design, fabrication, and evaluation of thermal performance

Abstract

Traditional biomass stoves are widely used for cooking purposes in developing countries due to their simple construction. However, the problems of low thermal efficiency, large feedstock consumption, and high pollutant emissions are encountered in the conventional design. The gasification-based stove has also been presently and highly considered when encountering these problems. Therefore, this study aims to (1) develop a producer gas stove and (2) investigate the effect of bluff-body shape, equivalence ratio, and feedstock on the thermal performance of the stove. The results showed that the performance of the producer gas stove was affected by the bluff-body shape of the burner, equivalence ratio, and feedstock type. Stable flames were further observed when the bluff body B was attached to the burner. The highest thermal performance was obtained by using a bluff body B, operated at an equivalence ratio of 0.5 with blended feedstock of rice husksawdust. In addition, the highest heating rate and thermal efficiencies were 2.27 kW and 17.6%, respectively.