Experiment testing of Top Lit Updraft Coal Stove for Domestic use in Malawi

by John L Taulo, Deputy Director (Research and Development)

Introduction Combustion of biomass remains the prevalent energy source for cooking and heating of rural households in Malawi, where more than 84.7% of the countrys population resides (Kambewa and Chiwaula, 2010). Approximately 11 million rural people in Malawi still use biomass for cooking, where fuelwood represents approximately 88% of energy used by rural households and 95.4% of total energy use in rural communities (NSO, 2009). Cooking is then often done over open fires, which are highly inefficient transferring only 5-10% of the fuel energy to the cooking pot. The adverse health and socio-economic implications of this form of energy supply are enormous, with women and children at particular risk. The burden of biomass fuel collection and processing for cooking also falls mainly upon women and children (mainly girls), who spend significant time gathering fuel resources every day. Steadily rising firewood consumption for cooking purposes results in deforestation of large areas creating severe ecological problems. In order to protect the environment it is urgently required to utilize alternative methods for cooking purposes. Therefore, providing a clean cooking energy option for these households will yield enormous gains in terms of health and socio-economic welfare of the weakest and the most vulnerable sections of society. At the same time, the cleaner combustion in these devices will greatly reduce the products of incomplete combustion which are greenhouse pollutants, thus helping combat climate change. This study aims at using locally available materials to develop a more efficient, affordable and safe coal-burning stove in which the use of the stove will result in lesser consumption rates of fuel and reduce the indoor air pollution. The stove in the present study follows the principle of producing combustible gases, primarily carbon monoxide, from coal by burning it with limited amount of air. The coal is burnt just enough to convert the fuel into char and allow the oxygen in the char at a higher temperature to produce combustible carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), and methane. Other gases, like carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapour (H2O) which are not combustible, are also produced during gasification. By controlling the air supply with a small fan, the amount of air necessary to gasify coal is achieved. TLUD Coal Stove The TLUD stove (see Fig.1) consists of a cylindrical reactor, an outer cylinder, a gas burner, and a fan. The cylindrical reactor having a diameter of 15 cm and a height of 49 cm is where the fuel is gasified. It is made of 1.6 mm mild steel sheet and is provided with grate at the bottom for the passage of primary air. The grate is made of 12 mm diameter deformed bars with 10 mm

spacing. The outer cylinder serves as stove body and as burner support. The gas burner is where the gas generated from the reactor, mixed with preheated air, and is ignited. The fan is attached to the stove body and is used to supply the air needed for gasification. The primary air enters from the bottom end of the reactor with the use of a 12 cm, 15- watt computer fan. The secondary air, on the other hand, enters the reactor through 16 holes on top of the stove casing having a diameter of 20 mm and is mixed with the gas generated at the small holes located at the upper portion of the burner. Combustible gases are burned in the plate burner consisting of 40 and 45 holes at the inner and outer circles, respectively, with 10-mm diameter.

Results Modified University of California water boiling test (WBT) version 4.12 was used for testing the stove. Burn rate and stove efficiency were determined together with emission factors for carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxide (NO) and hydrocarbons(HC). Compared to the three stone fire, the coal stove exhibited a higher burn rate (25.57 g/min (1.534 kg h -1)) but lower efficiency. The average computed thermal efficiency of the stove was 18.3%. The CO and CO2 emission was in the range 9 ppm to 5480ppm (10.32-6279 mg/m3) and 1700 ppm to 23, 500 ppm (3060-42,300 mg/m3), respectively. The coal stove recorded mean CO, CO2, HC and NO emission factors of 1.658, 125.2, 0.197 and 0.236 g kg-1, respectively. The emissions and concentrations of carbon monoxide met an emission standard of a CO: CO2 ratio of <0.02. The stove works in the range of 1.578 to 18.93 kW of power rating. The coal stove still requires field testing and user evaluation. This limited series of experiment suggests that the coal burning stove should be carefully designed, constructed and operated. Domestic use of raw coal is not recommended until further investigations are carried out. Conclusion A larger percentage of the population in Malawi relies on biomass fuels and traditional technologies for cooking and heating. And the burning of biomass fuels in the traditional and inefficient cook-stoves has negative impacts on the health of household members. Therefore, in

this study a more efficient coal-burning stove was designed, fabricated and the thermal performance of the stove was compared with that of a traditional stove. The results obtained showed that the combustion of coal in the stove was very slow, resulting in a slow temperature increase in the pot. The coal stove can be operated at power outputs ranging from 1.578 to 18.93 kW at efficiency of approximately 18.3%. The study also showed that the power output of the fire influences the efficiency and emission characteristics of the stove; decreased combustion efficiency could lead to more or less complete combustion and emit more products of incomplete combustion (PICs). Further studies are also needed to explore the relationship between the efficiencies estimated above and the actual rate of household fuel consumption. An integrated assessment of greenhouse gas emissions, thermal efficiency, and health impacts can provide more balanced, fair, and complete evaluation of the stove than only considering one of these parameters. It seems, however, that the design of the coal stove must be improved before it can be promoted as a reliable fuel-saving intervention. The domestic use of coal on a massive scale should not be considered until a more fuel efficient and cleaner burning stove is designed. The work at MIRTDC is underway to perfect this technology by performing extensive experiments on various models.