Performance Evaluation of a Biomass Stove Using Particulate Matter and Carbon Monoxide Emission from Briquette and Fuel Wood

Abstract

In most developing countries like Nigeria, the use of biomass cooking stove is predominant. This is often done in a poorly ventilated kitchen or thatched houses sometimes occupied by up to 3-7 households. Researchers have proved that smoke and other emissions resulting from fuel wood in traditional stoves have led to increase in health hazards which include acute carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning diseases, Acute Lower Respiratory Infections among others. This study examines the emission of particulate (PM) and CO from briquette and fuel wood. Water Boiling Test (WBT) was carried out to test the performance of both fuels at ambient temperature and standard pressure. Test results show the burning rate of briquette fuel is 20.5g/min and that of fuel wood to be 16.8g/min. The thermal efficiency of briquettes and fuel wood are 14.5% and 31.1% respectively. Thermal efficiency of 31.1% shows significant improvement when compared with available stoves. Increasing thermal efficiency will generally reduce fuel requirement during cooking which implies less time and less exposure to PM and CO emissions. Analysis of test result using MATLAB shows that fuel wood emitted more particulate matter than briquette. The mean distribution of particulate matter for briquette (PM-B) and that of fuel wood (PM-F) was analyzed using Paired Two Sample statistical test. CO emission for briquette (CO-B) and fuel wood (CO-F) was analyzed respectively. The statistical analyses shows higher mean values for PM-F and CO-F and lower mean values for PM-B and CO-B respectively. High thermal efficiency translates to less exposure to PM and CO emission which reduces significantly, risk to health accruing to the use of briquette and fuel wood on cook stove.

http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v34i3.9