Design and Development of Rice Hull-Biomass Cookstove

Abstract

Biofuels from biomass abound from agricultural produce and waste, and from forestry products and aquatic plants. Rice hull from rice biomass is a milling by-product which can be sued as fuel for a variety of purposes including household cooking. Similarly, coconut shell and husk are by-products and are used as biofuels. Previous studies on rice hull stoves were reviewed. A set of criteria was generated in order to incorporate desirable features for the new rice hull-biomass stove design. Work to improve existing rice hull stoves focused on minimizing attention required to maintain an effective flame, which is normally done by disturbing the fuel bed.

The implementation of the combined center-tube, conical grate, and nozzle stove principles led to the development of a novel rice hull-biomass cookstove capable of using a variety of biofuels succh as sawdust, word chips, coconut shell and husk. Tests were conducted to evaluate the rice hull-biomass stove and the conical gate rice hull stove. Heat utilization efficiency of up to 20% translates to more fuel available for cooking.