Performance enhancement of an advanced micro gasifier cook stove

Abstract

Around 3 billion people use open fire and improved stoves by burning biomass (wood, animal dung and crop/agricultural waste) and coal for cooking and heating their houses. Over 4 million people die prematurely from illness due to indoor air pollution from cooking with solid biomass fuels. More than 50% of these premature deaths are due to pneumonia among children aged below 5 caused by Particulate Matter (PM) inhaled from household air pollution. In fact, about 3.8 million above said premature deaths annually from non-communicable diseases including stroke, ischemic heart disease, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and lung cancer are attributed to exposure to household air pollution due to burning of biomass. Biomass is an organic matter that stores energy in the form of chemical energy with the presence of the sun and it is the most precious and versatile resource existing on the earth. Unlike fossil fuels, it is a Renewable Energy (RE) resource available wherever the climatic conditions are favorable for plant growth and production. Cooking energy in rural areas is derived from biomass by using Traditional Cook Stoves (TCS). In recent times, improvement of the performance of biomass cook stoves, both on efficiency and emission of pollutants created some attention to scientists and researchers. Thousands of new model stoves have been developed by many researchers and a few hundreds have been disseminated around the world. But still many people all over the globe have been affected by Indoor Air newlinePollution (IAP) due to inefficient means of cooking. newline newline