Design, Development and Performance Evaluation of a Rocket Stove with Skirt for Household Use

Abstract

Biomass wood is a vital energy source for cooking in developing nations like Ethiopia, particularly in rural areas. However, inefficient use of biomass wood fuel for cooking leads to socioeconomic and environmental problems. To address this, a study aims to design, develop, and test a locally-made rocket stove with a variable combustion chamber height. The rocket stove's geometrical parameters were designed using a principle from the Aprovecho Research Center, integrating locally accessible stove bodies and insulating materials. Two height variations for the combustion chamber one with 36 cm height and the second with 24 cm were developed and tested to investigate the performance of the stove. Experimental investigations were conducted to study the performance of the designed model. Water boiling tests were carried out using 2.5 kg of water and local Eucalyptus globulus wood logs with 10.53% of moisture content as feedstock. For a 36 cm combustion chamber height, the average firepower input was 6.156 kW, the average time to boil was 9.83 minutes, the burning rate was 19.6 g/min, the specific fuel consumption was 79.15 g/liter, and the thermal efficiency was 30.23%. For the 24 cm combustion chamber height, the average firepower input was 5.44 kW, the average time to boil was 11.42 minutes, the burning rate was 17.33 g/min, the specific fuel consumption was 79.48 g/liter, and the thermal efficiency was 28.51%. The results showed that the combustion chamber with a height of 36 cm performed better than the one with a height of 24 cm. the designed rocket stove showed considerable improvement over recently developed improved biomass stoves in Ethiopia, and the results suggest that the new stove has the potential to significantly reduce the socio-economic and environmental problems associated with biomass wood fuel for cooking in Ethiopia.