Journal Article

Gasification Performance of a Top-Lit Updraft Cook Stove

Richards, Cecilia, Mehta, Yogesh

2017

Overview

This paper reports on an experimental study of a top-lit updraft cook stove with a focus on gasification. The reactor is operated with primary air only. The performance is studied for a variation in the primary airflow, as well as reactor geometry. Temperature in the reactor, air flow rate, fuel consumption rate, and producer gas composition were measured. From the measurements the superficial velocity, pyrolysis front velocity, peak bed temperature, air fuel ratio, heating value of the producer gas, and gasification rate were calculated. The results show that the producer gas energy content was maximized at a superficial velocity of 9 cm/s. The percent char remaining at the end of gasification decreased with increasing combustion chamber diameter. For a fixed superficial velocity, the gasification rate and producer gas energy content were found to scale linearly with diameter. The energy content of the producer gas was maximized at an air fuel (AF) ratio of 1.8 regardless of the diameter.

• Publisher: MDPI AG
• Subject: Biomass energy / biomass gasification / Charcoal / cook stove performance / Cooking / Efficiency / Experiments / Fire protection / Ovens & stoves / producer gas from biomass / Propagation / Studies / TLUD (Top-Lit Updraft Gasifier) / top-lit updraft cook stove / Velocity