Design, Construction and Assessment of an Improved Hybrid Charcoal-LPG Cookstove

ABSTRACT

Globally three (3) billion people use inefficient cook stoves and fuels and the smoke emitted from these cook stoves leads to 4.3 million deaths per year. In Ghana, 70% of households use traditional cook stoves and solid fuels whose emissions lead to 17,000 deaths every year with 50% of them being children under five (5) years of age. Whilst the negative health impacts of the emissions generated by these cook stoves is increasingly being recognized, there are limited varieties of improved cook stoves that can eliminate these negative impacts on indoor air quality, and consequently on the health of the households. The aim of the study was to design, construct and assess the performance of an institutional cook stove, which uses charcoal or LPG as an alternate fuel.

Engineering and non-Engineering principles were followed to achieve a successful design and meet the necessary requirements. Performance tests (i.e. the controlled cooking test and emissions test) carried out on the cook stove. In comparison with the traditional charcoal cook stove, the newly designed cook stove had a specific fuel use reduction of 21.26% and an increase in processing rate of 20.00%. With regards to emissions, it had significant carbon monoxide and particulate matter reductions of 35.55% and 9.42% respectively which were both below the WHO limits. Similarly, when using LPG, its performance was comparable with locally produced LPG cook stoves, with carbon monoxide and particulate matter emissions reduced by 47.50% and 43.29% respectively. This therefore attested that the designed cook stove was an improved type.

Cooking with this improved cook stove will reduce the quantity of fuel needed for a cooking session and also facilitate a faster cooking time for larger quantities of foods cooked. Whiles benefiting from these, users who are exposed to hazardous emissions such as carbon monoxide and particulate matter are relieved by the significant reductions emitted from the improved cook

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stove. This makes room for addressing the health implicatory issues that all users are exposed to and affected by eventually.