Fabrication and Performance Evaluation of an Improved Briquette Stove.

Abstract

The study was to design and fabricate an improved stove that uses biomass briquettes as fuel and to determine the performance of the stove using briquettes produced from a combination of rice husk and corncob in the proportion 75% rice husk and 25% corn cob. The stove design principles specified in literatures were taken into consideration while designing the stove and the stove was fabricated using the specified parameters in the design. The moisture content of the briquette used was 13.3%, the heat of combustion was 15641.4 kJ kg-1and the burning rate of the fuel was calculated to be 0.45Kg/hr. The efficiency of the stove was determined using Water Boiling Tests (WBT). The efficiency was 51.2%, the time required to boil 1.2 kg of water was 23mins from cold start, the specific fuel consumption of the stove was gotten to be 3.39kg/kg and the time spent in cooking was 18.6kg/hr. The results are near standards and modification can be done to improve stove efficiency.