A step closer to a better cook stove!

By Lesly Hernandez

Cooking stoves that use biomass fuels such as wood are still in use today mainly by Amish communities. These stoves are not only used for cooking but also to warm up a room. Being exposed to the products from cooking with biomass fuels has had an impact on premature deaths per year. Furthermore, cooking with solid biomass releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which contributes to climate change. Researchers are looking into new ways of increasing the cooking performance of biomass cook stoves while at the same time decreasing the harmful particulate matter they release. Research has shown that adding turbulence into the gas-phase combustion zone can improve cooking performance as well as reducing the particulate matter from the biomass fire (Rapp et al., 2016). Two stoves designed by Lawrence Berkeley, Berkeley umbrella stove (BUS) and Berkeley shower stove (BSS), were introduced to study how air injection affects the performance of a biomass cook stove. The stoves were compared to the Berkeley Darfur Stove (BDS) and a three stone fire (TSF). According to the results air injection reduces particulate matter as well as carbon monoxide emissions but it did not improve cooking performance (thermal efficiency). The most efficient stove was the Berkeley shower stove except it produced ultrafine particles less than 30nm which can result in health risks for humans specially to the lungs (Rapp et al., 2016). The new stove design can help alleviate the release of CO into the atmosphere which might result in less air pollution.  The downside to the new model is that it will still be harmful for people’s health and they are expensive.

Baker's Oven Wood Heat/Cook Stove

$2,849.00

References

Lehman’s for a simpler life. "Cookstoves - Lehman's." Cookstoves - Lehman's. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Sept. 2016. https://www.lehmans.com/category/cookstoves/a

Rapp, V.H., J. J. Caubel, D. L. Wilson, and A. J. Gadgil (2016). Reducing ultrafine particle emissions using air injection in wood-burning cookstoves. Environmental Science and Technology. 50: 8368-8374.