The Development of a Gasification-Stove for the Rural Poor in Vietnam

The Development of a Gasification-Stove for the Rural Poor in Vietnam

Hoebe, R.J.

Crul, M. (mentor)
Tempelman, E. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Design Engineering

DfS

2012-04-27

Vietnam’s economy is largely agricultural, with rice being the most cultivated crop. Apart from the rice itself, being the most important food source in Asia, the production also creates a great amount of waste. Currently, this ‘waste’ is simply burned on-site since that is the easiest solution for the farmers to get rid of it. However, the low quality combustion at low temperatures creates polluting smoke and leaves most material only partially burned. As a result, rice waste burning is one of Vietnam’s main environmental concerns. Rice husk has proven to be a valuable energy source for cooking in the rural area’s of Vietnam. With the application of a technique called gasification, an improved cooking stove was developed that can reduce indoor air pollution, which is one of the major health issues in developing countries. Furthermore, gasification reduces the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2), and takes away the need of buying the relatively expensive coal that is often used for cooking. This is replaced with rice husk or other biomass, which is easier to access for people in those regions. Moreover, the residual charcoal from the gasifier (also called biochar) is a very good fertilizer and a source for soil restoration. The objective of the project was improving an existing proof of concept in terms of convenience and performance. During a 3 month period in Vietnam, the most important values and parameters of the stove were established by means of applied research. It was determined that the target group would benefit from sufficient cooking power, cooking time, and clean emissions. Observations also assessed that the proof of concept should be improved in terms of safety and convenience. This led to three different concepts provided with a premix-burner, from which one was chosen to be used for the new gasifier-stove design. The detailing included calculating the most important dimensions and specifications of the gasifier stove by analysing the chemical process of gasification. Initial tests with a prototype burner were carried out to check the influences of different parameters. Finally all results were transferred into the creation of 3D CAD model. Using this design as input, an almost identical prototype was made. The success of the project was verified by comparative testing of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons emissions , accompanied with a user test and evaluation.

gasification
stove
rice husk

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:15c8c13d-29f3-4a46-8058-623110e3c750

2013-04-27

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2012 Hoebe, R.J.