Heterogeneous Stove Testing Methods for the Evaluation of Domestic Solid-Fuel Cookstoves

Abstract

More rigorous and detailed test procedures are desirable to determine the effect of various design modifications on the performance of fuel/cookstove combinations, and to optimize their performance. This research paper investigated the effect of a novel heterogeneous testing method to evaluate the performance of domestic solid fuel/cookstove combinations. The water-heating test (WHT) and the ‘hood’ method were used as the basis of the tests with additional variants of fuel load, power setting and method of ignition. The experimental cookstoves included a typical brazier (Imbaula), a new type Mozambique ceramic cookstove, the baseline Mozambique metal cookstove, and the bottom-lit down-drafting (BLDD) coal cookstove. Results showed that a heterogeneous testing method provides more representative performance data over a wide range of usage scenarios, the equivalent of providing performance curves rather than the minimum and maximum performance points provided by single tasked based methods. This novel heterogeneous testing method generates robust and diagnostic results with which to compare fuel/cookstove technologies. Cookstove designers and programme managers who wish to improve the design of existing and new cookstoves, and to promote efficient fuel/cookstove technologies based on sound laboratory tests can use the principles explored in this study.