Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Designing lighter weight, energy efficient cook stoves withmaterialsavailable in Malawi, Africa
EPA Grant Number: SU836955Title: Designing lighter weight, energy efficient cook stoves withmaterialsavailable in Malawi, Africa
Investigators: Ekegren, Kenneth J , Bishop, Carter , Reed, Trevor , Thimmes, Victoria , Stricklin, Sara
Institution: North Central State College
EPA Project Officer:
Phase: II
Project Period: February 1, 2017 through January 31, 2020 (Extended to July 31, 2020)
Project Amount: $71,060
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet - Phase 2 (2016) Recipients Lists
Research Category: P3 Challenge Area - Air Quality , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
Background and Problem Definition
A vast majority of villagers in rural Africa use wood or charcoal as their main source of cooking fuel. The villagers almost exclusively build “3 stone fires” which are inefficient, smoky and expose users to the dangers of open flames. They are not only inefficient in using too much wood, but they also do a poor job in heating the cooking pot as most of the heat escapes into the atmosphere. The use of these open fires exposed people to smoke related health problems, increase in deforestation in their area, and financial hardship (to purchase charcoal). Each factor continues to keep these rural villagers from improving their standard of living. Demonstrating and teaching the construction of rocket stoves helps these villagers improve their living conditions in a positive way. The gathering of wood by young girls farther away from their village also exposed them to a multitude of dangers. Phase II of this grant allowed our team to teach the villagers how to build and/or rebuild rocket stoves using locally available materials.
A second aspect of the Phase II was to provide an alternative to kerosene burning lamps or battery-operated flashlights for evening lighting. Kerosene lamps have been found to be a contributor to pneumonia in young children. In an underdeveloped world, it also becomes a costly expense. Our engineering students researched and presented a system of LED lights for each household, with provisions to charge their cell phones instead of paying for a charge at the local markets.
Purpose, Objectives, and Scope
Phase II was developed to demonstrate and teach the fabrication of rocket stoves in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Malawi during a 5 week visit in Africa. It also encompassed the demonstration and distribution of solar powered LED lights and battery packs for charging cell phones. The objective was to manufacture and distribute stoves and solar lighting packages for 24 individual homes in each country. The villagers in each country were involved in the making of the stoves, with each group showing the students the preferred mixture of clay insulation. The mixtures included clay with sawdust, rice hulls, peanut shells and/or cow dung.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Data, Outputs, Outcomes and Findings
Tanzania: Local fabricator made 24 steel shells for rocket stoves. Students built wooden forms to create a mold for the firebox and chimney for stoves. Villagers and students worked together to build two sample stoves with clay-sawdust-cow dung insulating mixture. These stoves were allowed to dry for two days, then had wood fires started in them to demonstrate their use with the wood sitting on a metal shelf (for air flow beneath) and a metal ring (skirt) surrounding the cooking pot on top of the stove to keep the hot exhaust from the fire in close contact with the cook pot. On the second visit, the solar powered LED lights and battery packs were demonstrated and distributed. Due to the restrictions of transporting Lithium-Ion battery packs by airplane, we were only able to distribute two battery packs per country. The rest were shipped by ocean freight in 2020.
Uganda: A local fabricator made two sample steel shells for rocket stoves. Our partner in Uganda, Aid-Africa, has been manufacturing a 100% clay stove made using six bricks for many years. They have distributed thousands of these stoves to villagers. We visited their brick making facility and learned about this style. The women take the loose bundle of bricks back to their homes, assemble them in a barrel arrangement, wire them together, and then mud the outside of the assembly to form a permanent stove in their homes. We demonstrated our design at the Aid-Africa office for them to see, but their design and distribution method was more efficient for their area. However, while visiting, we were able to inspect and take data on a larger stove made using a 55-gallon drum with an inner liner that we were able to replicate in our next two countries. We distributed LED lights and two battery packs to the Aid Africa team, who would distribute the lights to needy villagers later.
Kenya: A local fabricator made 24 steel shells for rocket stoves. The students once again built wooden forms to create the firebox and chimney. We were able to receive two shells very quickly, which we took to a local village where the students and villagers built two rocket stoves, this time with a mixture of clay and sawdust. The women in each village were knowledgeable in creating the optimal ratio of clay and sawdust to create the insulation in each stove. When fired, the sawdust burns out, leaving insulating air pockets. After the two-day drying period, the stoves were demonstrated using the metal shelf for wood and metal skirt surrounding the cooking pot. During this time, the solar powered LED lights and battery packs were demonstrated and distributed. While waiting for the clay to dry, the students were able to direct the fabrication of a larger stove as seen in Uganda. The 55-gallon drum had an inner liner that could hold a 20-liter cook pot which sat down in the main drum. This allowed the heat and exhaust from the stove to circle under and then up the sides of the cook pot, and then back down the inside of the drum to escape out a smokestack. The heat was generated by our standard size rocket stove, mounted inside at the bottom of the 55-gallon drum. This larger stove is being used at the village school for cooking lunch.
Malawi: Based on the stove design that was presented during Phase 1 of the grant, the Malawian villagers preferred a more elaborately constructed stove where the firebox and chimney were built using flat clay tiles that were previously fired, cut, and assembled into an L-shaped firebox and chimney. The assembly was then inserted into the metal stove and a fresh clay and peanut shell mixture was used to complete the insulation. Based on their previous experience using Phase 1 stoves, they found these stoves to last longer (but were more elaborate to manufacture). As a result, the fabricator made 24 of their stove shells with a larger side hole to accommodate the clay tile firebox and chimney assembly. As was the method in the other countries, the stoves were dried for two days, during which time we demonstrated and distributed the solar powered LED lights and battery packs. The students also worked with a weld shop and had a larger stove built using the data gathered in Uganda, plus the experience of building the first prototype in Kenya. Once again, the 55-gallon drum was modified with an inner liner that held a 20-liter cook pot. This stove will be used at the outdoor kitchen for cooking beans and relish and will replace a three-stone fire that had been traditionally used.
Follow up trip to Kenya and Malawi: In 2020, Ken Ekegren attended a solar conference in Nairobi and was able to return to the villages in Kenya and Malawi to see how the stoves were being adopted. In both countries, the villagers were incredibly happy with the reduced amount of wood needed to cook their daily meals. We were not able to get quantitative data on wood reduction, but comments ranged in reduction of 1/3 to 1/2 the amount of wood now. With respect to the solar LED lights, I asked how much money they were saving by not buying kerosene for their lanterns. They laughed when they realized it had been so long since buying kerosene that they did not even know the current cost!
Information from a follow up questionnaire that was received from each country indicated the solar lamps would last about six hours per night provided they had a full day of sunshine to charge. The battery packs took 2 to 3 days to charge, which would be sufficient to charge a standard flip phone. However, they indicated the battery packs were not strong enough to charge a large smart phone. In 2019, the LED lamps with 10 feet of wire to a small solar panel cost about $8 each.
In January 2020, Ken Ekegren attended and presented this grant project at the ETHOS conference in Seattle, Washington. ETHOS is a non-profit organization whose concentration is in the improvement of rocket stoves in third world countries. At the conference, Professor Ekegren was able to take two new Jet Flame blowers with him on his follow up trip to Kenya and Malawi. The Jet Flame blower is a cast iron implement that is placed into a rocket stove in place of the metal shelf for wood. It is powered by either a small lithium ion battery pack or a 3-watt solar panel. The blower provides fresh air to the wood sitting on it in the firebox, providing a forced draft arrangement. Upon installation of this Jet Flame in the 55-gallon drum stove in Kenya, the villagers were able to boil water in a 20-liter pot by burning corn cobs. They were not able to generate sufficient heat without the Jet Flame. We were not able to demonstrate the Jet Flame in Malawi, as the opening in the side of the stove had to be enlarged to accept the Jet Flame apparatus. However, it was demonstrated that the Jet Flame improved the efficiency of even a three stone fire, as it produced a stronger fire with less smoke. In both countries, though, COVID restrictions have interrupted the use of the stoves to get a better report on their use and functionality.
Another issue that became apparent during the grant process was the inability to ship the lithium ion battery packs by air freight. As mentioned previously, we were only able to distribute two battery packs per country because of our limits for carry-on battery packs during our transit to Africa. As a result, we had to ship the remaining lithium-ion battery packs to Africa via ocean freight. The shipment arrived in Kenya in October 2020 and will be forwarded to each country soon. Even freight by truck across African borders has been slowed by COVID-19.
Conclusions:
Discussion, Conclusions and Recommendations
In each country, the use of rocket stoves and solar powered lights has improved the quality of life for the villagers. Verification of the use of these products during the 2020 return visit indicated that this technology has been adopted overwhelmingly. Reduction in wood used, reduction of smoke and fire hazards with open fires, reduction of burning kerosene for lighting (and less health issues due to soot) and reduction of costs for fuel all contributed to the improvement of the villagers’ lifestyles. Reduction of wood for cooking also reduces the impact of deforestation. The solar lighting also allowed students to study and perform homework after dark, which occurs consistently around 6 pm at these equatorial locations.
The advent of low-cost solar powered LED lamps is an example of recent technologies that has dramatically improved the quality of life for African villagers. Local, distributed solar power via solar panels on homes is providing the electrical needs for lighting, phone charging and in some cases radio power. The solar powered LED lamps we distributed demonstrated the powerful benefits of locally available power. The introduction of these solar lights has been a big step in providing that first example of distributed power, which will expand as solar panels and lights continue to get more affordable.
Summary of Educational Accomplishments Resulting from P3 Project
The P3 project utilized a total of eight undergraduate college students. These students were part of a program called College-NOW where juniors and seniors in local high schools attended North Central State College full-time and received their Associate Degree in Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technology concurrent with their high school diplomas. Two of the students worked on both Phase 1 and 2, enabling them to expand on their experience of working with villagers in Africa. All students that worked on the grant participated through classwork in ENGR2930, Engineering Related Studies, and MECT2910, Mechanical Design Project.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 1 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Household Energy, Cookstoves, Sustainable Development, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, AfricaProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractP3 Phase I:
Designing lighter weight, energy efficient cookstoves with materials available in Malawi, Africa | Final ReportThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.
Project Research Results
- 2019 Progress Report
- 2018 Progress Report
- 2017 Progress Report
- Original Abstract
- P3 Phase I | Final Report