Grantee Research Project Results

2013 Progress Report: Integrating Improved Sustainable Technologies into the Heart of the Home-the Kitchen

EPA Grant Number: SU835295
Title: Integrating Improved Sustainable Technologies into the Heart of the Home-the Kitchen
Investigators: Bormann, Noel E , London, Mara , Stevens, Christopher E. , Carroll, Tait , Arreola, Joshua , Bokides, Eric , Brunner, Jordan , Croucher, Lorena , Fry, Spencer , Mechenbier, Richelle , Moravec, Taylor , Beyer, Krista , Bladow, Jessica , Lawrence, Paige
Current Investigators: Bormann, Noel E , Chelini, Zac , Hamke, Tyler , Phillips, Davis , Reiling, Allie , Ueki, Ryder , Zentner, Daniel , Zucca, Anthony
Institution: Gonzaga University
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Phase: II
Project Period: August 15, 2012 through August 14, 2014 (Extended to August 14, 2016)
Project Period Covered by this Report: August 15, 2012 through August 14,2013
Project Amount: $90,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet - Phase 2 (2012) Recipients Lists
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Awards , P3 Challenge Area - Safe and Sustainable Water Resources , P3 Challenge Area - Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Sustainable and Healthy Communities

Objective:

Many areas in Southern Africa are undergoing rapid growth; as a result, there has been a significant increase in the number of people who live in the peri-urban zones that connect urban areas to the farms in surrounding rural areas.  In this zone, there is insufficient urban infrastructure to meet critical needs for potable water, sanitation, and energy requirements.

The project goal is to improve the health of women and children via two measures:  (1) improving indoor air quality by using cook stoves with thermal electric generation (TEG) cells driven by waste heat from cooking fires with improved ventilation, and (2) by developing a novel water filter system that enhances sustainability of water treatment by reducing the amount of fuel-wood consumed.

To achieve the goal of improved health for women and children, the project is developing an integrated combination of sustainable technologies focused on activities in the kitchen.  Because women typically organize the water and food for the family, women also will lead the effort to encourage families to adopt the stoves and filters. The project will have products to introduce into the local communities and provide education and training to local women and local workers to produce the devices.  

The project provides an active and engaging opportunity for the team to participate in a multi-disciplinary effort to achieve complex results.  The team includes civil engineering, mechanical engineering and entrepreneurial business students.  The team experiences the challenges of cross-cultural and developing world communications, logistics and learning to apply US educational experiences to the requirements of problems in a developing peri-urban situation.

Progress Summary:

The 2012-2013 team was composed of students in civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and engineering management and students in the Hogan Entrepreneurial Program at Gonzaga University.

During the project activities, a series of prototype rocket stoves with an attached TEG cell was developed and tested.  The TEG cell was tested as able to charge a cell phone battery and the rocket stove prototypes reduced smoke particle emissions compared to a "three rock fire."  Using loose bio-fuels like corn stover was not successful.

The water filter development focused on improving the manufacturability of the bowl-shaped filters and the correct proportions of clay and burn-out materials.  The experience of the team was that production of the filters was uneven in quality as well as durability and required access to a reliable source of high quality clay materials in addition to access to a kiln to fire the ceramic materials.

The team sent two third-year students to Zambia to test the prototype cook stove with TEG cell in Zambian applications as a part of an intentional effort to collect relevant local information. This visit produced a variety of information and feedback gathered from interviews, emails and contact with Zambian stakeholders and users. Figure 1 shows one of the stove demonstrations in Zambia. The feedback from Zambians to team members will continue to inform the project.  

Figure 1.

The Zambian stakeholders encouraged the team to make a lighter, more mobile cook stove so that they were more similar to the braziers used locally for cooking.  There was a high degree of interest in the use of the stove and TEG cell, but a semi-permanent installation of a stove-TEG in a kitchen wall was seen to be a disadvantage by women who wanted the ability to use the stove outdoors.  Users also asked the team to develop an easier way to add fuel into the stove's combustion chamber.  Feedback and general comments and suggested modifications to the prototype stove will be incorporated into future prototypes.

The prototype water filters met with resistance to adoption when presented to the Zambian women.  There are cultural perceptions that result in a reluctance to spend resources and effort on a water filter.  The team was told that God supplies the water and will supply it as clean as it needs to be. The feedback from local stakeholders indicated a need to modify the water filter concept. Modification for filter methods will be pursued in our future efforts.

Future Activities:

A multi-disciplinary team of students produced working prototypes of a cook stove that can charge small electrical devices when tested in Zambezi, Zambia.  Prototype water filters faced resistance to implementation.  Students in the capstone design course sequence achieved a variety of educational benefits and presented the project results at the annual Gonzaga Center for Engineering Design Project Exposition in May, 2013.

The continuing project efforts will incorporate the results into a second series of design modifications and material changes for the stove-TEG and for the water filter.  The future teams will apply entrepreneurial methods to empower Zambian women as agents of change to promote adoption of these technologies to increase the effectiveness of modified sustainable designs.

Journal Articles:

No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 3 publications for this project

Supplemental Keywords:

Sustainable power, cook stove, thermal electric generation, water filter, entrepreneurial

Progress and Final Reports:

Original Abstract

2014 Progress Report

2015

Final Report

P3 Phase I:

Integrating Improved Sustainable Technologies into the Heart of the Home — The Kitchen  | Final Report