Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Power Harvesting System For More Efficient, Cleaner Burning Cookstoves
EPA Grant Number: SU836027Title: Power Harvesting System For More Efficient, Cleaner Burning Cookstoves
Investigators: Jones, Matthew , Lewis, Randy S , Crellin, Brennan , Mackay, Curtis , Decker, Fred , Wada, Sharyn , Pokharel, Suman , Terrill, Trevor
Institution: Brigham Young University
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Phase: I
Project Period: August 15, 2011 through August 14, 2012
Project Amount: $15,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2011) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Challenge Area - Sustainable and Healthy Communities , P3 Challenge Area - Air Quality , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
Each day more than 2 billion people cook using open fires or fires in primitive cookstoves that are fueled with biomass (wood, straw, crop waste, dung, etc…). These fires pollute homes and the environment, leading to serious health problems and contributing to global climate change. Additionally, fuel must be purchased at relatively high prices, or many hours are required to gather sufficient fuel each day. High fuel costs siphon away limited financial resources, and scrounging for fuel limits time available for education or other economically productive activities.
Each problem associated with biomass combustion – confining people in poverty as well as the negative health and environmental impacts – may be alleviated by engineering biomass cookstoves that promote complete combustion. In Phase I, the BYU P3 team addressed this issue by developing a power harvesting system that extracts power from the exhaust stream from a traditional Peruvian cookstove. The harvested power is used to power a fan that ventilates the living space while directing more air into the combustion zone, which decreases the fuel to air ratio and leads to more complete combustion of the biomass fuel.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
In Phase I, the BYU P3 team focused on the development of a system that may be retrofit unobtrusively in a traditional Peruvian cookstove. This approach was adopted based on the premise that unobtrusive systems would be more readily accepted than the approach adopted by other humanitarian engineering teams that are developing entirely new clean burning cookstoves.
The first criterion for success of this project is the development of a system that will harvest power from the exhaust stream using a TEG and power a fan that will improve the indoor air quality by ventilating the living space and increasing the combustion efficiency by creating a flame that is less fuel rich than the flames generated in a typical biomass cookstove. The BYU P3 team replicated a traditional Peruvian cookstove and built a hearth similar to those commonly found in remote Peruvian villages. This infrastructure has enabled the BYU P3 team to design and test a system. Preliminary assessments of this system were were conducted using a carbon monoxide monitor and filters to measure the improvements in combustion process due to the increased air flow, and these assessments indicate that the project is successful. Additional verification of the system will be performed and the results will be presented at the 2012 National Sustainable Design Expo in April.
The second criterion for success of this project is successful installation of a system in a home in a remote Peruvian village and acceptance of the system by the homeowner. The groundwork for a successful implementation trip has been laid through extensive planning and training of the implementation team with the assistance of BYU’s Sociology Department. The team is ready to implement the power harvesting / fan system in a remote Peruvian village. In conjunction with the Global Engineering Outreach (GEO) program sponsored by the Fulton College and with external partner Eagle/Condor, the BYU P3 team will join with several other GEO design teams in a two week implementation trip immediately following the Expo.
Conclusions:
The BYU P3 team has made considerable progress during Phase I and gained deeper understanding of the issues involved in the development of clean burning biomass cookstoves. Although the initial premise (unobtrusive systems would be adopted more readily that radically new cookstoves) is well founded, the team realizes that an approach that essentially requires a unique retrofit to improve a single stove does not adequately address massive scale of the problem. Therefore, the Phase II proposal presents a plan in which the BYU P3 leverages the economies of scale associated with mass production to design, test, disseminate and ensure sustained use of a greater number of clean burning biomass cookstoves than could be achieved with the approach implemented in Phase I.
Supplemental Keywords:
Sustainable development, clean burning biomass cookstoves, global climate change, black carbon aerosolsRelevant Websites:
Global Engineering Outreach ExitThe 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.