Thesis
Effect of wood fuel size and form in biomass microgasifier cookstoves
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
12/2015
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/102397
Abstract
It is known that improved cookstoves such as a top-lit up-draft (TLUD) biomass microgasifier cookstove can greatly decrease the use of fuel and toxic emissions when compared to a primitive, but widely used, three-stone fire. Research has been done to characterize these stoves for fuel types, but limited research exists for the effects of wood size and form. The objective of this thesis was to find to what extent a change in fuel size or form affects the performance of the Prime Circular TLUD cookstove. To achieve this, a fume hood was designed and built with the ability to accurately sample and calculate carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon dioxide (CO2) mass production with electronic sensors. The fume hood was also equipped with a 2.5-micrometer diameter particulate matter (PM2.5) collection system, which was used to determine the mass production of PM2.5 gravimetrically. The Prime cookstove was tested according to a modified Water Boil Test (WBT) at a high power setting for boiling, and at a low power setting for simmering 5 L of water with three sizes of wood pellets, two sizes of wood blocks, and one size of wood chip fuel. Performance metrics such as boil time, efficiency, fuel consumption rate, specific energy consumption (SEC), and production rates of CO, CO2, and PM2.5 were measured and calculated. High power tests resulted in a range of effects with fuel form and size changes. High power burn rates and SEC are affected by fuel form and size changes, though no trend is discernable. Efficiency was found to be generally the same with similar wood forms. Size had no affect on high power thermal efficiency. Simmer efficiencies decreased with larger pellet sizes, increased with larger block sizes. The opposite trend was noticed with simmer burn rates and specific fuel consumption. It was found that little to no effect is had on CO2 production by a change in fuel form or size. CO and PM2.5 production rates are generally increased with an increase in fuel size for the low power simmer phase.
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Details
- Title
- Effect of wood fuel size and form in biomass microgasifier cookstoves
- Creators
- Kyle J. Saari
- Contributors
- Cecilia D. Richards (Chair)Robert F Richards (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Mechanical and Materials Engineering, School ofKonstantin Matveev (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Mechanical and Materials Engineering, School of
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Mechanical and Materials Engineering, School of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Number of pages
- 135
- Identifiers
- 99900525049901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis