Evaluating Biomass Cook Stove Performance and Harnessing Waste Heat for Power Generation Using Thermoelectric Technology

The utilization of biomass cook stove is cautiously improving, particularly, in the hinterland of Nigeria. Considering this fact, a biomass stove was produced and evaluated for quality performance using fuels such as briquette and lump charcoal. The stove was fabricated using galvanized steel and lagged to enhance the effect and safety. In middle of this, reasonable amount of excess heat was harvested for conversion into electrical energy using a procedure called the seek beck effect. The behaviour of the cook stove was assessed in terms of thermal efficiency and measured during the time of cooking. A thermoelectric module (TEG 2- 126LDT) possessing distinct cold and hot sides was wedged alongside an aluminum heat sink after which was screwed to body of the stove. Two experiments employing two and three thermoelectric modules were conducted to establish how best to produce electricity while using the cook stove. The stove exhibited thermal efficiencies of 75% and 60.5% for briquette coal and the lump coal respectively. These results demonstrated satisfactory thermal efficiency, despite the fact that briquette coal showed superior performance. The power generated from heat to electricity conversion were 5.45W and 7.70 W. These results suggest that, by having more modules sandwiched and combing it with an efficient water cooling method, higher electrical power can be generated.