Development and testing of gasifier stove for coffee husks: the case study of Kalinzi village in Kigoma region, Tanzania mainland

Traditional household cooking stoves in the rural coffee-growing at Kalinzi village in the region of Kigoma, Tanzania contributes to deforestation and respiratory health issues. The most common type of cooking stove in the area is a three-stone stove, which uses an open fire with three stones to support a cooking pot. The majority of cooking takes place inside the house with little ventilation, exposing people to dangerous emissions such as particulate matter and carbon monoxide. With respect to global issues of sustainable energy and reduction in greenhouse gases, biomass energy as one of the key sources of renewable energy is getting increased attention as a potential source of energy in the future. This work has been carried out to design, manufacture and testing an applicable type biomass gasifier stove using locally available coffee husks as biomass fuels. The gasifier stove performance was tested by water boiling tests (WBT) and effects of parameters variation tests (burning rates tests) The results obtained from this study shows that, the thermal efficiency seem to be improved from 12.8% to 24% of existing stove and developed stove respectively. Experiments on biomass mass loss rate were conducted in four phases by iteration of opening fully and half primary airflow. The experiments revealed that, in most cases the fully opened secondary airflow and fully opened primary airflow shows the positive results compared to the existing stove.