Chapter IV.

Conclusions

As over a quarter of the world’s population will continue to rely on biomass fuels to
cook for decades to come, new ideas surrounding the way in which food is prepared must be
examined. Current biomass cookstove practices that are used in developing countries result
in incomplete combustion, releasing toxic chemicals such as CO, NOx, and soot into homes,
elevating the risk for disease and death from inhalation. Three stone cookstoves and the
low thermal efficiencies associated with them require users to burn mass amounts of fuel to
cook resulting in increased deforestation and time spent collecting firewood for women and
children.
As organizations such as the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves continue to
push for implementation of clean cookstoves in the developing world to improve upon
traditional cookstoves, results found from testing could point to an easier alternative. The
establishment of an inverse relationship between firepower and thermal efficiency,
regardless of the cookstove, opens up a new route to reduce biomass fuel consumption in
which tending practices become the main focus over cookstove type. This result could aid in
future cookstove designs that limit the amount fuel that can be added at one time, reducing
firepower and increasing thermal efficiency. Better tending of cookstove fires may be a
simpler solution to dealing with many issues typically associated with three stone
cookstoves.
Although rocket stove design have limited the user to the amount of
fuel that can be burnt at one time ensuring better biomass thermal efficiency, it appears
that these stoves are not able to improve upon their combustion regime. Future research
can transcend non-premixed combustion into well-stirred or pre-mixed combustion which
would lower the temperature of the reaction and improve combustion efficiency, thus
reducing emissions and the amount of fuel needed to cook. Well-stirred or pre-mixed
combustion in conjunction with better tending practices have the potential to improve
human health, reduce deforestation, and improve upon social issues associated with
firewood collection. Though the use of biomass cookstoves for years to come may be certain,
new cookstove research, as revealed in this thesis, will continue to bring new hope for a
healthier and more sustainable tomorrow.