DEVELOPMENT OF ETHANOL GEL COOK STOVE

As a result of ongoing global oil price hikes, forest depletion, and rising electricity bills, there has been an increasing interest in using more available alternative energy for cooking in recent years. This has sparked interest in the fabrication of an ethanol-powered clean cook stove as an alternative to fossil fuels and fuel wood. The ethanol clean cook stove is a wickless stove, made up of a galvanized steel combustion chamber, a seat pot made of mild steel iron rod, an air inlet section with a choke adjustment, and a mild steel plate frame. The construction approach involved folding and welding. The fabricated ethanol clean cook stove was tested using the produced banana ethanol gel, cassava ethanol gel, and the purchased biofuel gel. The results of the cold, hot, and simmer tests performed show that the biofuel gel has the following thermal efficiency: 45.31%, 59.56%, and 38%; the thermal efficiency of the banana ethanol gel is 55.3%, 61.44%, and 32.03%; while that of the cassava ethanol gel is 51.03%, 60.04%, and 32.2%, respectively. The boiling water test conducted when the ethanol cook stove was still cold (cold test) using the biofuel, banana, and cassava ethanol gels takes 13.11 minutes, 13.23 minutes, and 13.23 minutes, respectively, for one (1) litre of water to be boiled. Whereas boiling one (1) litre of water when the ethanol cook stove is warmed (hot test) takes 11.25 minutes, 11.15 minutes, and 12.31 minutes, respectively. The fabricated ethanol cook stove was compared with kerosene, LPG, and electric stoves. The results show that the fabricated ethanol cook stove takes longer to boil a litre of water, and kerosene produces more carbon soot than banana and cassava ethanol gels. An optimal thermal efficiency of 61.44% was achieved after testing the fabricated stove using the water boiling test. One litre of the biofuel gel, banana ethanol gel, and cassava ethanol gel used for the boiling test analysis resulted in boiling times that varied slightly under two (2) minutes. The experiment proved that the stove was appropriate for domestic use. Each part was modeled in 3D using Solid Works CAD software and then analyzed (simulated) using Ansys software. The result revealed that the loaded frame had an extreme stress of 1.24E+06 Pa, which is less than the yield strength of the materials of 2.5E+08 MPa, indicating that the design is secure. Although both ethanol gels and kerosene fuels produce a blue flame, it was discovered that ethanol gel burns cleanly and emits neither smoke nor odor when extinguished. The blue flame output makes the stove a more user-friendly and energy-efficient device. As a result, the ethanol clean cook stove serves as a renewable energy product, which would remain relevant as long as the world strives to solve fossil fuel depletion and concerns about greenhouse gas emissions.