Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT-G) led by Prof. P Muthukumar have developed a technology that makes cookstoves energy-efficient, economical and eco-friendly.
Burners used in these cookstoves are based on Porous Medium Combustion (PMC) technology, capable of exhibiting enhanced combustion characteristics, IITG said in a statement.
“Sustained use of clean cooking energy is influenced by multiple factors like the accessibility of the fuel, affordability of the recurring cost of the fuel, consumer awareness of the adverse health impacts, etc. Therefore, clean cooking energy solutions must be appraised from a multidimensional lens,” said the statement.
One of the important aspects of cooking energy solutions is the development of efficient and eco-friendly cookstoves.
Over the years, significant research has been devoted to achieving this goal.
However, these improved cookstove’s impacts are limited due to the inherent disadvantage of combustion technology.
Towards this goal, Dr. P. Muthukumar, Professor, from IIT Guwahati, along with his research team has developed Porous Radiant Burners (PRBs) for various cookstoves with advanced combustion technology known as Porous Media Combustion.
The Project is financed through IMPRINT, a technology development initiative of MHRD and DST, Government of India.
“These indigenously developed cookstoves are assisted with specially-designed PRBs that yield better performance as compared to their conventional counterparts at all three fronts of energy-saving, emissions and overall cost,” Muthukumar said.
The findings of these developments have been published in highly reputed journals2-5 and also patented.
The newly developed PRBs can be effectively used for fuels like LPG, Biogas and Kerosene for domestic as well as community/commercial cooking.
“These PRBs operate on the principle of Porous Media Combustion (PMC), where the reaction is entrapped in a porous matrix due to which, the heat loss to the surroundings is restricted and a higher amount of heat is transferred to the load,” he said.
The prototypes needed for the invention have been developed in-house and are rigorously tested against available BIS standards for cookstoves.
The team plans to commercialize the technology within one year and corroborate with industrial partners to extend the reach of these cookstoves in the Indian market.
The researchers believe that the work will have a global impact on the burner-based applications and their multi-billion-dollar market worldwide.