Development of a Rocket Stove Using Woodash as Insulator

Abstract, Researchgate, 2016

A rocket stove which serves as a cheaper and more safer alternative to conventional method of cooking, employing the use of solid fuels has been developed. The construction was done with our locally available metallic materials for the body and combustion chamber of the stove, using teak (khaya grandifoliala) wood ash as an insulator. An analysis of the thermal and mechanical properties of the insulating wall, fuel magazine, combustion chamber, and chimney were also performed; the law of energy conservation was used to determine the stove thermal efficiency which is 37.3%, while the Newton's law of cooling was used to determine the convection heat transferred by the stove body (150864 J/kg) and Stefan-Boltzmann law was used to determine the amount of heat radiated by the stove body (49.2 J/kg), thus, signifying its suitability for home heating. A less expensive but very effective materials mixture containing galvanized steel and wood ash were found to have thermal properties comparable to that of fired vermiculite and stainless steel materials which are more expensive in other improved stove designs.