World Journal of Mechanical Engineering

Vol. 3(1), pp. 020-026, October, 2017. www.premierpublishers.org. ISSN: 1550-7316

WJME

Research Article

Improved Institutional Cookstoves: An Assessment of

the Efficiency in its Application in the agro and food
processing industry in Ghana
MK Commeh1, *A. Agyei-Agyemang2, E. Kwarteng3, RN Tabi4, E. Heijndermans5, and F. Einzinger6
1,4,6TechnologyConsultancy Centre, College of Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology,
Kumasi, Ghana.
2Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology,

Kumasi, Ghana.
3,5SNV (Netherlands Development Organization), Ghana.

For nearly a century research institutions and development organisations across the world have
been engaged in the development, testing and publishing of improved cookstoves for cooking.
Three institutional cookstoves developed by the Technology Consultancy Centre of the College
of Engineering, at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, and
SNV Ghana, a Netherlands Development Organization, were constructed and studied to determine
their power and efficiency using the water boiling test. The round bottom pot cookstove had the
highest efficiency of 59.70% (tier 4) and a power of 8.8 kW, followed by the flat bottom pot
cookstove with an efficiency of 47.40% (tier 4) and a power of 11.5 kW, and then the mobile
cookstove that had an efficiency of 33.40% (tier 2.7) and a power of 11.3 kW. These institutional
cookstoves which have been introduced into the agro and food processing industry in Ghana
shows an improvement of about two to four times the efficiencies of the traditional ones generally
used.

Keywords: Institutional cookstoves, energy audit, water boiling test, efficiency, power.

INTRODUCTION

Technology Consultancy Centre (TCC) is one of the two
research centres of the College of Engineering in the
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
The Centre was founded in 1972 to collaborate with the
universitys academic departments in providing support in
the areas of research, development and transfer of
technology to small and medium scale industries in Ghana
(TCC, 2015). Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
(GACC), a United Nations Foundation, has as its goal the
adoption of clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels by the
year 2020 by a million households (UNF, 2015). The
Ghana Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and Fuels
(GHACCO) were established to serve as a strong
Improved Institutional Cookstoves: An Assessment of the Efficiency in its Application in the agro and food processing industry in Ghana
stakeholder platform to spearhead a revolution in the
cookstoves sector in Ghana (GACS, 2014).
SNV, a Netherlands Development Organization, has been
operating in Ghana for the past 24 years. Their activities
are mainly to provide support to the government of Ghana
in terms of economic, institutional, social and
environmental development as well as poverty reduction.
*Corresponding author: Anthony Agyei-Agyemang,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of
Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. Email:
tonyagyemang@yahoo.com
Commeh et al. 021
The Renewable Energy Sector (RES) of SNV Ghana, has
as its aim the provision of access to sustainable, clean and
reliable energy sources in the country (SNV, 2015) through
capacity building and promotion of the various energy
technologies in complimentarily to the Ghanas RES
strategy. It is the policy of the Ghana Government to
improve the environment by cutting down on the excessive
use and waste of energy, that causes more deforestation,
by introducing more efficient methods of use of energy,
especially, for the rural people.
Through the Renewable Energy Sector of SNV Ghana
Capacity Building Strategies, the sector partnered TCC to
develop improved institutional cookstoves. This study was
carried out to determine the power and efficiency of the
TCC institutional cookstoves using the Water boiling Test.
Water Boiling Test (WBT) is a rough simulation of the
cooking process that is intended to help stove designers
understand how well energy is transferred from the fuel to
the cooking pot. It can be performed on most stoves
throughout the world. The test is not intended to replace
other forms characterizing stoves. (Bailis et al., 2007)
The main objectives of the study was to assess the
Thermal efficiency and power of institutional cookstoves,
provide technical advice to stove manufacturers and
entrepreneurs, and to quantify the performance of stoves
to enable comparison. Institutional cookstove is a stove
that takes 20 litres of water and above. If the water quantity
is below twenty (20) litres, it is considered a domestic
cookstove. Institutional stoves are stoves used to supply
food and/or hot water to large groups of people in
establishments such as schools, prisons, commercial
eating places, refugee camps, school programmes,
women in agro-food processing like gari roasting, fish
smoking, local brewery, etc.
Institutions serve hundreds of people on a daily basis and
the amount of fuel, mainly fuel wood, used to prepare such
meals cannot be ignored. Most of them do not make
efficient use of the fuel they buy due to their stove designs.
Also, the health hazards such cookstove users are
exposed to can be graver compared to household users
since it involves far more than one person in such kitchens.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
The main source of fuel for cookstoves is biomass in its
various forms: namely, firewood, briquettes, pellets, and
charcoal. The use of these sources of fuel can have
negative effects on the environment and health, in terms
of forest degradation, outdoor air pollution and respiratory
diseases. Clean cookstoves represent an ideal alternative
to open fire stoves which cause household air pollution that
claims the lives of about 2 million people annually and
leaves millions more suffering from cancer, pneumonia,
Improved Institutional Cookstoves: An Assessment of the Efficiency in its Application in the agro and food processing industry in Ghana
heart and lung diseases. In addition to these illnesses,
rudimentary cookstoves contribute to deforestation and
diminish local air quality through toxic smoke emissions.
About 1.6 million deaths per year and 2.7% of global
diseases can be attributed to indoor air pollution caused
by the incomplete combustion of solid fuels in poorly
ventilated places (Adkins et al., 2010). The risk of Acute
Respiratory Infections (ARI), a leading cause of mortality
in children under 5 years of age, mostly those in
developing countries is increased in houses where
unvented biomass stoves are used (McCracken and
Smith, 1998).
About 2.8 billion people worldwide rely on solid fuels,
including biomass (e.g., wood, dung, crop residues,
charcoal) and coal, as their main source of energy, to solve
their cooking and heating needs (Bonjour et al., 2013).
Indoor air pollution, especially in kitchens in developing
and middle income countries, is mainly due to particulate
matter (PM) from inefficient cooking stoves. The solid fuels
are usually burnt in, inefficient stoves causing high levels
of household air pollution (HAP), which are considerably
higher than the WHO recommended levels for particulate
matter (PM) (WHO, 2006). HAP ranks very high in the
Global Burden of Disease and was associated with 3.5
million annual deaths, and 4.3% of disability-adjusted life
years (DALLY) in the year 2010 (Smith et al., 2014). The
most vulnerable group affected by HAP are women and
children (WHO, 2014. Economically, the precious time
spent collecting biomass fuel and the cooking, using these
fuels, can impact negatively on education and
development (Karlsson, 2014). However, when better
fuels are purchased, a disproportionate amount of
household income is spent on purchasing it. In view of
these facts, the lack of access to modern energy can
therefore contribute to the trapping of poor households in
a cycle of ill-health and poverty (WHO, 2014).
Improved cooking stoves, with high efficiency in energy
utilization, have gone a long way to improve the living
conditions of many people by reducing hazardous smoke
from living area of most people. Smoke characterizes most
cooking stoves in the rural areas. The energy efficiency of
traditional cookstoves is rather very low, varying between
5-15 % (Khan et al., 1995). The traditional cookstove has
several disadvantages including deforestation, high
biomass collection time, indoor air pollution, negative
health impact, and climate change. In Ghana, there has
been an introduction of improved cookstoves in the
communities with farely good acceptance for small scale
cooking in homes. However, the introduction of improved
cookstoves for large scale cooking, or institutional
cookstoves, has been accepted by only a few institutions.
A report from a study of Danish Energy Agency (DEA)
conducted in Northern Ghana suggests that the efficiency
 World J. Mech. Engin. 022

of a stove depended on several factors, including, skill of
the user, type of fuel, stove design, fit of the cooking pan
or pot on the stove, and the type of food and cooking being
performed (DEA, 2009). All these factors need to be
considered during the design of new stoves.
Figures 1 and 2, show some traditional stoves for large
scale cooking. There is a lot of waste of fuel in cooking on
large scale due to poor stove design in the traditional
stoves.

Improved cookstoves come with a lot of benefits. In the

health sector, Acute Respiratory Infections and
conjunctivitis in women and children under the age of five
can be reduced significantly. The quality of life of women
in rural areas and their families can also be improved since
they have time to engage in productive economic activities
and also save money instead of spending all their time
searching for fuel or buying them at exorbitant prices.
Biodiversity can also be improved since deforestation, soil
erosion, watersheds, natural habitats and the ecosystem
can be affected positively. In the industrial sector, jobs
have been created and technological self-reliance has
improved (McCracken and Smith, 1998; Agyei-Agyemang
et al., 2014).

INSTITUTIONAL STOVES

Traditional Stoves FIGURE 1: Traditional Institutional Cookstoves in a commercial Kitchen

at Ayedease a student/residential settlement in a small town near Kwame
The traditional institutional stove normally has efficiency of Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
between 12 to 16%. Its safety level is very low in addition
to serious health hazards due to the open flame causing
indoor air pollution and heat radiation directly to the cook.
The efficient institutional stoves are stoves that can
contain water or food above twenty (20) litres for large
groups of people in establishments such as schools,
prisons, commercial eating places, and refugee camps
among others. Its thermal efficiency is normally above
45% (Tier 4) using 75% less fuel wood in comparison to
traditional stove. in addition to protecting users from
intense heat radiation, smoke and naked fire or flame. The
institutional efficient cookstove has a chimney through
which smoke escape to the outside, without polluting the
room.
Institutions serve hundreds of people on a daily basis and
the amount of energy source, mainly fuel wood, used to
prepare such meals cannot be ignored. Most of them do
not make efficient use the fuel they buy due to their
inefficient stove designs. Also, the health hazards such
cookstove users are exposed to can be graver compared
to household users since it involves far more than one FIGURE 2: Traditional Cookstoves at Kumasi Senior High Technical
person in such kitchens. School kitchen in Kumasi Ashanti Region of Ghana. Source: Michael
Commeh.
The stove can easily be adapted for use in agro-food
processing to save the ecosystem. Institutions and The TCC Improved Institutional Stoves
commercial users are encouraged to accept and use these
improved cookstoves in order to save time and resources The TCC has designed and built a number of improved
as well as reduce the risk of health hazards associated stoves. Three of its stoves for large scale cooking, the Flat
with smoke, due to the better design and the use of Bottom Pot, Round Bottom Pot, and the Mobile
chimneys. Institutional Cookstoves are considered in this study.
Improved Institutional Cookstoves: An Assessment of the Efficiency in its Application in the agro and food processing industry in Ghana
Commeh et al. 023

Figure 3 shows a photograph of the Flat Bottom Pot

cookstove, while Figure 4 shows its sectional drawing.
This stove is characterised by a massive brick work as
insulation around the stove. Figure 5 shows the
photograph of the Round Bottom Pot cookstove and
Figure 6 its sectional drawing. The design of the Round
Bottom Pot cookstove is very similar to the Flat Bottom Pot
cookstove. Their insulation and chimneys are designed in
the same way. The main difference is the integrated
cooking pot that has a flat bottom in one and a round
bottom in the other. The third institutional cookstove, which
can be moved from one place to the other, is shown in in
Figure 7. Its sectional drawing is shown in Figure 8.

FIGURE 5: Round Bottom Pot Institutional Cookstoves

FIGURE 3: Flat Bottom Pot Institutional Cookstove

FIGURE 6: Cross Sectional view of the Round Bottom Pot Institutional

Cookstove

The mobile institutional cookstove is designed to be

FIGURE 4: Cross-sectional view of the Flat Bottom Pot Institutional
Cookstove
Improved Institutional Cookstoves: An Assessment of the Efficiency in its Application in the agro and food processing industry in Ghana
moved from place to place. It has a chimney for smoke
escape and a well-insulated body. It has its own cooking
container integrated in the design. The mobile stove,
surely has some benefits of mobility, and in addition is
relatively cheaper by 20% in comparison to the brick work
stoves. The mobile stove, however, is associated with
some heat loss by conduction through the metal wall and
subsequent radiation.

FIGURE 7: Mobile Institutional Cookstove
FIGURE 8: Cross-sectional view of the Mobile Institutional Cookstove
The mobile stove is very useful at functions like funerals,
weddings and outdoor parties, which makes it very user-
friendly. The other two stoves, the flat-bottom and the
round-bottom stoves are mainly used in Boarding houses
of Educational Institutions and Restaurants, where they
are fixed permanently in the kitchens. The position of the
firewood chambers where fuel is fed into the stoves, is not
comfortable for users, since the user may have to virtually
Improved Institutional Cookstoves: An Assessment of the Efficiency in its Application in the agro and food processing industry in Ghana
World J. Mech. Engin. 024
stoop very low to regulate or manage fire intensity. On the
other hand raising the chambers may also cause the
height of the stove to be uncomfortably high for most
women and make cooking on the stove quite unpleasant.
METHODOLOGY
The ISO water boiling test WBT 4.2.1 protocol was used to
determine efficiency/fuel use and safety. Measurements
were made and reported for each of the three WBT test
phases: namely (1) high-power, cold-start; (2) high-power,
hot-start; and (3) low-power, simmer.
Phases (1) and (2) were defined by the duration between
fire ignition and the water boiling point.
Phase (1) began with the cookstove, pot, and water at
ambient temperature.
Phase (2) followed immediately, with the cookstove hot,
but the pot and water at ambient temperature.
Phase (3) was defined by a 45-minute time period with
constant nominal water temperature maintained at a
temperature of 3C below the boiling point.
During the water boiling test of the stoves, initial readings
and measurements of the weight of cooking container,
water, and fuel wood were taken. 104.4 kg. of water was
used. Fire was set in the stove and used to heat the water
to its boiling point, while its temperature was measured
every five (5) minutes. The water was allowed to boil for a
period of time, after which the final readings and
measurements were taken. The procedure was used to
test all the three stoves and the data recorded. The power
and efficiency of the stoves were then calculated using the
recorded data.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Since such institutions rely mostly on fuel wood for
cooking, institutional stoves that utilise less fuel wood can
minimise the pressure on the environment in terms of
deforestation, reduce the time or man-hours and money
spent on collecting or buying fuel wood respectively
(Reddy, 2012).
Most improved designs of institutional stoves include a
chimney to transport smoke out of the kitchen and also
reduce emissions. Hence such stoves have the tendency
to improve the quality of indoor air where they are used
and also reduce exposure to heat (Commey, 2014).
To obtain the output power, Equation 1 was used to
calculate the useful heat in the water, Equation 2 for the
Heat of evaporated water, and Equation 3 for the total
useful heat transferred to the water. Equation 4 was then
finally used to compute the power output.
Commeh et al. 025

= EQUATION (1) Table 2 shows the data collected during the test of the
= EQUATION (2) Round Bottom Pot Institutional Stove.
= + EQUATION (3)
TABLE 2: Round Bottom Pot Institutional Cookstove
= EQUATION (4)
Ambient temperature 26.7 C

= EQUATION (5) Initial temperature of water (To) 27.8 C

Where: Maximum temperature of water (Tmax) 99.0 C
Qw = Useful Heat in Water Weight of cooking container 32.8 kg
Qe = Heat of Evaporated Water Initial weight of water (Mw) 104.4 kg
Qt = Total Useful Heat Transferred to Water (Energy Final weight of water 84.2 kg
Weight of evaporated water 20.2 kg
Output)
Initial weight of fuelwood (Miw) 13.0 kg
Cw = Specific Heat Capacity of Water
Weight of fuelwood left (Mlw) 1.0 kg
Cw = 4.186 J/gC Weight of fuelwood used (Mfw) 12.0 kg
Mw = Weight of Water Weight of charcoal produced (Mc) 0.64 kg
W w = Weight of Water Evaporated
V = Specific Heat of Vaporation of Water Table 3 shows the data collected during the testing of the
V = 2,260 kJ/kg Mobile Institutional Cookstove.
T = Change in Temperature of Water
t = Time used for test TABLE 3: Mobile Institutional Cookstove
t = 145 mins = 8700s Ambient temperature 29.0 C
Initial temperature of water (To) 28.6 C
For the efficiency calculations, Equations 6, 7. 8 and 9 Maximum temperature of water (Tmax) 99.0 C
were used. Weight of cooking container 22.6 kg
Initial weight of water (Mw) 104.4 kg
= EQUATION (6) Final weight of water 89.4 kg
= EQUATION (7) Weight of evaporated water 15.0 kg
= EQUATION (8) Initial weight of fuelwood (Miw) 16.0 kg
Weight of fuelwood left (Mlw) 2.4 kg
= EQUATION (9)
Weight of fuelwood used (Mfw) 12.89 kg
Where: Weight of charcoal produced (Mc) 0.72 kg
Efw = Energy of Fuelwood
Ec = Energy of Charcoal After the calculation of the power and efficiencies of the
Qfw = Total Energy produced by Fuelwood (Energy Input) cookstoves, the results were tabulated and compared.
Sw = Specific heat for combustion of wood Table 4 shows the tabulated results of the power and
Sw = 16 MJ/kg efficiency calculations.
Sc = Specific heat for combustion of charcoal
Sc = 35 MJ/kg TABLE 4: Stove performance
Type of Stove Energy Energy Power Fuel
Input Output (kW) Efficiency
Table 1 shows the data collected during the test of the Flat (MJ) (MJ) (%)
Bottom Pot Institutional Stove. Flat Bottom Pot 210.75 99.88 11.5 47.40
Institutional Cookstove
TABLE 1: Flat bottom pot institutional cookstove Round Bottom Pot 169.60 76.77 8.8 59.70
Institutional Cookstove
Ambient temperature 27.1 C
Mobile Institutional 192.40 64.23 11.3 33.40
Initial temperature of water (To) 28.7 C
Cookstove
Maximum temperature of water (Tmax) 99.0 C
Weight of cooking container 38.2 kg
Initial weight of water (Mw) 104.4 kg
Final weight of water 73.8 kg CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Weight of evaporated water 30.6 kg In conclusion, the test results showed favourable results of
Initial weight of fuelwood (Miw) 15.2 kg high power output and thermal efficiencies.
Weight of fuelwood left (Mlw) 1.0 kg
Weight of fuelwood used (Mfw) 14.2 kg The round bottom pot institutional cookstove had the
Weight of charcoal produced (Mc) 0.47 kg highest efficiency of 59.70% considered as a tier 4 stove,

Improved Institutional Cookstoves: An Assessment of the Efficiency in its Application in the agro and food processing industry in Ghana

followed by the flat bottom pot institutional cookstove with
a thermal efficiency of 47.40%, also a tier 4, and the mobile
institutional cookstove with an efficiency of 33.40%, a tier
2.7. The tier-rating is the rating given the thermal efficiency
of stoves, developed by the international working group
(IWA), with tier 1 as the lowest and tier 4 the highest rating.
As far as the power output is concerned, the flat bottom
pot cookstove had the highest, which was 11.5 kW,
followed by the mobile cookstove which had a power of
11.3 kW and then the round bottom pot cookstove with a
power of 8.8 kW.
It is recommended that further research be conducted on
the mobile institutional stove to improve upon its efficiency
and design. However, it is worth noting that to promote the
mobility, the heavy insulation used in the other stoves
cannot be used and therefore the compromise in the
reduction in the efficiency. The thermal efficiency may be
improved by adding heat exchangers underneath the
cooking pot to increase surface area for effective heat
transfer.
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Accepted 01 April, 2017.
Citation: MK Commeh, A. Agyei-Agyemang, E. Kwarteng,
RN Tabi, E. Heijndermans, and F. Eiwinger (2017).
Improved Institutional Cookstoves: An Assessment of the
Efficiency in its Application in the agro and food processing
industry in Ghana. World Journal of Mechanical
Engineering. 3(1): 020-026.
Copyright: 2017 Commeh et al. This is an open-access
article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original author and source are cited.