Performance evaluation of a biogas stove for cooking in Nigeria

A biogas stove was designed, constructed and its performance evaluated using a 3 m3 continuous-flow Indian type biogas plant at the Teaching and Research Farm, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria. The biogas plant was operated with cattle dung as feedstock in the ratio of 1 part of dung to 2 parts of water at a retention time of 30 days and daily loading rate of 100 kg of slurry. The perform-ance of the stove was evaluated by boiling water, cooking rice and beans and the time taken to per-form specific tasks determined from a stop watch. The amount of biogas used in boiling and cooking was determined from the operating pressure of the plant measured from a manometer that was placed between the stove and the plant. The results obtained showed that 0.14 l of water was boiled in 1 minute while 5.13 g of rice and 2.55 g of beans cooked in a minute. The biogas consumption for boiling water, cooking rice and beans was 0.69m3/min, 2.81m3/min and 4.87m3/min respec-tively. The efficiency of the stove in boiling water, cooking rice and beans was 20%, 56% and 53%respectively.