Biomass Cooking Fuels

Often, cooking stoves solutions are limited by the type of fuel that is readily available to the people using it. These pages group, and list information about stoves and fuel processing by the type of fuel used.

Use the fuels menu to narrow the list of stories to the fuels specific to your interest and application.

Coal

  • MJA Biomass Gas Stove

    MJA Biomass Gas Stove
    Alexis Belonio, July 23, 2008
    MJA Biomass Gas StoveMJA Biomass Gas Stove Burning Coal

    Alexis Belonio writes (edited and annotated by Paul Anderson and Tom Miles):

    Attached is a picture of my latest coal gasifier stove. This
    is the same basic TLUD stove I have for wood charcoal and wood chunks.

    For domestic use, I use carbonized coal (or coke) as fuel instead
    of the raw coal. Coal can be used for the stove, but we don't want to promote
    this as a fuel since it emits poisonous gas. I would prefer to use coal for
    industry application where gas can be cleaned before it is released to the
    atmosphere.

    I provide only a small amount of coal fuel in the gasifier stove, enough
    for cooking. This mean that the power output is only small and the
    metal I use is a stainless steel.

    I ignite the carbonized coal by using a wood charcoal that has been soaked in
    kerosene as igniter. [This is a TLUD stove, so ignition is at the top.]

    [In the Belonio TLUDs, the fan only blows the primary air. The
    secondary air is
    pre-heated as it rises naturally between the fuel cylinder and the outer
    cylinder, finally exiting into the rising flow of combustible gases.]
    The smoke in the coal gasifier I have was eliminated [combusted] by mixing
    preheated air with the gas generated from the reactor. I think
    there is no need of [forced] mixing the secondary air by creating turbulence
    with the combustible gases. Because in that case, you will need a
    slightly bigger fan with enough pressure to push the air.
    MJ Biomass Gas StoveMJ Biomass Gas Stove

    Alexis Belonio
    atbelonio@yahoo.com

Wood

  • Peko Pe Stove, Fuels, Charcoal vs Firewood

    Peko Pe Stove, Fuels, Charcoal vs Firewood
    Paal Wendelbo, Norway, paaw@online.no, June 2008
    Peko Pe L and Peko Pe S
    Click image to enlarge

  • MJA Biomass Gas Stove

    MJA Biomass Gas Stove
    Alexis Belonio, July 23, 2008
    MJA Biomass Gas StoveMJA Biomass Gas Stove Burning Coal

    Alexis Belonio writes (edited and annotated by Paul Anderson and Tom Miles):

    Attached is a picture of my latest coal gasifier stove. This
    is the same basic TLUD stove I have for wood charcoal and wood chunks.

    For domestic use, I use carbonized coal (or coke) as fuel instead
    of the raw coal. Coal can be used for the stove, but we don't want to promote
    this as a fuel since it emits poisonous gas. I would prefer to use coal for
    industry application where gas can be cleaned before it is released to the
    atmosphere.

    I provide only a small amount of coal fuel in the gasifier stove, enough
    for cooking. This mean that the power output is only small and the
    metal I use is a stainless steel.

    I ignite the carbonized coal by using a wood charcoal that has been soaked in
    kerosene as igniter. [This is a TLUD stove, so ignition is at the top.]

    [In the Belonio TLUDs, the fan only blows the primary air. The
    secondary air is
    pre-heated as it rises naturally between the fuel cylinder and the outer
    cylinder, finally exiting into the rising flow of combustible gases.]
    The smoke in the coal gasifier I have was eliminated [combusted] by mixing
    preheated air with the gas generated from the reactor. I think
    there is no need of [forced] mixing the secondary air by creating turbulence
    with the combustible gases. Because in that case, you will need a
    slightly bigger fan with enough pressure to push the air.
    MJ Biomass Gas StoveMJ Biomass Gas Stove

    Alexis Belonio
    atbelonio@yahoo.com

Binders

Charcoal

Charcoal Stove

Coconut Palm and husk

Densified Biomass