RE Feature

IDBG Cook Stove

Improving Efficiency and

Environment of Rural Kitchens
Sardar Patel Renewable Energy Research Institute, Anand has developed an Inverted
Downdraft Biomass Gasifier cook stove which has the potential to bring about
significant savings in fuel wood, improve the kitchen environment and mitigate the
concerns of global warming.
Sunil Narnaware and Devendra Pareek

major part of the rural population in India

depends on biomass like waste agro-residues,
wood, cow dung etc. for their cooking needs. A
wide variety of cook stoves have been developed
worldwide for combustion or gasification of biomass and
these burn the fuel 2-3 times more efficiently than the
traditional stoves. Around 100 designs of improved cook

30

December 2011
Volume 5 Issue 3

stoves developed across the globe have been documented

and discussed in www.bioenergylists.org. These cook
stoves are made of metal, mud, and various refractory
materials and many of them are provided with a chimney.
In the past, cook stoves with a chimney were considered
superior to chimneyless stoves because the flue gases were
discharged out of the kitchen. Keeping in view the concern

RE Feature
of global warming, it is important that the emissions
from the improved stoves selected for mass popularization
should also be as low as possible. In keeping with this, an
Inverted Downdraft Biomass Gasifier (IDBG) stove has
been developed at Sardar Patel Renewable Energy Research
Institute (SPRERI), Anand. The design principle of reverse
down draft gasifier stove has been discussed by Reed and
Larson (A wood-gas stove for developing countries, 1996)
and the same has been adapted for designing the stove.

Construction detail
The main body of the IDBG cook stove consists of a
cylindrical shell made from 2 mm thick mild steel sheet. The
inner diameter and height of the shell are 215 mm and 450
mm, respectively. The inner surface of the shell is provided
with a 25 mm thick layer of insulite-7 to significantly cut
heat losses from the burning fuel bed. Provision to control
the amount of primary air supply for combustion has been
provided at the bottom of the stove. For safety of the people
working close to the stove, a protective metallic net has been
provided all around the outer shell of the cook stove. Due
to this, the hot metallic surface of the cook stove becomes
accident proof. The construction details, major components
and important dimensions of the IDBG cook stove are
given in Fig 1.

The hot gases rise upward under

chimney effect. Therefore, in this design
of the IDBG, a fan or blower is not
required for the supply of air.

Working Principle
The IDBG cook stove is primarily designed for operation
in batch mode. The fuel is lit and ignited from top of the
stove. Due to heat of the burning fuel layer at the top, the
layer just below the burning bed gets heated up and releases
the pyrolysis gases. The gases burn using the air drawn from
the bottom of the stove. The burning zone, called flaming
pyrolysis zone, continuously moves downward and utilises
the available unburnt fuel.
During operation, primary air is drawn through an
adjustable opening provided at the bottom of the stove.
The air passes through the bed of burning wood pieces and
carries with it the volatiles, leaving the charcoal. The resulting
gas passes through the charcoal available in the upper zone
and is reduced to a low energy fuel gas. The hot gases rise
upward under chimney effect. Therefore, in this design, a

Fig 1. Construction details and photograph of IDBG cook stove developed at SPRERI
Gas Wick

Handle

219 mm

480 mm height

Insulite 7

Grate

Handle for
primary
air hole
adjustment
Air

Inlet

Ash Tray

December 2011
Volume 5 Issue 3

31

RE Feature

Testing at the institute

The laboratory tests for thermal efficiency and emission were
carried out at the institute during 18-30 July 2011. Ambient
temperature during the period generally varied between
30 and 35oC. The thermal efficiency of the cook stove was
determined using standard water boiling test and emissions
were measured with the emission hood method as per Bureau
of Indian Standards (BIS) norms. The vessel size and quantity
of the water were also taken as per BIS norms. The emissions
were measured using portable flue gas analyser with infrared
sensors for CO and CO2 measurement. Approximately 1
kg sized mango wood (Magnifera indica) pieces (3 cm 3
cm 3 cm) having moisture content 6-7 per cent (wet basis)
were charged at a time. For quick ignition, around 10-15
Fig 2. Working principle of IDBG cook stove

IDBG is sometimes also referred to as

reverse down draft gasifier, where air is
supplied from the bottom and the gases
come out from the top.
mm of kerosene oil was sprinkled over the fuel bed. After
ignition, the once charged fuel lasted for 55 to 60 minutes.
The experimental setup consisted of the IDBG cook stove, a
chimney, portable flue gas analyser, thermometer, cooking
pan of appropriate size and K-type thermocouples with
indicator. Five replications of the tests were carried out and
average values have been reported. The thermal efficiency of
the stove was found varying between 35 and 39 per cent,
which is more than 10 per cent higher than the minimum
value as per the recommended value given by Ministry of
New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for biomass cook
stoves. The ratio of CO/CO2 computed for the stove is given
in Fig 3. It can be seen that during most of the operation
period, the CO/CO2 ratio is below 0.04, which is well within
permissible value prescribed by MNRE. The temperature of
the protective metallic net was below 50oC during entire
experiment period.

Fig 3. CO/ CO2 ratio for IDBG cook stove

0.08
CO/CO2 Ratio

fan or blower is not required for the supply of air. Under

normal operating conditions, the top layer contains charcoal,
the intermediate layer is the flaming pyrolysis zone and the
bottom layer contains unburnt fuel as shown in Fig 2. This
arrangement is a reverse of the sequence generally found in
a typical down draft gasifier. Therefore, IDBG is sometimes
also referred to as reverse down draft gasifier, where air is
supplied from the bottom and the gases come out from the
top. The holes provided all around and below the upper end
of the shell supply necessary secondary air for combustion of
the flue gases. The gas wick, provided at the upper end of the
shell, helps in development of additional draft and distributes
the flame all around the cooking pan. The fuel burning rate
is controlled by operating a lever that varies supply of the
primary air to the fuel bed from the bottom of the stove.

0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00

4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52 55 58 61
Time (minutes)

Gas Wick

Charcoal bed

Flaming pyrolysis zone

Unburnt fuel bed

Air control lever

32

December 2011
Volume 5 Issue 3

Evaluation at users site

Encouraged with the excellent performance of the stove
during the laboratory tests, one stove was installed in a rural
kitchen at village Karmasad, Anand District, Gujarat. The
family consisted of a young couple and two school going
children. Until then the family was using a traditional three
brick stove for all cooking i.e. preparing tea, snacks, meals
and water heating etc. To begin with, data on cooking
time and fuel consumption were collected for using the
traditional stove. The lady of the house was given necessary
training (including adaptation period) in use of the IDBG
stove. Thereafter, data were collected for cooking similar

RE Feature
meals using the IDBG stove and cut branches of babul wood
(Prosopis juliflora) of 5-10 mm dia. and 3-6 cm length as
fuel. The data collected revealed that there was a savings in
fuel consumption by 40-47 per cent and in cooking time by
30-51 per cent for cooking rice, potato curry and chapatti
using the IDBG stove as compared to cooking same items
using the traditional 3 bricks cook stove, as shown in Fig
4. Use of wet fuel wood containing more than 15 per cent
moisture, in IDBG stove, resulted in emission of smoke
during the startup. As soon as the fuel started burning
emissions reduced significantly and the environment in the
kitchen turned satisfactory even during the rainy season.

The laboratory testing on the IDBG cook

stove revealed that its thermal efficiency
is 10-15 per cent higher and emissions
are within the limit set by MNRE for the
biomass cook stoves.

Fig 4. Performance of traditional vs. IDBG cook stove at user site

for cooking similar meals
F: Fuel consumption (g/meal) left axis
T: Time (min/meal) right axis

2000

200

1500

100

1000

50

0
500

Traditional chulha

IDBG cookstove

User feedback
The IDBG cook stove was installed at the selected users
house during peak rainy season, the most troublesome
period for use of biomass based stoves, and the feedback
was collected from the lady of the house after about one
month. It was reported that the cook stove was used for
all cooking and food warming applications, that it was
easy to operate, saved fuel and reduced the cooking time.
The residual heat was retained for a long time and was
useful for keeping the food and water warm. However,
the user reported that cooking with large sized utensils
was little inconvenient because of the height of the stove,
which she managed using a small stool for seating while
cooking. The family had stored fuel wood logs for the
entire rainy season. The wood logs were cut into small
pieces for use in the IDBG stove. The family sometimes
used the traditional 3 brick stove primarily because the
available fuel wood logs could not be reduced to small

Cooking with IDBG stove

pieces due to continuous rains. The user stated that she

saved fuel and completed cooking in a shorter time span
but could not quantify the parameters. She also informed
that, if necessary, the cooking duration was extended
beyond the batch operation by feeding additional
wood pieces from the top. The red flame, however,
indicated that the mode of fuel burning had turned to
combustion. Overall the family appeared satisfied with
the IDBG stove.

Conclusion
The laboratory testing of the IDBG cook stove revealed that
its thermal efficiency is 10-15 per cent higher and emissions
are within the limit set by MNRE for the biomass cook
stoves. The village woman, who was provided with the
IDBG stove, regularly used it for all cooking purposes even
in the rainy season and endorsed its usefulness for meeting
her cooking needs. b
The authors are ex-Associate Scientist and ex-Senior Scientist
and I/C Head; Thermo Chemical Conversion Division, Sardar
Patel Renewable Energy Research Institute (SPRERI),
Anand, Gujarat. E-mail: dv.pareek@gmail.com

December 2011
Volume 5 Issue 3

33