Design, Fabrication, and Testing of a Biomass-Insulated Cooking Pot

Abstract

Electric stoves can be considered as alternatives for gas stoves since gas stoves are still mainly used in cooking industries and households, wherein both mentioned stoves were not fully utilized because of the amount of energy wasted during the process of cooking. The cooking pots commonly available in the market were the ones causing the waste of energy since heat can freely escape through the sides and lid of the pot. As a result, the cooking efficiency of the conventional pots decreases. This study focuses on the design and testing of improved cooking pots in terms of putting insulation using biomass materials to decrease the heat transfer rate when the stove is not in use and improve the cooking efficiency by 67%. To decrease the heat transfer rate of the pot, insulation made up of sugarcane bagasse and coconut husk was used. By adding insulation, thickness becomes greater. Thus, escape of heat would be controlled. In this study, the researchers took note and gathered data on the following: the cooking efficiency, the time to reach 100 degrees Celsius, and the temperature after a certain amount of time. The testing was done by observing the temperature of water when bringing to a boil and when cooling, and the mass of water evaporated after boiling. The modified pot shows significant results as compared to the conventional cooking pot in terms of cooking efficiency with 83.77%, and 16.19%, respectively, as well as the temperature after two hours having 63.2 degrees Celsius, and 44.2 degrees Celsius, respectively. With these, the modified pot has greatly improved its performance.