The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar, organised a fuel-efficient and emission-free cook stove demonstration and an awareness programme for it on Friday here.
The stove has been designed and developed by various manufacturers of India for testing as per Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) programme.
The programme was inaugurated by Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi.
The portable cook stove attached with lED lamp with mobile charger point is designed and developed for domestic as well as community purposes up to 100 people which is fuel efficient and having low emission rate. It can heat an aluminum pot of 500mm diameter and 275mm height containing 44 kg of water up to 950C in 45 minutes and another pot up to 500C in remaining 15 minutes using fuel wood. The fuel consumption per hour is 3.5 kg. The thermal efficiency of the stove is 25.09 per cent and emissions like CO and PM are less falling within the BIS limits. The power of this stove is 4.44 kW. Since it is a portable one, it can be used in schools and hotels.
As per WHO study over 145 million Indian households use traditional cook stoves for their daily cooking and depend on biomass fuels such as wood, agricultural residues or dung that cause indoor air pollution.
The pollution is responsible for around 500,000 deaths in India every year while over 40 crore people in India are exposed to health perils. It is a leading cause of lower life expectancy, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, chronic pulmonary disease, pneumonia, and other acute infections.
On the basis of extensive testing and analysis carried out in this Test Centre at CSIR- IMMT, Bhubaneswar, the MNRE in 2013 developed the revised standard and test protocols for portable biomass cook stove.
The negative effects of traditional cooking practices can be significantly reduced by the use of improved cook stoves that provide more efficient and clean combustion. Adoption of cook stoves has so far been low in India. This is due some key factors that include low demand due to low awareness about indoor air pollution and improved cook stoves, said Senior Principal Scientist and Principal Investigator Snehasis Behera while speaking on the occasion.
“I will suggest to the State Government to install these cook stoves in every Anganwadi centres and schools for midday meal cooking,” Majhi said.