Design and experimental investigation of an LPG injera baking stove for sustainable energy use in Ethiopia

About 40% of the world’s population use biomass as their primary energy source, especially for cooking but traditional and inefficient three-stone fires cause serious health issues and their high fuel consumption leads to deforestation problems. The objective of this study is to design and conduct an experimental investigation of injera baking stove using LPG to reduce exposure to household air pollution and environmental impact by providing clean, reliable and affordable stove to exposed populations. Here, in the present work, LPG injera baking stove is designed with circular ring burners with multiple flame ports to distribute heat to all parts of baking pan. The three concentric circular burner heads facilitate combustion and allow the distribution of heat through the plate. The burner is designed to ensure even heat distribution through all parts of the baking pan. The stove is manufactured from mild steel of 1.5 mm to withstand combustion temperature. Clay Injera baking pan of 450 mm diameter and 15 mm thickness is used in this study. Hence, reducing baking pan thickness from conventional size to 46 cm diameter and 15 mm thickness will result to reduce the heating time and hence enhance performance of stove. The result of experiment showed the designed injera baking stove has been tested and can bake injera of 440 mm diameter. The study showed the improvement in design of burner and selection of efficient baking pan enabled LPG application for Injera baking applications where electricity is not accessible. Thus, LPG technology can improve the lives of millions of people living in rural societies and meet efforts to combat climate change and meet sustainable development goal (SDG7).