INVESTIGATION OF PERFORMANCE OF BIOETHANOL COOKING FUEL AT DIFFERENT ETHANOL CONCENTRATION LEVELS

Most developing countries have much of their population cooking using unclean fuels. The use of dirty fuels in households results to Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) with negative impacts on human health. Increased use of firewood and charcoal results to degraded forest cover. However, most Countries have committed to promote clean cooking in line with the requirement of SDG7 and the Paris agreement of COP21. Ethanol has been identified and promoted as one of the cleanest fuels for cooking either as a gel or liquid of varying ethanol concentration. When processed from biomass, ethanol then referred to as bioethanol is seen to offer an affordable clean option for transitioning households to clean cooking. This study was to determine the optimal ethanol concentration in ethanol cooking fuel. Fuel samples of different ethanol concentration ranging from 50% to 95% at intervals of 5% were prepared from a 95% (190proof) ethanol fuel by mixing with distilled water and tested for fuel properties by conducting the Water Boiling Test. From experiments done, the lowest concentration that achieved boiling was 75%. The Fuel consumed, Specific Fuel Consumption, Time to Boil, Fire Power and Burning rate were found to be dependent on ethanol concentration and there was significant variation across the various concentrations. Thermal efficiency was not dependent on ethanol concentration and there was no trend observed across the various concentrations. Post Hoc comparison within groups indicated no significant difference in performance of the 90% and 95% ethanol concentration fuel samples. Given the corresponding energy demand and related cost of refining ethanol from 90% to 95% concentration, it was concluded that 90% ethanol concentration is the optimal concentration for ethanol cooking fuel while using a liquid ethanol stove with a fiber filled canister.