Integration of Charcoal Kiln Waste Heat in a Thermal Water Pump System

This an innovative solution for water pumping in resource-limited settings has been presented by waste heat utilization from charcoal production. This experiment investigates a novel thermal water pump system integrated with 200-liter charcoal kilns (CK). The experimental setup consisted of a driving tank, a storage tank, an overhead tank, and a well tank. Discharge head of 1 meter and suction heads from 1 to 3 meters were tested. This experiment compared pump efficiency and thermal efficiency between single and double CK, using 25 kg and 50 kg of eucalyptus wood as fuel, respectively. Data acquisition was recorded over 2 -hour operations. It revealed that the pump achieved optimal performance at driving tank temperatures of 99° C, with maximum efficiency at a 3 -meter suction head. The single CK delivered 155.89 L for 25 cycles, with 0.00073 % pump efficiency and 2.2 % thermal efficiency, while the double CK could enhance performance, pumping 274.15 L for 28 cycles at 0.000847 % pump efficiency and 2.8 % thermal efficiency. The double CK has higher system efficiency than a single CK due to increased thermal energy availability. However, the water pumping system still has low efficiency due to environmental heat losses. This study can verify that waste heat utilization in water pumping applications and identifies key areas for future optimization.