Laboratory based assessment of cookstove performance using energy and emission parameters for North Indian cooking cycle Pooja Arora a , Suresh Jain a,b,* , Kamna Sachdeva a a Department of Natural Resources, TERI University, 10, Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110070, India b Department of Energy and Environment, TERI University, 10, Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110070, India article info Article history: Received 15 December 2013 Received in revised form 9 July 2014 Accepted 13 July 2014 Available online Keywords: Specific energy consumption Controlled cooking test Biomass energy Air emissions Cooking cycle Water boiling test abstract The study was conducted to evaluate the performance of cookstoves using controlled cooking test (CCT) with cooking cycles of Northern India, i.e., Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Uttarakhand (UK). Cooking time, specific energy consumption (SEC), and emission factors (EFs) of carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM) were monitored for three improved and one traditional cookstoves. Cooking was conducted by residents of the study area. The findings from the study showed that the difference in thickness of roti baked in UP and UK resulted in a significant change in emission and energy performance in all the four cookstoves. The low-power inputs required for baking thinner roti resulted in higher CO and PM emissions in case of CCT-UK. The results of CCT were also compared to Water Boiling Test (WBT) for all the four cookstoves. The percent reductions in terms of energy and emission parameters in the three improved cookstoves compared to traditional cookstove were found to differ in CCT and WBT. Large variations were also observed during the emission performance (40% decrease in CO EF) of the fan cookstove with change in fan speed, which was usually unreported in previous studies. Overall, results show significant influence of cooking cycles on cookstove performance, which was found to alter the cookstove rankings. Therefore, the study thrusts upon the inclusion of user centric cook- stove testing protocols in order to identify actual benefits for targeted rural communities. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In most of the developing countries, biomass based cook- stoves are a lifeline of any rural household, given the limited financial resources. These bottom of the pyramid (BoP) energy systems are being regularly redesigned and tested, in order to provide the underprivileged sections of the society, a healthy and sustainable lifestyle [1]. Testing of cookstoves is one of the most crucial steps in any cookstove dissemination program. Cookstove testing is conducted in a laboratory, and/or in field conditions, to assess the performance in terms of fuel savings (energy efficiency) and environmental parameters, i.e., emis- sion of air pollutants. Particulate matter (PM) and carbon * Corresponding author. Department of Natural Resources, TERI University, 10, Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110070, India. Tel.: þ91 11 2612 2222; fax: þ91 11 2612 2874. E-mail addresses: sureshjain_in@yahoo.com, sureshj@teri.res.in (S. Jain). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect http://www.elsevier.com/locate/biombioe biomass and bioenergy 69 (2014) 211 e221 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2014.07.012 0961-9534/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.