Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser A comprehensive review of technical aspects of biomass cookstoves Mohammadreza Sedighi a, ⁎ , Hesamoddin Salarian b a Young Researchers and Elite Club, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran b Department of Mechanical Engineering, Islamic Azad University Nour Branch, Nour, Iran ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Biomass Cookstove Cookware Gasification CFD Efficiency Emissions ABSTRACT Interest in reducing household energy consumption and indoor air pollutants has increased. Simple devices such as cookstoves are important items in the reduction of the amount of domestic energy consumed in developing countries. This paper summarizes the literature available on biomass cookstoves used in villages of underdeveloped countries to determine their holistic performance, including efficiency and emissions. This is a detailed discussion on gasification, biomass fuel characteristics and heat output control of cookstoves. It reviews cookstove design, performance considerations, materials and geometric parameters along with the impact of supplementary tools on efficiency and emissions. Mathematical modeling and simulations are included and evaluation criteria consisting of testing protocols and performance parameters are compared. An efficiently designed pot can reduce domestic energy consumption, although its impact has been overlooked. Literature concerning the effects of materials and geometrical variables versus heat transfer efficiency of cookware is also discussed. The review addresses the gaps in the literature to pave the way for future research. 1. Introduction Global attention has focused on mitigation of environmental issues by increasing energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. Fossil fuels are finite resources which must be managed. A decrease in fossil fuel consumption can be achieved by improving the efficiency of its use and finding renewable sources of energy and green alternatives. The contribution of household energy consumption to total energy con- sumed in developing countries is over 30% [1]. Cooking accounts for about 90% of domestic energy consumption in these countries. A majority of rural households use biomass fuels to meet their heating and cooking needs [2] with firewood constituting about 95% of fuel consumed for cooking in villages [3]. Each year about 16 million ha of forests are consumed as cooking fuel [4]. Approximately one-third of the world population does not have clean cooking facilities and this number is predicted to remain unchanged through 2030 [5,6]. The burning of biomass fuels releases indoor air pollutants and high amounts of hazardous smoke containing CO, NOx, SO, and particulate matter (PM) which have been proven detrimental to human health; these harmful emissions are responsible for three million deaths per year globally [7]. The three-stone fire is the simplest and the most common cookstove throughout history [8]. The first biomass cookstoves were introduced by Chulha [9] in the 1940s. Raju later developed multi-pot mud cookstoves for domestic use in the countryside [10]. Interest in improving cookstoves was fueled by energy shortages and global attention towards environmental issues during the 1970s. Winiarski enhanced the thermal efficiency of cookstove by introducing the rocket stove [11]. “The top-lit up-draft (TLUD)” stove was developed by Reed in 1985 [12]. The TLUD operates as a match when held vertically so that the upward flow of air from the flame supplies the primary air below the flame and secondary air within the flame [13]. This interesting design yields fewer harmful emissions than traditional stoves or the rocket stove [14]. Medwell et al. compared the TLUD to a three-stone fire and found that it decreased harmful emissions to almost an eighth of the three-stone fire [15] through gasification in which gaseous fuel is generated from solid fuel and burns separately. Another benefit is the ability to produce charcoal which can be used either for cooking or applied as a soil amendment after conversion to biochar [13]. The present paper has the following goals: to determine (i) how to produce the most energy from fuel with the fewest harmful emissions and (ii) how to transfer the most heat to the pot. This review addresses gaps in the literature and reviews pertinent research publications as well as the latest developments pertaining to biomass cookstove design, development and testing. 2. Direct and Indirect combustion In direct combustion the solid fuel is directly burned to release its http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.175 Received 17 February 2015; Received in revised form 6 October 2016; Accepted 12 November 2016 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: mr.sedighi67@gmail.com (M. Sedighi). Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 70 (2017) 656–665 Available online 02 January 2017 1364-0321/ © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. MARK