American Journal of Modern Physics 2017; 6(5): 108-116 http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ajmp doi: 10.11648/j.ajmp.20170605.15 ISSN: 2326-8867 (Print); ISSN: 2326-8891 (Online) Performance Evaluation of Pyrolysis Cookstove Using Water Boiling Test Teka Tesfaye Mengesha 1 , Ancha Venkata Ramayya 2 1 Rural Energy Engineering Case Team, Jimma Agricultural Engineering Research Center, Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Jimma, Ethiopia 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jimma University Institute of Technology, Jimma, Ethiopia Email address: tekamen@yahoo.com (T. T. Mengesha), Venkata9999@yahoo.com (A. V. Ramayya) To cite this article: Teka Tesfaye Mengesha, Ancha Venkata Ramayya. Performance Evaluation of Pyrolysis Cookstove Using Water Boiling Test. American Journal of Modern Physics. Vol. 6, No. 5, 2017, pp. 108-116. doi: 10.11648/j.ajmp.20170605.15 Received: March 20, 2017; Accepted: April 19, 2017; Published: September 12, 2017 Abstract: For domestic energy – fuel sources biomass such as wood, animal dung and agricultural waste that are normally burned in traditional stove is used by the developing world. Diverse biomass resource is found in Ethiopia which can be used for energy through pyrolysis cook stove co-producing biochar. Specifically, coffee husks are the major solid residues from the handling and processing of coffee in the study area. The purpose of this study is to evaluate these Biochar producing pyrolysis cooking stove with respect to energy and emission. The selection of the stove design was made from both allothermal and autothermal type of pyrolysis cook stove. Both with and without biomass insertion was the experiment done for the allothermal stove design to understand the effect of the pyrolysis gas. The Water boiling test was used for the selected indirect and direct type stove design using wood and Corn cob respectively as fuel for testing stove efficiency. Both coffee husk and corncob as a biomass resource was used for generating pyrolysis gas and biochar using the selected indirect stove design. HOBO Carbon Monoxide Data logger and University of California Berkeley Particle Monitor device was used for measuring Carbon Monoxide and Particle Matter. The results from the water boiling test suggest that the indirect type stoves, without biomass insertion, average thermal efficiency was found between 15.86 to 18.6% during high power test and 20.02% average thermal efficiency was found for clay made stove during low power test. With biomass insertion corn cob and coffee husk the maximum average thermal efficiency is obtained during low power test using clay made stove 23.78% and 24.19% respectively. For direct type stoves the maximum and minimum thermal efficiency was found 34.11% for clay made stove and 20.4% for ELSA stove respectively during high power hot start phase. Keywords: Stove, Efficiency, Energy, Biomass, Wood 1. Introduction Energy consumption in the developed and developing worlds is greatly different. Currently, the developed world predominantly consumes energy produced from fossil fuels, and to some extent, renewable energy sources. In contrast, the developing world still largely dependent on biomass such as wood, dung and agricultural waste for domestic energy – fuel sources that are typically burned in traditional stoves. Half of the world population depend on biomass fuels for energy [1]. Earlier the motivation for stove design development was to increase efficiency and reduction of emissions [2]. Due to greenhouse gases problem the transition to new stove technologies accelerated which can produce both heats and bio char for cooking, soil building and carbon sequestration [3]. In the past Improved cook stoves have been developed that can address the issues of decreasing fuel wood supply. Pyrolysis of Biomass gives the possibility to increase the feedstock options, and utilize different residues to supplement woody biomass. These Biochar-producing stoves are yet an immature technology, and in fact, the emissions, energy and their climate change mitigation potential from the few designs that have been developed have not yet been systematically tested [4]. A modified Top-lit updraft gasifier stove has been produced, tested and compared with a traditional three-stone fire. The results indicate that variations in geometry of the