Possible impact of pelletised crop residues use as a fuel for cooking in Niger

Abstract

One of the main causes of deforestation in Africa is the cutting of trees for cooking purposes. Even though gas and other fuels are available, in theory, their diffusion is slower than the increase of the population that continues to use wood as a fuel. The trends for the near future show that, in many areas, the forests will disappear and expose the soil to desertification. An intermediate solution to address the deforestation problem can be the use of other biomass sources, different from the traditional wood sticks, for cooking. In this paper, a system that uses agricultural residues and tree prunings, instead of wood, as a fuel, is introduced. The work done consisted in setting up a pellet making facility, and a gasifier stove. The results obtained by the pellet fuelled stove, show that its efficiency is higher than that of the improved cook stoves that use wood, and that, in addition, the stove does not produce smoke during normal cooking operation, making its use safer for the operators and other persons close to the fire.