Farmers go green with waste-fuelled cooking stoves
14/11/2011
Each stove cost around VND 2-3 million depending on the capacity of waste containers. Tuan explained that he had cherished the idea to make the stove since he was a boy.
Engineer Bui Trong Tuan, from Viet Tri City, first introduced his groundbreaking cooking stove, fuelled by agricultural waste, during the course of last year.
His invention has since helped reduce the energy burden on thousands of households. Consisting of a barrel, a gas pipeline, fan and valves, the stove minimizes the loss of heat generated from waste burning and emits no smoke. Tuan said that burning 2 kilos of straw, husks or dried leaves, could generate enough energy to last 3 hours.
The stove is capable of storing heat for days as long as both valves and fan are turned off, he explained.
The process involves waste smoldering in an oxygen restricted environment, releasing smoke containing nitrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane. The gases are absorbed along the pipeline, eventually mixing with oxygen in the air to produce heat.
"Operating the stove is as simple as using a normal gas stove," Tuan noted, saying that around 3 kilos of waste could meet the daily energy demands of an average household.
Each stove cost around VND 2-3 million depending on the capacity of waste containers. Tuan explained that he had cherished the idea to make the stove since he was a boy. "I used to burn hay and straw to warm myself up when herding buffalo, discovering that the gases emitted were flammable."
In 2007, he decided to develop and promote his new stove. After many adjustments, he managed to finalise its design, selling around 1,000 last year.
The National Office of Intellectual Property, run by the Ministry of Science and Technology, has subsequently patented his product. Tuan set up four workshops in Phu Tho, Hai Duong, Quang Binh and HCM City to expand production and tap into market demand.
"Improving the efficiency of the product and reducing its costs are currently my main targets," he said, adding that this year, he planned to produce over 4,000 stoves.
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