Low-concentration ethanol stove for rural areas in India

Only 17.5 % of all Indian homes use LPG as their primary cooking fuel, with 90 % of rural households dependent on some form of biomass. To improve the quality of life of such a large number of people, it is imperative that clean and renewable alternatives are provided for cooking. This paper presents one such. An ethanol stove running on 50 % ethanol-water mixture has been developed at Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI). The stove allows easy flame regulation and gives an output similar to the conventionally-used LPG and kerosene stoves. Field tests conducted on the stove show that it is safe to use and very suitable for a typical rural household. In addition, the cost of using the ethanol stove is comparable to those of the conventional liquid fuel alternatives. However, for this stove to be a viable alternative certain policy issues have to be tackled. These have been suggested at the end of this paper.