Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria; Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Jalingo, Taraba State, Nigeria
Ltodo, I.N., Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria; Agyo, G.E., Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Jalingo, Taraba State, Nigeria; Yusuf, P., Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria
A biogas stove was designed, constructed and its performance evaluated using a 3 m 3 continuousflow Indian type biogas plant at the Teaching and Research Farm, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria. The biogas plant was operated with cattle dung as feedstock in the ratio of 1 part of dung to 2 parts of water at a retention time of 30 days and daily loading rate of 100 kg of slurry. The performance of the stove was evaluated by boiling water, cooking rice and beans and the time taken to perform specific tasks determined from a stop watch. The amount of biogas used in boiling and cooking was determined from the operating pressure of the plant measured from a manometer that was placed between the stove and the plant. The results obtained showed that 0.14 I of water was boiled in 1 minute while 5.13 g of rice and 2.55 g of beans cooked in a minute. The biogas consumption for boiling water, cooking rice and beans was 0.69m 3/min, 2.81m 3/min and 4.87m 3/min respectively. The efficiency of the stove in boiling water, cooking rice and beans was 20%, 56% and 53% respectively.