Performance of Capillary Fed Wick Stove Fuelled with Blends of Butanol and Kerosene

The consolidated impact of energy demands and diminishing fuel supply and environmental pollution is causing energy crises. So as to handle these issues, search for a substitute fuel is becoming much more essential. The fuel selected should be renewable and non-polluting. Alcohol and vegetable oils (edible, non-edible and used oils) can meet these challenges either in pure or modified form. This experimental investigation presents feasibility of using blends of butanol and kerosene as fuel for capillary fed wick stove. Experiments were conducted using 5, 10 and 20% butanol and kerosene blends. Unaltered kerosene was used as a baseline fuel. When blends of butanol and kerosene were used, no problem of capillary action was observed. It was observed that thermal efficiency of stove decreased with increasing in concentration of butanol in blends. The blend containing 5% butanol can be conveniently used in cooking stove without any modification in existing stove design.