Unlocking the potential of solar PV electric cooking in households in sub-Saharan Africa – The case of pressurized solar electric cooker (PSEC)
Many households in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) depend on wood-fuel and biomass for cooking, with associated health and negative environmental impacts. Indoor air pollution from these traditional cooking technologies and practices lead to a number of deaths each year. Clean and smokeless cooking technol...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Scientific African |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468227622002356 |
| _version_ | 1811250656803028992 |
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| author | Richard Opoku Bismark Baah Charles K.K. Sekyere Eunice A. Adjei Felix Uba George Y. Obeng Francis Davis |
| author_facet | Richard Opoku Bismark Baah Charles K.K. Sekyere Eunice A. Adjei Felix Uba George Y. Obeng Francis Davis |
| author_sort | Richard Opoku |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many households in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) depend on wood-fuel and biomass for cooking, with associated health and negative environmental impacts. Indoor air pollution from these traditional cooking technologies and practices lead to a number of deaths each year. Clean and smokeless cooking technologies are necessary to minimize respiratory related infections associated with traditional cooking technologies. In addition, modern energy cooking services (MECS), which have lower levelized lifecycle cost have a part to play for post COVID recovery and growth in the sub-region. In this study, a novel pressurized solar electric cooker (PSEC) using diodes as the heating element has been constructed and tested in Kumasi city, Ghana. The PSEC comprises 150 Wp solar panel, 3.3 Liter cooking volume, and with the system integrated with PCM for thermal energy storage. From the experiments conducted in this study, the diode-heating element was able to charge the PCM (erythritol) and maintain it at an average temperature of 118 °C to cook rice, which is a common staple food enjoyed in many households in SSA. The result revealed that when the PCM integrated as energy storage medium was fully charged, the PSEC had fast cooking time of 50 min. Financial analysis also revealed that the PSEC has potential cost savings of US$ 575 and US$ 365, compared to cooking with charcoal and grid electricity, respectively, over a 10-year period. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T16:07:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5191cd6ed1d74915a76815fabf895b9d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2468-2276 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T16:07:56Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific African |
| spelling | doaj.art-5191cd6ed1d74915a76815fabf895b9d2022-12-22T03:25:59ZengElsevierScientific African2468-22762022-09-0117e01328Unlocking the potential of solar PV electric cooking in households in sub-Saharan Africa – The case of pressurized solar electric cooker (PSEC)Richard Opoku0Bismark Baah1Charles K.K. Sekyere2Eunice A. Adjei3Felix Uba4George Y. Obeng5Francis Davis6Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana; The Brew-Hammond Energy Centre, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana; Sustainable Energy Service Centre, College of Engineering, KNUST; Corresponding author at: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, GhanaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, GhanaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, GhanaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, GhanaDepartment of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, GhanaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana; Sustainable Energy Service Centre, College of Engineering, KNUSTDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, GhanaMany households in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) depend on wood-fuel and biomass for cooking, with associated health and negative environmental impacts. Indoor air pollution from these traditional cooking technologies and practices lead to a number of deaths each year. Clean and smokeless cooking technologies are necessary to minimize respiratory related infections associated with traditional cooking technologies. In addition, modern energy cooking services (MECS), which have lower levelized lifecycle cost have a part to play for post COVID recovery and growth in the sub-region. In this study, a novel pressurized solar electric cooker (PSEC) using diodes as the heating element has been constructed and tested in Kumasi city, Ghana. The PSEC comprises 150 Wp solar panel, 3.3 Liter cooking volume, and with the system integrated with PCM for thermal energy storage. From the experiments conducted in this study, the diode-heating element was able to charge the PCM (erythritol) and maintain it at an average temperature of 118 °C to cook rice, which is a common staple food enjoyed in many households in SSA. The result revealed that when the PCM integrated as energy storage medium was fully charged, the PSEC had fast cooking time of 50 min. Financial analysis also revealed that the PSEC has potential cost savings of US$ 575 and US$ 365, compared to cooking with charcoal and grid electricity, respectively, over a 10-year period.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468227622002356Pressurized solar electric cookstovePCM, Power density, Fast cooking, Cost savings, Sub-Saharan Africa |
| spellingShingle | Richard Opoku Bismark Baah Charles K.K. Sekyere Eunice A. Adjei Felix Uba George Y. Obeng Francis Davis Unlocking the potential of solar PV electric cooking in households in sub-Saharan Africa – The case of pressurized solar electric cooker (PSEC) Scientific African Pressurized solar electric cookstove PCM, Power density, Fast cooking, Cost savings, Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title | Unlocking the potential of solar PV electric cooking in households in sub-Saharan Africa – The case of pressurized solar electric cooker (PSEC) |
| title_full | Unlocking the potential of solar PV electric cooking in households in sub-Saharan Africa – The case of pressurized solar electric cooker (PSEC) |
| title_fullStr | Unlocking the potential of solar PV electric cooking in households in sub-Saharan Africa – The case of pressurized solar electric cooker (PSEC) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unlocking the potential of solar PV electric cooking in households in sub-Saharan Africa – The case of pressurized solar electric cooker (PSEC) |
| title_short | Unlocking the potential of solar PV electric cooking in households in sub-Saharan Africa – The case of pressurized solar electric cooker (PSEC) |
| title_sort | unlocking the potential of solar pv electric cooking in households in sub saharan africa the case of pressurized solar electric cooker psec |
| topic | Pressurized solar electric cookstove PCM, Power density, Fast cooking, Cost savings, Sub-Saharan Africa |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468227622002356 |
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