UET ex-student invents country’s first gasified stove

LAHORE:To fight smog and air pollution and provide a sustainable solution of green energy, a former student of University of Engineering and Technology has invented country’s first energy-efficient gasified stove.

The stove uses wood pellets as energy source, which are energy-efficient and environmental-friendly, said Sajid Mustafa, the inventor of the gasified stove. He said the technology of gasification was not new in the world but in Pakistan it was not being used. Talking about the technology, he said alternate energy was gaining popularity across the world and cutting-edge technologies were being introduced internationally. The present government is also emphasizing on promoting alternate energy and the stove is one of the best solutions the country can have. Gasification is a set of chemical reactions that uses limited oxygen to convert a carbon-containing feedstock into a synthetic gas, he explained, adding it sounded like combustion but in actual it’s not.

“In the combustion process abundance of oxygen is used to produce heat while gasification uses only a tiny amount of oxygen, which is combined with steam and cooked under intense pressure. This initiates a series of reactions that produces a gaseous mixture composed primarily of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can be burned directly,” Sajid Mustafa explained.

Historically, Scottish engineer William Murdoch developed the basic process of gasification in late 1790s by using coal as a feedstock and produced sufficient quantity of gas to light his home. Eventually, cities in Europe and America began using this process later termed as “town gas” to light city streets and homes.

Gas produced under this process is clean, economical and easy to use, Sajid said, adding solid biomass fuel is exclusively made for domestic and commercial cooking stove while the fuel or wood pellets are being used for industrial burners and can efficiently replace currently-used fuel such as wood/wood chips, kerosene, LPG and diesel.

Explaining top benefits of gasified stoves, he said they burn in remarkable consistency and efficiency, the moisture content is very low, there is no fire hazard and they are replacement to conventional fossil fuels.

Pakistan is an agrarian country, so abundant of raw material for pellets is available such as sunflower waste, rice field waste, wheat waste, corn waste, maize waste, municipal green waste and etc, he said, adding the wastes are turned in green pellets, which are extremely eco-friendly. “The eco green pellets are carbon neutral solid bio-fuels - biomass pellets that are made up of agro residues, saw dust and other waste material which means they are using raw materials from the waste and converting them into biomass fuel to conserve energy.

“Gasified stoves convert biomass in the form of wood pellet fuel to heat while giving off almost no wood smoke or ash, helping to protect the environment. This fuel is carbon neutral and helps in countering global warming. Wood pellets release the same amount of CO2 which was absorbed during the growth of the tree and produce 90% less carbon emissions than traditional heating methods,” he revealed.

He said many other people were working in the field and it was the duty of the government to declare the industry as alternate energy and provide relief in taxes and other government fees to the manufacturers of gasified stoves and wooden pellets. He said he had already contacted the government about the invention but so far no one had taken the source of alternate energy seriously.