Fuel 112 (2013) 562566

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Fuel
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Development of novel porous radiant burners for LPG cooking

applications
P. Muthukumar , P.I. Shyamkumar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 21 February 2011
Received in revised form 5 July 2011
Accepted 1 September 2011
Available online 3 October 2011
Keywords:
Porous radiant burner
LPG cooking stove
Thermal efciency

a b s t r a c t
In this paper, the development and performance tests of a novel porous radiant burner (PRB) used for LPG
domestic cooking application are presented. The thermal efciency of the burner was measured using the
water boiling test described in BIS: 4246:2002. In order to optimize the porosity of the burner, burners
having different porosities viz, 80%, 85% and 90% were tested at different equivalence ratios and wattages.
The reported maximum efciency is about 75% which is 10% higher than that of the maximum thermal
efciency of the conventional LPG domestic cooking stoves (metallic) available in the Indian market. The
measured CO and NOx emissions are in the range of 10160 mg/m3 and 00.9 mg/m3, while the respective values of the conventional LPG domestic cooking stoves are in the range of 250650 mg/m3 and 4
7 mg/m3. Within the range of equivalence ratios (0.50.7) and wattages (1.3 1.7 kW) tested, the PRB
showed a steady operation without any ash back with the thermal efciencies well above 72%.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The rapid industrial growth and the improvement in the living
standard of the mankind demand the abundant use of fossil energy
which leads to the depletion of fossil fuel resources and environment pollution. The issues related to the environmental pollution
can be minimized by improving the efciency of the existing combustion processes. Being the fourth largest LPG consumer, India has
been spending huge amount of money (Rs. 142 billion in 2009
2010) every year for subsidizing the domestic LPG cylinder price
from Rs. 557 to Rs. 310 [1]. Considering the increase in LPG consumption and the nancial burden on the Government of India,
there is a need to explore the ways to further improve the thermal
efciency and the emission characteristics of the existing LPG
domestic cooking stoves available in the Indian market. Practical
experience shows that the conventional burners (CB) have low
power modulation capability and a high production of pollutants
in ue gases, such as unburned carbonhydrogen (CnHm), carbon
monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx).
Recently, combustion in porous medium is proved to be one of
the feasible options to tackle the aforesaid problems to a remarkable extent in both technical and economic perspectives. Many
researchers have focused on the combustion in porous medium,
due to its clean combustion characteristics (less carbon emissions),
high thermal efciency, extension of the lean ammability, wide
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 361 2582673; fax: +91 361 2690762.
E-mail addresses: pmkumar@iitg.ernet.in, pmuthukkumar@yahoo.com (P. Muthu
kumar).
0016-2361/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2011.09.006

power modulation ratios, multi-fuel capabilities (gases and liquid

fuels), etc. [26].
In a porous radiant burner (PRB), the combustion takes place in
3-D cavities of a highly conducting and radiating porous medium.
The ames are entrapped within the medium and the medium is
convectively heated by the hot gases. The hot medium radiates
heat in all possible directions and also conducts heat to the upstream of the burner [3]. This causes the preheating of the incoming airfuel mixture and also makes the reaction zone widen and
the temperature distribution within the combustion zone homogeneous. The most important criterion which determines whether or
not a combustion process take place inside a porous structure is its
critical pore size. If the size of the pores is smaller than its critical
dimension, ame propagation is prohibited; the ame is always
quenched. On the other hand, if the pore size exceeds its critical
dimension, ame propagation inside the porous structure is possible. Mujeebu et al. [4] provided the criterion in the following limiting modied Peclet number for the ame propagation in porous
media:

Pe P 65

where

Pe SL dm C p q=k

SL is the laminar ame velocity, dm is the equivalent porous cavity

diameter, Cp is the specic heat capacity, and q and k are the density
and thermal conductivity of the gas mixture, respectively.
In order to have a better control over ame stabilization, porous
radiant burner (PRB) is constructed with two different materials,

P. Muthukumar, P.I. Shyamkumar / Fuel 112 (2013) 562566

forming two zones [3,4]. The rst is the preheating zone, made of
low porosity and poor conducting material and the second is the
combustion zone, made of highly radiating and conducting material. The reason for choosing a material of low thermal conductivity
and low porosity in preheating zone is to avoid combustion and the
resulting ashback. Preheating of airfuel mixture by the recycled
heat from the exhaust gas has been considered as an effective
method not only for combustion of low caloric fuels but also for
fuel conservation. This type of combustion is called excess enthalpy combustion [5,6]. Combustion in which the reactants (or the
combustion air alone) are preheated using the heat borrowed
from beyond the ame zone, without mixing the two streams
thereby improving the combustion efciency.
Mujeebu and co-workers [4,7,8] published a series of review papers covering the global scenario of research and developments in
porous medium combustion (PMC) and its applications. They highlighted different types of porous materials, congurations of porous burners, and industrial applications of PRB. In their review
papers, there was no mention about the performances tests on
PRB used for LPG domestic cooking applications.
Jugjai and his co-workers have carried out an extensive research
work on combustion in porous medium using LPG [9,10] and
kerosene [1113]. Jugjai et al. [9] proposed a swirling central ame
technique to improve the thermal efciency of a conventional LPG
gas cooker. The proposed porous medium technology recovered
the heat from the ame radiation for preheating the air entrained
from the bottom of the burner. This arrangement showed an
improvement in thermal efciency by about 3% than its conventional counterpart. Jugjai and Rungsimuntuchart [10] developed a
novel semi-conned porous radiant recirculated burner (PRRB)
concept based on heat-recirculating combustion using the porous
medium technology. Performances of the burner were investigated
at different heat inputs and ow type of the ring burners (conventional radial ow or swirling central ow). Thermal efciency of
the proposed PRRB was found to be 60 %. Jugjai and his co-workers
[1113] also developed a PRB for burning kerosene without the
need of using a spray atomizer. Kerosene was supplied drop wise
to the top surface of the PRB and burnt on the lower side where
the swirling combustion air was supplied and mixed with the fuel
vapor. Observations of evaporation mechanism and combustion
characteristics occurring inside the burner system were also investigated by measuring temperature proles and emission characteristics of the burner. Stable combustion with low emission of
pollutants was achieved in the equivalence ratio range of 0.37
0.55 and wattage range of 2.623.49 kW.
Liu and Hsieh [14] studied the combustion characteristics such
as ame speed, temperature prole, and NOx and CO emissions of
the porous heating burners (PHB) working with LPG. They observed that the ame speed in a PHB was found to decrease with
an increase in the length of the porous bed. Combustion within a
PHB has the features of low ame temperature (in the range of
10501250 C, which is about 200 C lower than the adiabatic
ame temperature at the corresponding equivalence ratio), extended reaction zone, high preheating temperature and low emissions of NOx and CO.
Owing to several advantages, applications of the PRBs are widespread. They can be used both in industrial and domestic sectors.
An extensive research in the area of PRB has led to its wide ranging
commercial applications such as domestic water heating system,
heat exchanger unit, hydrogen production, and porous medium
IC engine [1517]. While the above-mentioned developments
using porous medium technology has been focused on the largescale industrial gas burners, little attention has been paid to its
domestic cooking application. Recently, Pantangi [18] initiated
the research work on PRB used for domestic LPG cooking stoves
at IIT Guwahati, India. He investigated the thermal efciency and

563

emission characteristics of two layered PRB at various equivalence

ratios and wattages. The preheating zone was lled with two layer
of alumina balls (Al2O3) of 5 mm diameter. Results showed that the
maximum efciency of the PRB was about 68% and measured CO
and NOX emissions were in the range of 25350 mg/m3 and 12
25 mg/m3, respectively. Muthukumar et al. [19] studied the performance of 80 mm PRB at different equivalence ratios and power
intensities. The reported the maximum thermal efciency of the
PRB was about 71%.
From the literature survey, it is observed that many researchers
explored the various applications of PRB. Very few reports are
available on the application of PRB used in cooking application,
which requires a power range of 12 kW. It is also found that no
researchers tested the effect of porosity of PRB on the thermal efciency and emission characteristics. In this paper, the authors extend Pantangi [18] and Muthukumar et al. [19] research works
for investigating the effect of PRBs porosity on its performance
in the equivalence ratio range of 0.50.7 employing a ceramic matrix (porosity 40%) of 10 mm thickness in the pre-heating zone.

2. Experimental set up and test procedure

A schematic of the experimental set-up used for testing the performance of PRB is shown in Fig. 1. The fuel and air ow rates are
monitored using the coriolis ow meters with suitable control
valves. Air and LPG are supplied at 200 mbar (gauge) and 30 mbar
(gauge), respectively. Airfuel mixture moves to the burner
through a mixing tube made of Teon. Adjustable stand provides
a proper seat for the vessel and radiation shield. The PRB considered for the present work is based on two-layered PMC. The twolayered PRB consists of a preheating zone and a combustion zone.
Preheating zone consists of low porosity (40%) ceramic matrix of
90 mm diameter and 10 mm thickness. Combustion zone is formed
with high pore size (8090%), highly radiating SiC porous matrix.
Inside the burner casing, a wire mesh is provided to support the
ceramic block. The schematic of the burner is illustrated in Fig. 2.
Performance tests are conducted using 80%, 85% and 90% porosity
SiC matrixes having diameter 90 mm and thickness 20 mm.

2.1. Experimental procedure

Following the guidelines described in Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS): 4246:2002, the thermal efciencies of the PRB used
for LPG domestic cooking stoves are estimated by conducting the
water boiling test. During the start of the experiment, a small
amount of air is supplied to the burner and then fuel is supplied
at low ow rate. The fuel ow rate and air ow rate are monitored
using the coriolis ow meters (accuracy 0.01 g) with suitable control valves. After, initiating the combustion, air and fuel ow rates
are adjusted till the ameless combustion is achieved. Required
aluminum vessel along with lid and stirrer for the experiment is
selected and lled with known amount of water (4.0 kg) at room
temperature. Weight of the vessel and water are noted with the
help of a digital weighing machine (accuracy 0.5 g). Initial temperature (T1) of the water is measured using thermometer (accuracy 0.5 C). Once the ame is stabilized within the burner,
vessel is kept above the burner. At the same time, the initial weight
of the LPG cylinder (W1) is noted. Water is heated up to 80 C and
for uniformity in temperature, manual stirring is continued until
the temperature of water (T2) reached 90 0.5 C. Then, the burner
is switched off. The nal weight of the cylinder (W2) is noted. The
difference in the weights (W1W2) yields the mass (mf) of LPG consumed during the experiment. The percentage of thermal efciency (g) of the stove is estimated based on the following formula:

564

P. Muthukumar, P.I. Shyamkumar / Fuel 112 (2013) 562566

Aluminium pan

Burner casing
(MS)

Adjustable stand with

radiation shield

Mixing pipe
(teflon)

LPG
Nozzle

Pressure
gauge

Pressure
gauge
S1

M1

M2

S2

Compressed air
(200 mbar)

LPG
(30 mbar)

Pressure
Regulator

Pressure
Regulator

M1 & M2 Coriolis mass flow sensors for LPG and air; S1&S2 coriolis mass flow meter display unit
Fig. 1. Schematic of the experimental set-up.

90 mm
SiC foam
Ceramic matrix
50 mm

Wire
mesh to
support
ceramic
matrix

20 mm

Mixing tube

90 mm

LPG

Burner
casing

Coriolis
mass flow
meter

Coriolis
mass flow
meter

Compressed air

Fig. 2. Schematic of porous radiant burner (PRB).

mw cpw mv cpv T 2  T 1
mf CV

where, mw and mv are the masses of water and vessel along with the
lid and stirrer, respectively and mf is the mass of the fuel consumed
during experiment. The caloric value of the fuel (CV) is 45780 kJ/
kg. Specic heats of aluminum and water are Cpv = 0.8959 kJ/kg K
and Cpw = 4.1826 kJ/kg K, respectively. The ue gas sampling is done
according to the BIS: 4246:2002. The hood is placed above the burner along with the vessel and the portable ue gas analyzer probe is
placed in the rst sampling hole. A portable ue gas analyzer model: TESTO 350XL and make: TESTO, Germany is used for recording
CO and NOx emissions.
At the end of the each experiment, the equivalence ratio (/) is calculated from the respective values of air and fuel ow rates. For a gi-

ven fuel ow rate (wattage), different equivalence ratios are

obtained by varying the air ow rates within the range. In each case,
the experiments were repeated at least three times, and an average
of three values was recorded. An uncertainty analysis was carried
out by considering the accuracies in the measurement of temperatures, mass and mass ow rates. A maximum uncertainty involved
in the estimation of thermal efciency of the PRB was about 0.3%.

3. Results and discussion

Since, the ameless combustion is the desired criterion, equivalence ratio and wattage are varied from 0.54 to 0.7 and 1.3 to
1.7 kW, respectively. In the following sections the results obtained
from the experiments are discussed.

565

P. Muthukumar, P.I. Shyamkumar / Fuel 112 (2013) 562566

3.1. Thermal efciency tests

The experiments are carried out at constant ambient temperature of 30 C. The dependence of thermal efciency on the
equivalence ratio (/) and wattage of the PRB with ceramic matrix
as preheating zone is discussed in the following sections.

3.2. Emission tests

The measured values of CO emission of the LPG domestic cooking stoves are in the range of 250650 mg/m3. As illustrated in
Figs. 68 that the CO emissions of the PRB are lower to a great extent in comparison with CB. It is observed that the CO emissions
are high at lower /. This is due to increase in air ow velocity at
lower / which may not provide sufcient time for CO to oxidize

Fig. 5. Effect of equivalence ratio on thermal efciency of 80% porosity PRB.

1.8

200
1.3 kW
1.5 kW
1.7 kW
1.3 kW
1.5 kW
1.7 kW

180
160
140

Porosity = 90%
Alumina matrx

120

1.5
1.2
0.9

100
80

0.6

60
40

0.3

NOx emissions, mg/m3

3.1.2. Combustion zone: 85% and 80% porosity SiC

Figs. 4 and 5 show the variation of thermal efciency (g) with u
for 85% and 80% porosities PRB at different wattages. Similar to 90%
porosity PRB, the thermal efciencies of 85% and 80% burners are
found to increase with a decrease in /. But the thermal efciencies
reported for 85% and 80% porosities PRBs are marginally lower in
comparison with 90% porosity PRB. This is due to the increase in
compactness of solid material in the combustion zone that leads
to enhanced conduction heat transfer through combustion zone
and thereby the reduction of radiation heat transfer. Further,
decreasing the combustion zone porosity will intensely reduce
ame centerline temperature [20] resulting to decrease in the
pre-heating effect.
It is observed from Figs. 35 that at lower PRBs porosity (80%),
ame could not withstand beyond the equivalence ratio of 0.63
due to the increase in ow resistance. For a given wattage of
1.7 kW and equivalence ratio of 0.54, the efciency of PRB is found
to decrease from 75% to 71% when the porosity of PRB decreased
from 90% to 80%.

Fig. 4. Effect of equivalence ratio on thermal efciency of 85% porosity PRB.

CO emissions, mg/m3

3.1.1. Combustion zone: 90% porosity SiC

Experiments are carried out at different wattages using a silicon
carbide PRB of size 90 mm diameter and 20 mm thickness, and
porosity of 90%. Fig. 3 shows that the burner is able to operate
above 75% thermal efciency at 0.54 equivalence ratio and
1.3 kW. For a given wattage, the thermal efciency is found to decrease with increase in equivalence ratio. Higher thermal efciency
at lower equivalence ratio is due to the combustion of lean mixture
(less fuel and more air) and also the movement of reaction zone
downstream due to higher air ow rates, resulting in maximum
volumetric heat release. It is also seen from Fig. 3 that the efciency is high at lower wattage, implicated by the low heat losses.

20
0

0.51

0.54

0.57

0.6

0.63

0.66

0.69

0.72

0
0.75

Equivalence ratio,
Fig. 6. Effect of equivalence ratio on emission characteristics of 90% porosity PRB
(line: CO emissions and symbol: NOx emissions).

Fig. 3. Effect of equivalence ratio on thermal efciency of 90% porosity PRB.

to CO2 before exiting the burner. It is also observed that CO emissions increase with decrease in burners porosity. Decreasing the
burner porosity will intensely reduce ame centerline temperature, which reduces the preheating effect of incoming airfuel
mixture. This leads to incomplete combustion, resulting in higher
pollutants.
The NOx levels of the PRB are reduced well below the lower limit of the conventional burner. The NOx emissions do not follow any
specic trend but are uctuating in the operating power range.
Even though high temperatures are observed in the interface be-

566

P. Muthukumar, P.I. Shyamkumar / Fuel 112 (2013) 562566

1.8
1.3 kW
1.5 kW
1.7 kW
1.3 kW
1.5 kW
1.7 kW

CO emissions, mg/m3

180
160
140

Porosity = 85%
Alumina matrx

120

1.5
1.2
0.9

100
80

0.6

60
40

0.3

NOx emissions, mg/m3

200

of 1.7 kW and equivalence ratio of 0.54, the efciency of PRB is

found to decrease from 75% to 71% when the porosity of PRB
decreased from 90% to 80%. Thermal efciencies of all the tested
PRBs gradually decrease with increase in the equivalence ratios
and power intensities. Optimum porosity of the 90 mm burner is
found to be 90%. Stable combustion of the burner is possible in
the equivalence ratio range 0.520.7. Emission indices of all PRB
are lower than conventional domestic cooking stoves. NOx and
CO emissions for 90% porosity PRB are in the range of 00.75 mg/
m3 and 12124 mg/m3, respectively. CO emissions are found to increase with decrease in porosity of burner and equivalence ratio.

20
0

0.51

0.54

0.57

0.6

0.63

0.66

0.69

0.72

Acknowledgement

0
0.75

Equivalence ratio,
Fig. 7. Effect of equivalence ratio on emission characteristics of 85% porosity PRB
(line: CO emissions and symbol: NOx emissions).

The authors gratefully acknowledge Prof. Subhash C. Mishra,

Department of Mechanical Engineering for his contribution for
the development of PRB test facility at IIT Guwahati.
References

1.3 kW
1.5 kW
1.7 kW
1.3 kW
1.5 kW
1.7 kW

CO emissions, mg/m3

180
160
140

Porosity = 80%
Alumina matrx

120

1.8
1.5
1.2
0.9

100
80

0.6

60
40

0.3

NOx emissions, mg/m3

200

20
0

0.51

0.54

0.57

0.6

0.63

0.66

0.69

0.72

0
0.75

Equivalence ratio,
Fig. 8. Effect of equivalence ratio on emission characteristics of 80% porosity PRB
(line: CO emissions and symbol: NOx emissions).

tween the pre-heating and combustion zone, NOx levels are very
low because of the low post ame temperature caused by the recirculation of heat from interface to the preheating zone. A maximum of 0.9 mg/m3 of NOx is recorded of all the conditions. The
respective values for the conventional LPG domestic stoves are in
the range of 47 mg/m3.
4. Conclusions
Performances of the PRB used for LPG domestic cooking application have been compared against that of the conventional LPG
domestic stoves in terms of thermal efciency and emission characteristics. The maximum estimated thermal efciency of the 90%
porosity PRB is about 75%. This is about 10% higher than that of the
maximum efciency of the various LPG conventional domestic
cooking stoves available in the Indian market. For a given wattage

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