Woodgas Camp Stove
The Woodgas camp stove is based on new technology developed by scientist Dr. Tom Reed. The thermodynamic efficiency of the stove is 50-90% higher than log or 3 stone fires. It's even more efficient considering the small quantities of fuel needed to cook using it. Because of its design, the stove produces very little smoke and is ultra-clean burning. You will be amazed at the fuel efficieny and how just a handful of twigs or sticks can be used to boil a kettle of water or cook a meal.
The stove uses a small fan which supplies combustion air in the exact amount needed for maximum efficiency. The fan uses 2 AA batteries. A fully charged pair of AA batteries or brand new disposable AA batteries will typically last around 8-11 hours of total stove operation. If you use the stove for just a half hour at a time to cook a meal or boil a kettle, the batteries may last approximately 16-20 cooking sessions.
Dr. Tom Reed, a professor of Chemical Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, first investigated cooking with wood in 1986. The year before, he had visited Africa and discovered the problem of third world cooking. Cooking in the developing world is largely done over open fires. These fires are often indoors, and are very detrimental to the health of the occupants. Smoke from indoor fires cause emphysema, lung cancer and eye disease. The fires are also very inefficient, causing deforestation. Dr. Reed was a specialist in Wood Gasification. A process where wood is gasified to produce fuel for heating and electrical production. He decided that applying his gasification knowledge might provide a solution to problems of developing world cooking. Over the years, he tinkered with various solutions, and by 2000 had built early prototypes of the WoodGas camping stove. Eventually, he and his partners built a prototype ready for manufacture and sale. In 2005, Spenton LLC was formed to manufacture and sell the stoves. Spenton LLC is owned and operated by James Becker, a resident of Denver Colorado. iENERGY Inc. has partnered with Spenton LLC to market the WoodGas camping stoves . Today, Tom Reed and his partners run two organizations, The Biomass Energy Foundation (BEF), which works to develop energy solutions using biomass gasification; and WoodGas LLC, which works on developing new stove designs for third world applications. Every stove sold today includes a royalty which is paid to WoodGas LLC and BEF for continuing research and development.
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Instead of using propane the Woodgas stove uses abundant natural fuels such as twigs, sticks and acorns. Because the woodgas
stove uses natural fuels easily available on the round near most camp sites the fuel is essentially free. The fuel for cooking is not only free, it is easy and fast to gather the small quantities needed to operate the stove.
