A review of chronological development in cookstove assessment methods: Challenges and way forward

This review intended to collect and collate the information related to cookstove testing methodologies applied in lab and field conditions and their output in the form of energy and emission parameters. The important information related to progression of cookstove testing techniques was segregated in order to understand the relationships in different indicators of cookstove performance and to understand the sources of uncertainty in emission data. The major research issue that has been dwelt upon in the recent literature is the establishment of relationship between lab and field results of cookstove performance. It is observed that controlled cooking test and kitchen performance test are the two field based tests which provide a better picture of a particular cookstove performance as it involves the user perspective. Misrepresentation of actual cookstove performance based on laboratory based testing puts the present standard protocols in question. Solutions have been put forward by some research studies; however a validation is needed through multiple scientific investigations conducted at various temporal and spatial scales. It has been observed that cookstove testing methodologies are still in their nascent stage compared to the research that has already been conducted for other sources where biomass combustion emissions have studied thoroughly. Still the shift in focus of upcoming research studies towards field based integrated cookstove testing methodologies has the potential to drive future cookstove research in the new direction.