Cook stove production in Ethiopia in preparation

23.10.2025

One of ETH-Soils's goal is to provide clean and sustainable cooking energy for rural households. By employing clay as building material and biogenic residues as fuel, the ETH-Soil cookstove model uses readily available, cheap resources to work towards healthy and climate-friendly technologies. The model developed at DBFZ was designed based on the needs in Ethiopia. The TLUD principle (top lit updraft) enables low-emission heat production through pyrolisation of various biomasses which can reduce deforestation. The resulting biochar can be used as a soil amendment or as fuel. Read more about the background here.     

Over the past 2 weeks, DBFZ scientist Clement Owusu Prempeh and technician Jan Kossack have been involved in various workshops in Ethiopia, as part of the commitment of the ETH-Soil project to provide cleaner cooking and healthier soil solutions in Ethiopia. They experienced inspiring and productive exchanges with local partners, the Asella Agricultural Engineering Research Centre and Jimma Agricultural Engineering Research Centre. These sessions provided the chance to refine our shared goals, exchange practical knowledge, and strengthen our collaboration. Based on the prototype developed at DBFZ, both teams produced pyrolysis cookstoves locally, which show great promise in helping households cook more cleanly and efficiently. Over the following months, ETH-Soil aims to produce and distribute 450 pieces of these highly efficient pyrolysis cookstoves to the local communities in Oromia.