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Calcimator

Biogas Stove Calculator

Calculate daily cooking hours, meals, and LPG savings from your biogas digester output and burner specifications.

Inputs

m³/day
%
%
kW

Results

Cooking time available

2.2 hrs/day

Meals per day5.9
Useful cooking energy23.8 MJ/day
LPG savings27 kg/month
Feedstock needed (cattle dung)50 kg/day
Gas consumption rate0.91 m³/hr
How to Use This Calculator
  1. Enter the daily biogas production in cubic meters from your digester.
  2. Set the methane content percentage, burner efficiency, and rated burner power in kW.
  3. Input your daily cooking hours needed and number of meals per day.
  4. The calculator shows useful cooking energy (MJ), LPG equivalent savings per month, and required daily feedstock.
  5. Compare useful energy to your cooking needs to determine if biogas production is sufficient.

How the result changes with Biogas production

Biogas productionCooking time available
5.015.5 hrs/day
1819.8 hrs/day
3336.3 hrs/day
4549.5 hrs/day

What each input means

Biogas production
Daily biogas output from your digester. Small household digester ≈ 1–3 m³/day.
Methane content
Methane fraction in biogas. Cattle dung ≈ 55–65%, food waste ≈ 50–70%.
Burner efficiency
Thermal efficiency of the biogas burner. Basic burner ≈ 45–55%, improved ≈ 55–65%.
Burner power rating
Thermal output of the stove burner. Typical biogas burner ≈ 2–5 kW.

What each result means

Cooking time available
How many hours per day you can cook at the burner's rated power.
Meals per day
Approximate meals cookable per day (based on ~4 MJ/meal).
Useful cooking energy
Net thermal energy delivered to cookware after burner efficiency losses.
LPG savings
Equivalent LPG (propane) weight saved per month by using biogas.
Feedstock needed (cattle dung)
Approximate cattle dung input required to sustain your biogas production.
Gas consumption rate
Biogas flow rate at the burner when cooking.

How this is calculated

Worked example, using the default values

  1. Identify Input Parameters
    4 parameters
    Biogas production = 2, Methane content = 60, Burner efficiency = 55, Burner power rating = 3 = 4 input(s) provided
  2. Calculate Cooking time available
    Cooking time available = (usefulEnergyMJ * 1000) / burnerPowerKW / 3600
    2.2 = 2.2
  3. Calculate Meals per day
    Meals per day = usefulEnergyMJ / 4
    5.9 = 5.9
  4. Calculate Useful cooking energy
    Useful cooking energy = totalEnergyMJ * (burnerEffPct / 100)
    23.8 = 23.8

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