With the surge in bio-based activities around the globe, a new concept called bio-refining starts to emerge. IEA Bioenergy Task 42 on Biorefineries defines biorefining as “the sustainable processing of biomass into a spectrum of marketable products and energy”. A bio-refinery combines/integrates a series of biomass conversion technologies to produce a range of products and (base-)materials, such as food, feed, chemicals, materials, oil, gas, heat and/or electricity. The concept is similar to a conventional oil-refinery where multiple petroleum products and fuels are produced.

Since about 1.5 billion people in the world use traditional stoves for cooking (and heating), efforts to improve the efficiency of cookstoves have been increasingly popular in the developing world. Improved stoves come in different forms and sizes. 

Alcohol burning stoves based on ethanol can be used for cooking, water heating and heating of buildings. The technology can be applied in households, institutions (e.g. schools) and industries where it is used for boiler heating. Ethanol is produced from sugar plants or other sources of biomass. An advantage of the technologies is that ethanol burning does not have the air pollution problems of simple biomass burning for cooking purposes. As ethanol provides a higher heat flux with no soot or smoke, cooking and hot water production can take place faster and pollution free.

Alcohol burning stoves based on methanol can be used to supply a cooking service, water heating and heating of buildings. The technology can be applied in households, institutions (e.g. schools) and industries where it is used for boiler heating.