ThermoChef: Sizzle With Science

ThermoChef is a low-cost innovative technology that uses the power of exothermic chemical reactions to cook and bake food to combat the harms of open-fire and biomass methods of cooking. 

Death and debilitation: an inadvertent recipe cooked by 2.4 billion people worldwide. 

The World Health Organization reports that nearly a third of the world’s population cooks or bakes using open fires or dangerous stoves fueled by wood, animal waste, agricultural waste, coal, or kerosene. The report goes on to suggest that over 3 million people die every year from illnesses due to cooking indoors with these techniques. In fact, household air pollution, often caused by these cooking techniques, just in 2019 was predicted to take 86 million healthy life years away, primarily coming from women in developing countries [1,2, 3]. 

Open fire and biomass methods of cooking, inevitable for many, not only severely damages health by causing strokes, ischaemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, and noncommunicable bacterial infections because the combustion of animal dung, can cause infections such as those caused by Escherichia coli, Cryptosporidium spp, and Entamoeba histolytica, but also negatively impacts the environment [4]. By releasing pollutants such as particulate matter, carbon monoxide, black carbon, methane, nitrogen oxides, and VOCs, the environment is further degraded such as by greatly limiting photosynthesis, accelerating climate changes, through the release of greenhouse gasses, and causing the formation of acid rain [5,6]. Moreover, to supply the needs of these cooking methods deforestation and desertification often ensue, and as more and more trees are cut down to meet the demand for fuel, natural habitats are destroyed, reducing biodiversity [7]. Together, these can have massive effects on societal well-being, disrupting international and local economies.   

Much of this problem stems from a lack of access to clean and efficient cooking techniques in developing countries as well as poverty, which leads to a reliance on open fires and dangerous heating units. These cooking methods are often used in places where alternatives are either not available or too expensive; even where solutions exist, they can still cause significant environmental or personal harm. For example, many of the proposed solutions, today, are not feasible for the needs of users; solar alternatives are extremely time and temperature dependent, which is significant given the fact that cooking in developing nations is often cook early in the morning, when sunlight is unavailable or because it can take a long time to cook (sometimes as much as twelve hours); electricity is not feasible given the fact that much of the population that uses these techniques to cook do not have access to electricity; and options such as biogas, natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas still cause greenhouse gas emissions and can present major safety issues such as explosions, asphyxiation, disease, and hydrogen sulfide poisoning [1,8].

[1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/10/polluting-cooking-fuels-deaths-women-climate/

[2] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health 

[3] https://www.state.gov/policy-issues/global-womens-issues2/ 

[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6613697/ 

[5] https://www.nps.gov/subjects/air/humanhealth-pm.htm

[6] https://www.lung.org/clean-air/at-home/indoor-air-pollutants/residential-wood-burning 

[7] https://www.nrdc.org/resources/our-forests-arent-fuel 

[8] https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-09/documents/1.5_liquefied_petroleum_gas_combustion.pdf 

Using the exothermic (heat releasing) chemical reaction between calcium oxide and water (which is considered safe by the FDA), ThermoChef effectively, affordably, and safely cooks food at a similar rate to conventional cooking methods without any need for a fuel source, fire, or electricity. 

ThermoChef is currently being prototyped in three models. 

The first model is a portable container that uses a double chamber. The inner, thin chamber holds the food that needs to be cooked or heated up. The second, larger chamber, surrounding the food-containing chamber, is where the calcium oxide salt will mix with water, such that enough heat is produced to boil the water. The second chamber will continually introduce small amounts of calcium oxide such that the water remains at a temperature necessary for cooking. This outer chamber will be made of a low-cost insulator (expanded polystyrene). This model is especially useful for foods that are boiled such as grains like rice and pasta, beans, eggs, vegetables, and meat. 

The second and third model use a hollowed heating element (similar to what one could see in an oven) to pass water and calcium oxide through in order to generate large amounts of heat. The second model uses a heating element in a small-sized well-insulated oven to bake foods. The third model is similar to an electric stove top where the heating element rests below a low-cost ceramic and glass tile, when then could be used to cook almost any food on. Both of these models will have their temperatures closely monitored using a low-cost single-board computer to control the amount of calcium oxide flowing through the heating element to control the temperature. 

https://web.archive.org/web/20070812132324/http://www.fda.gov/ora/inspect_ref/itg/itg17.html 

ThermoChef is aimed for individuals and families living in developing countries who currently rely on open fires or dangerous stoves fueled by wood, animal waste, agricultural waste, coal, or kerosene for cooking. These individuals are often living in poverty and lack access to clean and efficient cooking techniques, which puts them at a high risk for health issues. Specifically, because the burden of cooking and fuel collections is often left to women and young children, who often face premature death or acute injuries as a result, ThermoChef will primarily improve the well-being of these individuals. ThermoChef, however, will not only improve the well-being of these individuals, but will have a cascade effect, improving the well-being of all community members where an unsafe method of cooking was previously used as well as the entire planet, due to less greenhouse gas emissions. This is especially significant given the fact that open-fire and biomass methods of cooking often release large amounts of black carbon, which is the second largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide. 

People who use dangerous methods of cooking are often bombarded with health problems caused by exposure to smoke and pollutants and also face environmental issues such as deforestation and climate change as a result of their reliance on wood and other biomass for fuel. This creates a self perpetuating cycle of poverty and poor health, as the burden of fuel collection and cooking takes away valuable time and energy that could be used for other activities, such as education and income generation.

ThermoChef will positively impact the lives of those who rely on open-fire of biomass cooking methods in three major ways 

1. Health and quality of life improvement: reduce exposure to smoke and pollutants, reduce the incidence of infections, limit disease such as lung cancer, and fatigue, allowing for a significant improvement in personal well-being 

2. Increased time availability: the collection of fuel sources such as wood and animal dung can take an extremely long amount of time; in fact, some families spend hours every day gathering these materials which can also be extremely dangerous by causing acute injuries which can further limit a person’s time. Moreover, just to heat up fuel such as wood or coal can take as long as an hour; ThermoChef is able to heat up food and/or water much quicker, thus potentially saving hours every day which can be used for further education or alternative sources of income, allowing for a greater level of financial stability

3. Increased sustainability and limiting greenhouse gas emissions: by limiting the burning of toxic fumes in homes, the effects of climate change can be greatly limited, which can help increase crop yields, limit the destruction caused by natural disasters, prevent water scarcity, increase/preserve biodiversity, and limit deforestation, which all are economically and socially beneficial to communities

Defeated, dejected, and damaged, my grandfather was left to die as an immigrant without access to his basic necessities like medicine for his heart disease. His health was left to be trampled by those in power, unknowing of the steps he could have taken to prevent his downfall like diet and exercise. Health inequity has followed my family wherever we went, from my grandparent’s exodus from Myanmar as Muslims bereft of first aid to the flooding and destruction of my family home during a winter storm just a year and a half ago, disconnecting us from the world. 

Inspired by health injustices that I could see around me, I decided to take action by establishing a non-profit, iCure Health, in the fifth grade, providing education, enabling access to preventative care measures like cancer and depression screenings, and finding ways to limit health inequities. Our success in Houston and Dallas led to 30+ chapters being created across the world from medical schools in India to Yale. Together as young people, we forged a way to advance the human rights of 45,000 individuals and completed 20,000 preventative care tests in the course of six years and have partnered with three UN organizations/entities. 

As a testament to my work with iCure to overcome inequities, I have been appointed to be an Adolescent Champion of the WHO's Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health. In this capacity, I will be co-leading the Global Forum for Adolescents and the 1 Point 8 Billion Campaign, the main elements of the Adolecents2030 Call to Action sponsored by the WHO, UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, the World Bank, and the World Food Programme. 

Moreover, I serve as a focal point at the WHO's PMNCH, the UN Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development, and the UN Major Group for Children and Youth. I am also an NGO Representative and Young Ambassador at the United Nations Economic and Social council where I regularly speak at UN events and co-author reports to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. I have also been honored by becoming a UN Refugee Agency Young Champion for Refugees following my work which helped Afghan nationals seek asylum in the US and Switzerland following Taliban rule, which denied many women their education. 

Through my extensive experience, I have worked directly with people from Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the United States, Egypt, Palestine, Canada, Peru, the UK, Spain, Bahrain, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, South Korea, the UAE, Egypt, South Africa, and Australia. Moreover, I have consulted for or worked on projects with the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the WHO’s Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Human Rights, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality (UN Women), the United Nations Committee for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the United Nations Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, and the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the right to education. Through these diverse experiences, I learned directly from experts and those who will be most affected by ThermoChef to understand their needs, which has dictated how I approach designing and executing ThermoChef to ensure that it is as successful as possible. Combined with my unique background as a suicide hotline volunteer and as a social media expert who has been able to advocate to nearly 7 million people in a couple of months, I feel well-prepared to address this urgent concern and understand deeply the social, political, economic, and cultural background of the situation as well as the best practices to tackle it efficiently and effectively.

Personally, my background includes having survived extremely high levels of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, formaldehyde, and particulate matter without ventilation because of open-fire wood burning. Facing this made me realize that nearly a third of the world feels the consequences of these cooking methods regularly. Combined with my family’s experience with having to use wood-burning and biomass methods of cooking in order to survive over time, I have a deeply personal connection to this issue. 

Our team is extremely diverse from over 24 countries, each with their own individual and diverse experiences that allow ThermoChef to be as impactful and culturally competent as possible. Moreover, all of the people working on ThermoChef are either young people or women and almost all have a personal experience with open fire or biomass cooking methods whether that be having an infection after handling animal dung or being the primary open-fire cook for their family, reflecting people’s diverse experiences with open-fire and biomass methods of cooking. iCure also has many expert physicians and international development advisors that have prepared us to see ThermoChef from the beginning to the end. 

Yes, given our diverse connections through iCure, we are able to regularly consult with people who have extensive experience with open fire and biomass methods of cooking. As a result, we are able to incorporate what experienced individuals across the world say as well as what expert advisors from around the world recommend about ThermoChef. Thus, potential users have had a major role in the design and development of this product from the beginning to the end. 

Given my (Rehman) relationships with the UN I have worked extensively with bodies such as UN Women, the WHO Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health, and many other UN bodies to understand this concern from an international perspective. Moreover, I have worked with leaders at these organizations to consult on these topics as well as produce extensive resorts about the effects of open fire and biomass methods of cooking on people’s well-being. I have already first-authored a paper for the UN Women Commission on the Status of Women on this topic (which has received extensive praise from UN Women) and will hopefully be able to present this paper to the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Moreover, I am working on consultations and reports for the governments of Canada, the UK, and the European Union (my work will be presented to the parliament and discussed by the parliament) on these topics, which will come out in the coming months. 

Although some technologies exist that are powered by exothermic reactions, ThermoChef is different in its extent. No other products use the power of something as safe as the dissolution of a simple salt and water to be able produce enough heat for to cook up food well, at the same scale.  ThermoChef unlike almost all other alternatives does not cause any significant environmental and personal harm. Moreover, most alternatives focus on finding alternatives or mitigating some of the negative parts of production while ThermoChef is entirely emission free and not at all dangerous. 

Unlike solutions like solar (which is extremely time and temperature  dependent), electricity (not readily acceptable for free) , and others that simply reduce green house gas emissions, ThermoChef is able to avoid dangerous explosions, asphyxiation, disease, and hydrogen sulfide poisoning which can be caused  by competitor projects.

We hope that ThermoChef disrupts the market for sustainable cooking and will encourage others to find ways to cook food without access to materials such as electricity or fossil fuels. We hope that ThermoChef becomes a safer and more an even more sustainable option for cooking in both domestic and international settings due to its simplicity and affordability. ThermoChef has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about cooking and energy production, by providing a solution that is safe, sustainable, and accessible to all. 

1. Finalized receiving feedback on the design and create a working prototype that is ready to be deployed in 10 locations of varying geographic circumstances (especially looking at different altitudes and looking at areas that use different methods of cooking such as wood vs animal dung vs agricultural waste)

   1. From these pilots we hope to receive more feedback that could be incorporated in our second prototype and that we see that our prototype is successful, easy to use, and has few glitches

   2. We hope to see differences in pollution levels both quantitatively and qualitatively (we will place close attention to the levels of specific bacteria in areas that use animal dung and specific levels of trace pollutants that can tell us if the product is reducing reliance on these dangerous looking methods

2. Modify our program that ensure that the temperature of the oven is held at a constant level and institute safeguards deployment such that our heating elements do not heat out of control

   1. We will achieve this through continual updates to our code for the  single-board computer, enlisting the help of an experienced software engineer, and creating a physical safeguard that limits accidents, such as spills, from extensive heating. 

3. Survey pilot communities to see if ThemoChef’s water use is detrimental to the society and determine if a water recycling system would be useful to ThermoChef’s applicability

   1. We will accomplish this through our conversations with those who use this prototype in a variety ways using the support from iCure and the UN

4. Impact and/or reach 15,000+ individuals within the first three months of the pilot (would ideally take place in the summer) using the power of young advocates, religious leaders, community leaders, NGOs, and educational institutions

   1. We will do this through funding to build each prototype and deployment into researched communities that would be effectively j

5. Installing a ThermoChef prototype in a school for underserved youth (where a majority do not have access to safe cooking methods) to see how child-friendly our design is and make any revisions to make the produce more available to young people

6. Receive quantitative and qualitative evidence from pilot communities that community members have increased time availability to pursue personal interest, education, or support familial activities 

7. Receive consultation from professors that we are currently in contact with to revise our roll-out and implementation plans such that they are more economical and focused on areas in most dire need 

Technology is the basis for ThermoChef’s design and is vital to ThermoChef’s ability to cook food. 

Primarily, ThermoChef’s use of exothermic reactions to heat up water which can then be used to cook or bake food is a form of technology. By selectively using the food-safe reactions between calcium oxide and water which produces a large amount of energy/heat in a short amount of time with slight agitation, ThermoChef is able to promote cooking quickly and safely without any need for electricity, fuel, or a fire source. Users simply need to make sure that the calcium oxide salt is at an appropriate level and that there is water that has been filled into the ThermoChef. It is also important to note that calcium oxide can be purchased for a relatively low price in a manner that is accessible to most across the world and will also come with the ThermoChef. 

Technology is also present in how the temperature of the ThermoChef oven and stove is regulated and monitored. By using a high-temperature safe infrared thermometer sensor which would be connected to a single-board computer, the temperature data can be recorded and monitored by the computer. Using this information, combined with the user’s input on what temperature the food should be cooked at software encoded into the single-board computer will be able to control the release of calcium oxide, allowing for the temperature to be reduced or increased efficiently. Given that water boils at different elevations and factors such as humidity can play a major role in the ability for a food to be properly cooked, our software will be able to account for these differences and adjust the release of calcium oxide to ensure optimal performance through machine learning. We hope that through our pilot runs and our pooling of data in a variety of different locations with various environmental factors, our algorithm will be able to become more efficient over time.

ThermoChef does not currently serve any customers as we are still prototyping

Because we plan to start piloting ThermoChef in 10 locations including communities, schools, religious locations, and commercial locations starting in the summer, we hope to reach 15,000+ people in those three months (June-August). Following our pilot, we hope to close the year by engaging at least 30,000+ additional people after making necessary updates and learning from our pilot studies. If we are able to reach our target funding-wise and not face any major challenges or shifts between our pilot and our larger-scale implementation, we hope to engage at least 12 million people with ThermoChef through social media and expanding knowledge about this alternative method of cooking (given my experience, I believe that this will be entirely feasible especially with the support of UN & WHO agencies and iCure). We hope that our units will be able to produce enough food for 500,000+ meals in our first full year of service with 150 ThermoChefs (with our goal amount of funding, our ThermoChefs will be able to cook 3 to 4 million meals).  

As of now, our biggest barrier for a successful future and pilot is funding. To create functioning prototypes and deploy them in chosen locations (many of which will be far away) will require money which we do not yet have. Although we are confident that we will be able to produce all prototypes together with enough salt to cook 20,000 meals for $300, we will still need funding to deploy these machines both for transportation and creation. As of now, we are still waiting to hear back from the grants that we have applied for and have not yet set up crowdsource funding/donations, which has limited our ability to start purchasing items that we need to be successful. 

An additional challenge we may face is technical support from an engineering perspective to ensure that our release of calcium oxide is accurate. 

iCure Health International 501(c)(3) provides us with as much support as needed whether that be with enabling access to its 30+ chapters for us to consult and potentially test ThermoChef with; provides is with its network having helped 45,000+ people 

Partnership with the Major Group for Children and Youth (through iCure)

Partnership with the World Health Organization Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (through iCure)

Partnership/membership with the UN Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development (through iCure)

Support from a laboratory at the MD Anderson Cancer Center through technical guidance, research support, and personnel support

Support from public health and biostatistics research group at the University of Maryland

Support from UN Agencies (due to my role as an NGO Representative and Young Ambassador at the United Nations)-- able to receive extensive and detailed social development and implementation knowledge; have ability to present reports and consult for the UN and governments in order to advance ThermoChef

Potential support from UN Women in presenting our work before the Commission on the Status of Women and receiving support in implementation (depending on future communication)

Potential support from UN Human Rights (depending on future communication)

Our current plan for our pilot (which is subject to change depending on what we learn as we progress) is to set up publicly available ThermoChefs that are free to use for the public. These ThermoChefs will be placed in areas near populations that use large amounts of open fire or biomass methods of cooking. For $300 dollars, we will be able to provide all three models (the stove, the oven, and the boiler) with enough salt to cook 20,000 meals. Moreover, to supply water, we plan on placing filtering rainwater collectors near the ThermoChefs such that individuals can grab water from these collectors and input it in the ThermoChef to allow for cooking. By allowing for these to be publicly available, we are able to encourage people to not use open fire and biomass methods of cooking, allowing for a better environment and better health for all. In addition, by working within communities with religious and community leaders (who often wield large amounts of power and influence) we will be able to encourage people to use the ThermoChef, which will protect their well-being and prevent climate change in the process. 

Our main method as of now (which is subject to change) is to use grant funding to fund most of our activities. Also, given that one of our major goals through ThermoChef is to save people’s time to focus on educational and economic endeavors, we hope that communities who were able to benefit economically through ThermoChef would “pay it forward” and help fund a ThermoChef in a different area. Moreover, we hope to form economic partnerships with the United Nations and governments to receive funding to increase the number of ThermoChefs across the world. Additionally, we currently have a patent pending on our device and if we are able to receive the patent, we hope to use royalties and licensing to fund our activities.