Modeling, Simulation, and Experimental Validation of an Electrical-based Injera Baking Mitad System

Abstract

About 30 to 50 percent of Ethiopian households utilize energy for injera baking, and conventional charcoal-fired Mitads produce a lot of emissions (about 1.2 kg CO₂ per session). Although they provide an alternative, electric mitads have a thermal efficiency that is typically between 60 and 70 percent. By using numerical modeling of composite materials to optimize electric Mitad performance, this study fills a research void that hasn't been filled by previous experimental work. We verified 17 minutes to reach 148°C and baked 21 injeras at 3 minutes each (66.81% efficiency) using ANSYS transient thermal software to validate a baseline model (2.8 kW clay pan) against experimental data (<3% deviance). Three composites were assessed: [1] Heating time was shortened by 59% (7 minutes to 150°C) using 95% clay and 5% aluminum chips. and baking time to 2.5 minutes per injera, achieving 70.21% efficiency (0.47 kWh/session saved); [2] ceramic reached 150°C in 12.5 minutes but required reheating due to ~10°C temperature drops per cycle; [3] 60:40 clay-aluminum composite achieved 150°C in 9 minutes with stable heat retention (68.2% efficiency). The 95% clay-aluminum composite demonstrated 25% total energy reduction per cycle, potentially saving households ~120 kWh annually. This work enables future optimization of composites, insulation, and socioeconomic analysis of production costs versus energy/fuel savings.