EFFECTS OF BRIQUETTES AND BINDERS ON COMBUSTIBLE PROPERTIES OF SELECTED BIODEGRADABLE MATERIALS (original) (raw)

Selection of agro-waste briquettes/binding agents for domestic and industrial cottage applications depends on the fuel properties. In this research work, investigations were carried out on the properties of briquettes produced from corncob, groundnut shells, sawdust and rice husk using three different binding agents namely; cassava starch, bombaxcostatum powdered calyxes and cissuspopulnea thickeners for each of the biodegradable materials, with a view of investigating which of the three binding agents and biodegradable materials examined can be used more efficiently and rationally as fuel. Proximate analyses were carried out to determine the average composition of their constituents. Cylindrical moulds were used to facilitate densification of these biodegradable materials into briquettes using those binding agents separately for each. Result of this work indicated that these briquettes/binding agents made good biomass fuels. However, findings from this research showed that briquettes with starch as binding agents have more positive attributes of biomass fuel than their cissuspopulnea and bombaxcostatum counterparts. For instance, corncob/starch briquette has the lowest mean moisture content of 14.57%, highest mean density of 759kg/m 3 , highest mean volatile matter of 87.73% and highest heating value of 20,258 kJ/kg compared with corncob/cissuspopulneaand corncob/bombaxcostatum briquettes. Rice husk /starch briquette has the lowest mean moisture content;13.06%, highest mean density;787kg/m 3 , highest mean volatile matter; 68.89% and highest heating value;13732kJ/kg compared to rice husk/cissuspopulnea briquette and rice husk/bombaxcostatum briquette. Groundnut shell/starch briquette has the lowest mean moisture content;9.48%, highest mean density; 761kg/m 3 ,highest average volatile matter;61.73% and highest mean heating value;17029 kJ/kg compared with groundnut shell/cissuspopulnea briquette and groundnut shell/bombaxcostatumbriquettev. Similarly, sawdust/starch briquette has the lowest mean moisture content; 8.33%, highest mean density; 765kg/m 3 , highest mean volatile matter; 76.32% ,and highest mean heating value; 17,952 kJ/kg compared with sawdust/cissuspopulnea briquette and sawdust/bombaxcostatum briquette.