ARCN Interna onal Journal of Sustainable Development
ISSN: 2384-5341. Volume 14,Interna
ARCN Issue 1, onal
(March, 2024)
Journal ofpages 56 – 62Development
Sustainable
DOI: 2726-4-573-1-1416
arcnjournals@gmail.com
h ps://arcnjournals.org
Evaluation of Charcoal Briquette Production from Organic
Solid Waste Streams Generated in the Ramat Polytechnic,
Maiduguri
Zara Kyari Kolo
Department of Civil Engineering Technology, Ramat Polytechnic PMB 1070, Maiduguri, Borno
State Nigeria
Abstract: This study will evaluate the potential of charcoal briquette production from sawdust and leave falls generated
within the Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri campus. The composition of the materials to be used for briquette production
will be 100% sawdust, 100% leaves, and a combination of 50% sawdust and 50% leaves with particle sizes of 1.18mm
and 0.3mm. Clay and gum Arabic pastes will be used as binding materials. Bulk density, compressive strength, ash
content and calorific value were determined to identify the briquettes with the greatest physical and combustion
integrity. The highest density and compressive strength of 1.209g/cm3 and 2.31 N/mm2 were obtained from a briquette
of leaves + clay binder with 0.3mm particle size, while the lowest ash content and highest calorific value of 2.6% and
24.20 mj/kg were obtained from a briquette of sawdust + leaves + clay and leaves + gum arabic with 1.18mm and
0.3mm particle size respectively. The obtained result would be scaled up for both domestic and small-scale
applications.
Keywords: Briquettes, leaves, Sawdust, Particle size.
1 Introduction
1.1 Background of the study
The demand for energy from renewable raw materials is receiving more attention at local, national
and global scales than ever before. These could be attributed to the high rise in the price of
conventional fuel, and environmental pollution leading to climate change. Renewable energy from
biomass materials including municipal wastes, agricultural food and feed crops, energy crops and
trees, agricultural crop wastes, wood wastes and other waste materials are considered as one of the
major potential sources for energy production (EPA, 2009; Sivakumar and Mohan 2010). Studies
have shown that renewable energy which is considered as energy source in many developed and
developing countries could significantly improve the quality of air, water, land, economy and
energy security at large (Balat, 2009; Uzun and Kanmaz, 2013). Research demonstrates that the
conversion of renewable raw materials to energy could significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption
and the emission of greenhouse gases (Laryea-Goldsmith et al., 2011). Interestingly, an increased
awareness of environmental protection have increased the demand for clean and highly efficient
utilization of coal being an important scientific and technological issue.
Therefore, the briquette is one of the development directions of clean coal technology (Wu et al.,
2011). The technology has attracted much attention and has become one of the important themes
of energy research. Clean coal technology represents a series of new techniques aiming to decrease
pollutant discharge and improve energy utilization efficiency as much as possible in the
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processing, combustion and conversion etc. of coal (Wang and Li, 2011). However, briquetting
requires the addition of a binding material to hold the briquette together for transportation,
briquette forming and storage, while binder plays an important role, the strength, thermal stability,
combustion performance and cost of the briquette depend on the quality of the briquette binder
used in the production. Similarly, it involves the compression of a material into a solid product of
advanced bulk density, lower moisture content and outfit size and shape (Liu et al., 2017). Solid
organic waste generated from Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri and sawdust from timber shade is an
important biomass for conversion to charcoal briquette. Therefore, this study will aim to evaluate
the performance of produced briquettes ascertain the effect of the binding materials and
determination of calorific values to serve as alternative energy with the capacity to replace
conventional charcoal in terms of cost-effectiveness and sustainability.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Materials
In this study, some of the materials and equipment used include sawdust, leaves, Gum Arabic,
Cassava flour, forced air drying oven (VNB300, Memmert Germany), Drying cabinet (FSM 140,
Ohaus core USA) Digital Analytical balance (PA214), Pioneer ohaus USA), Porcelain crucibles,
Muffle furnace (P-Select 2000368, select HORN Ohaus USA),
2.1.1 Collection of Biomass Material
The sawdust sample to be used for this study was collected from a timber shade along Damboa
Road while the leaves sample was collected from a dump site within the Ramat Polytechnic,
Maiduguri Campus. Subsequently, the gum Arabic was purchased from a local market (Kasuwan
Gamboru) in Maiduguri. The clay sample was collected at the polo field ground along Polo Road,
Maiduguri.
2.2 Methods
2.2.1 Sample preparation
The sawdust and the leaves were screened from impurities like sand, metallic objects, grits and
chips of wood. The sawdust was sun-dried to reduce moisture content. Thereafter, sawdust and
leaves were artificially carbonized in an open drum at a temperature of 400oC for 3 hours.
Cooled carbonized biomass, gum arabic and clay will be grounded into pulverized form and be
settled using 1.18mm and 0.3mm sieve sizes to ensure steady grain size and ease of compression.
The biomass material and the corresponding binders were mixed in a ratio of 1:1 where 25g of
each sample was adopted for all materials using a digital weighing scale.
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2.2.2 Production of briquettes
The mixture of materials to be used for the production of the briquettes were obtained using
particle sizes of 1.18mm and 0.3mm as presented in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Materials for briquette production
Biomass Binder
Sawdust Clay
Leaves Clay
Sawdust + Leaves Clay
Sawdust Gum Arabic
Leaves Gum Arabic
Sawdust + Leaves Gum Arabic
The binders were made into non-thick gel using the moisture content of each binder introductory
to briquettes. The biomass and the binders were mixed as presented in Table 1 above. Each
mixture was filled into a cylindrical mold and placed on a pressing hydraulic jack machine and
compacted at a pressure of 20.96mpa read from the pressure gauge that was inserted at the
pressing point of the machine which will helped in regulating the constant compaction pressure
and prevention of oozing out of the binder. A total of twelve (12) cylindrical briquettes with a
mean diameter of 2.24cm and height of 3.8cm were produced. The produced briquettes were
sundried for 7 days.
2.2.3 Determination of physical and combustion properties of produced briquettes.
Some of the physical and combustion properties of the briquettes produced include; the density,
compressive strength, Ash content and calorific value (CV) were evaluated.
2.2.4 Determination of density of produce briquette
The equivalent mass (m) of the material/object in grams (g) was divided by the volume of the
object (v) in cm3
2.2.5 Compressive strength of produced briquettes
A briquette sample was inserted between two plates on a compressing machine subjected to
compression. The ratio between the maximum breaking force and the cross-sectional area of the
sample will be recorded by the pressure gauge in N/mm2 to indicate the resistance to breaking by
compression.
2.2.6 Determination of ash content of produce briquettes
Approximately 3g of grated briquette sample was evenly spread on a weighed container (crucible)
and placed onto a muffle furnace (P-select 200 368, select HORN) set at 350oC. The sample was
kept at the above temperature until it appeared light grey. Hence, the crucible was removed and
placed in a drying cabinet (FSM 140) which was left to cool and reweighed immediately.
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ma = weight of porcelain crucible (g)
mb = weight of porcelain crucible and sample (g)
mc = weight of porcelain crucible and ash (g)
2.2.7 Determination of calorific value of briquettes (according to ASTM standard method)
The calorimeter was calibrated by combusting 1g of benzoic acid which has a known C.V. About
1g of the briquette sample was placed in a metal sample cup which was placed into a holding slot
between two electrodes extending from the lid of a stainless steel container. Thereafter, a thin
metal wire fuse was attached to the electrodes which forms a loop into the coal sample and then
placed into “bomb container”. Thus, the bomb containing the briquette sample will be transferred
to a water bath where an electrical current was used to spark the sample which ignite the bomb.
The sample ignite in turn and heated the water bath. Hence, the water change – bath temperature
was used to determine the calorific value of the sample.
3.0 Result and Discussion
The result of the physical and combustion analysis of leaves, sawdust and mixture of leaves and
sawdust with clay paste and gum Arabic paste as binders are presented in this section. The
properties of the briquettes produced were limited to the determination of density, compressive
strength, percentage ash content and calorific value.
Fig 1 Density (g/cm3) of produced briquettes.
The density of the briquettes for the two particle sizes varied from 1.007g/cm 3 – 1.209g/cm3 as
shown in Table 4.1 above. The results show that the density of the briquettes increased with a
decrease in particle size. The implication of this is that the finer the particle, the less the pore spaces
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and the more mass of the material per given volume which is good for briquetting. The briquettes
have obtained increased density which is a valuable factor in briquetting.
Fig 2 Compressive strength (n/mm2) of produce briquettes
Particle size has a clear effect on the compressive strength of the produced briquette. The
briquette from a mix ratio of 1:1 of leaves with clay from 0.3mm particle size exhibited the best
compressive strength (2.31N/mm2) while the least was obtained from briquettes of sawdust +
leaves + Gum Arabic from 1.18mm particle size.
Fig 3 Percentage ash content (%) of produced briquettes.
Minimum to maximum range of between 2.6 – 3.3 per cent ash content was obtained from 1.18
and 0.3mm particle sizes as shown fig. 4.3 above low ash content offers higher heating value
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with less dust emissions that leads to air pollution (obi et al 2013). However, high ash content
results in lower calorific value as it influences the burning rate as a result of minimization of heat
transfer.
Fig 4 Calorific Value (mj/kg) of produced briquettes.
The result indicates that the calorific value obtained from this study ranged between 18.05 –
24.20mj/kg from 1.18 and 0.3mm particle size. The minimum value (18.05mj/kg) obtained is
higher than the minimum value set by the wood pellet Association of Canada (Calorific value >
16.000mj/kg). the highest value obtained from this study is in a closer range to that of
24.50mj/kg obtained by Gilbert et al 2021. Calorific values obtained for produced briquettes in
this study have shown a good combustion property that would be comfortably applied to
domestic applications.
4 Conclusion
Evaluation of organic solid waste of produced briquettes yielded an improved physical and
combustion properties it was clear that gum Arabic (binder). However, decrease in particle size
has a clear impact on the performance of the produced briquettes. Thus, minimum to maximum
calorific value of produced briquette is higher than that of dry wood (Within interval from 18.5 –
19.0mj/kg) (C.F. Neils en A/S on member of RVF briquetting system). Further investigation ion
similar materials with higher fibre and organic content shoul be assessed and make compassion
with conventional charcoal.
5 Contribution to knowledge
Excessive use of fossil fuels significantly contributes to climate change which further
deteriorates the environment. Thus, study has offered an alternative source of energy that may
serve as an alternative to fossil fuel and will reduce the emission of harmful gases.
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