Abstract

The decreasing availability of fuel wood has made it necessary that efforts towards the efficient utilization of agricultural wastes as low-cost energy sources. Some of these agricultural wastes include coconut shells, wood pulp, sawdust, cow dung and groundnut shells. In this study, briquettes were produced using coal and sawdust in different proportions as designed in RSM, utilizing molasses and cornstarch as binders. The briquettes produced were analyzed using FTIR, Proximate analysis, calorific value and physical tests such as ignition time, burning time. The results indicated that the briquettes produced using sawdust (25wt%) and coal blend (5wt %) with cornstarch (4wt%) as binder had a fixed carbon of 78wt% and a calorific value of 28.5MJ/kg, the briquette ignited at 40s and burned for 18min. While the briquettes produced using sawdust (25wt%) and coal blend (5wt %) with molasses (4wt%) as binder had a fixed carbon of 76.75% and a calorific value of 30.5MJ/kg, the briquette ignited at 26s and burned for 8min. This result suggests that cornstarch and molasses are very good binders for briquette production. The coal blend in sawdust biomass yielded a bio-coal briquette with shorter ignition time, higher combustion sustaining properties, decreased the generation of dust and soot, and emitted less SO₂. The briquettes obtained in this study are efficient and environmentally friendly

Keywords:Biomass; Briquette; Coal; Corn starch; Sawdust; Molasses