Comparative Assessment of Energy Values of Briquettes from Some Agricultural By-Products with Different Binders

Abstract

The effect on environment by agricultural and other industrial wastes is on the increase and is causing a lot of problem. Adequate means of disposing these wastes are lacking, hence, converting them to other useful products such as briquettes for domestic fuel is desirable. In this work, the energy values of briquettes made from some of these agricultural by-products using two binders were assessed. Wastes from rice husk, maize cob, groundnut shell and sugarcane baggasse were turned to briquettes using two different types of agricultural by-product binders (banana peel and cassava peel gel). The briquettes were subjected to energy evaluation test using the Fulton XRY-1B Oxygen Bomb Calorimeter. The mean bulk densities of the briquettes produced from rice husk, maize cob, groundnut shell and sugar cane baggasse were 0.75g/cm3, 0.69g/cm3, 0.81g/cm3and 0.65g/cm3, respectively. The results obtained showed that the average energy values of the briquettes produced using cassava peel as binder from rice husk, maize cob, groundnut shell and sugarcane baggasse were 26.612MJ/Kg, 28.255MJ/Kg, 33.703MJ/Kg and 32.762MJ/Kg, respectively. The corresponding average values for those produced using banana peel as binders were 29.980MJ/g, 28.981MJ/g, 32.432MJ/g, 31.508MJ/g for rice husk, maize cob, groundnut shell and sugarcane baggasse, respectively. The results indicate that briquettes produced from groundnut shell using cassava peel gave the highest energy value of 33.70 MJ/kg while those obtained from rice husk using cassava peel gave the lowest calorific value of 26.61MJ/kg and these were significantly different(p ≤ 0.05). The briquette from groundnut shell is therefore more suitable for starting and maintaining fire for cooking and other domestic heating. The briquettes from these by-products in terms of energy values are ranked as follows: groundnut shell > sugar cane baggasse > maize cob > rice husk. The effective utilization of these agricultural by-products as high grade solid fuel can reduce environmental pollution resulting from the wastes and also help in minimizing the energy crisis resulting from non- renewable energy sources like petroleum products as domestic fuel.