low pressure biomass briquette technology,Part two

Continued from part One

Briquette press

The machines for pressing can be high pressure machines with screws or low pressure machines manually driven or assisted with jacks. The figure below shows alternative designs of low pressure machines.

                      
 Figure 2 Briquette pressing machines [1, 3]

Shown at the left is a manually driven pressing machine while at the right the pressing is assisted by using hydraulic or manual jacks. This is a model developed by the author with initial idea from [3] and can produce 2-3 briquettes once. The press at the left requires skilled person on accurate construction and is labor intensive as it is manually driven. The press at the right can be operated by one person and requires less sophisticated skill. Also since the pressing is assisted, it is less labor intensive and usually requires less material.

Objectives

Generally the project aims at utilizing biomass wastes as cheap and alternative fuel sources while creating an income means for the poor and protecting the environment.  Specifically,

ü  Potential raw materials and mixture of the materials are determined experimentally by carrying out model briquette manufacturing. After this, caloric value, sensitivity to water and strength are tested. At the end briquettes for commercial purpose (competent caloric value) are identified.

ü  The final press design is built after experimentation with various raw materials and mixtures. Improvement ideas are put into effect to arrive at suitable design with low material cost but having high pressing effect.

ü  Economical and financial analysis of the system is done to conclude on profitability and selling price of the briquette. After this cost optimization is further carried out.

Methodology

The main methodology followed in this research is making a series of experiments on the press, raw material composition and on the final product. The details are discussed below.

The model press has been constructed and is in use now. However it needs optimization in the following ways;

1.       The production capacity needs to be at least 3 while producing a quality briquette

2.       The position of the press should be up side down and fixed to make it easy to press. It should be fixed at the top so that a person can do pressing while standing. This also requires the wooden frame be stable. Hence support legs should be made for the press.

3.  A suitable wooden made in rectangular form should be designed for use as concentric to the main PVC pipe.

Experiments on raw materials include;
 

1.       Determining the appropriate composition of waste paper to saw dust

2.       Proportion of waste leaves and cardboard that could be added

3.       Proportion of charcoal dust that could be mixed 

The final product needs to be experimented in the following ways;

1.       Caloric value for various compositions mentioned above

2.       Resistance to moisture at various compression ratios

3.       Size elongation during the drying and storage periods

In addition to these experiments, a stove should be constructed. Various designs of stoves that fire briquettes are available. These are shown below;

 

Figure 3 various briquette stove designs