Sago Waste For Sawdust Charcoal Briquette

Sago forests are spread mainly in the regions of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines with Indonesia, especially Papua as the owner of the largest sago forest with a forest area of ​​1.2 million hectares or almost 50% of the world's area. Although sago plantations have begun to be made, most of them are still in the form of forests. In areas that have made sago plantations, the processing of sago products produced is also better. Sago has a very important role in food security, especially in areas such as Maluku and Papua. People in these areas eat sago as their staple food. Food security according to Law No. 7 of 1996 and PP 68 of 2002 is a condition of fulfilling food for households which is reflected in the availability of sufficient food, both in quantity and quality, safe, equitable and affordable. In addition, sago trees also have environmental benefits such as erosion, water absorption and greening. Food conversion from sago to rice will encourage the conversion of sago forest to rice fields and that also eliminates the environmental benefits of sago forests. The loss of environmental benefits from sago forests also means inviting potential natural disasters. It should not be necessary to convert food from sago to rice for these areas but instead develop and preserve the potential of sago trees in these areas and is even possible as an export commodity. Based on a number of analyzes, the use of sago from local locations will be able to be self-sufficient in the area, for example in Maluku and Papua.

The use of sago is mainly for carbohydrate production as a staple food. Sago starch is taken from the extracted part of the sago stem so that the sago starch and residue are separated. In a number of areas the process of extracting sago starch is still very simple, namely the sago stem taken from the rich part of the sago, reduced in size for example by grated and mixed with water and then squeezed by hand and sago starch taken out then as the sediment. With the help of mechanical tools the extraction process can be easier and faster. The sago production process produces a number of biomass wastes that actually have economic potential. The waste of sago bark and sago residue is a potential raw material for the production of sawdust briquette charcoal. At present most of the waste is still untapped and only pollutes the environment.

The production of sawdust charcoal briquette from sago waste is almost the same as the production of sawdust charcoal briquette from raw materials of wood waste in general. The sago bark needs to be reduced in size (size reduction) to the size of sawdust while the residue is not necessary because the particle size is relatively small. The next stage is drying with a dryer and the most widely used today is the rotary (drum) dryer. After the material is dry enough, it is then temporarily stored and then fed to the screw extruder and produced like sawdust briquette. At this stage the production process stages are very similar to wood pellet production, the difference is for the production of sawdust briquette using a screw extruder, while for wood pellets with pelletizers. To become sawdust charcoal briquette, the sawdust briquette is then carbonised in a carbonization furnace which takes around 10 days.

Why not to wood pellet production? Reasonable question of it. Although the sago waste can be used for wood pellet production, the high chlorine content makes it less acceptable, especially for the export market where the end user is a (pulverized) power plant. If wood pellets from sago waste are intended for the domestic market for use in a number of SMEs it is also not a problem. While the absorption of the domestic market is still small, then some wood pellet producers are still a priority for the export market with the requirements of technical specifications quite stringent. Based on these conditions the production of sawdust charcoal briquette is more an option, and besides that sawdust charcoal briquette production equipment is almost 100% made locally.