Popularizing Wood Briquette For Renewable Fuels and Environmentally Friendly

The title of the utilization of renewable energy and environmentally friendly, has a bustling decorate various print and electronic media at this time. Availability of fossil energy are dwindling and unsustainable become a major driving force to give attention to renewable energy. Over time by increasing energy needs, it is inevitable renewable energy will become a mandatory requirement in time. Lignocellulose biomass such as woody is an abundant source that is easily obtainable as well as easily cultivated to the sustainability of their supply. Facts about the low use of renewable energy such as biomass can be viewed from a number of factors, including environmental awareness is still low, including letting productive lands without results even tend to occur desertification, lack of awareness of self or sovereign in the energy sector as one of the vital needs, the lack of or the lack of mastery of technology for renewable energy production and utilization resulting in the inability to see the potential of biomass is very large in tropical areas like our country.

Wood briquette is a product compaction (densification) biomass. Compared to wood pellets, wood briquette is also less popular and production not as much wood pellets. Technically wood briquette quality is not inferior to wood pellets, because in general the density of wood briquette is higher than wood pellets. In addition to the surface of wood briquette also occurr partial carbonized that makes it easy ignited. The large size of wood briquette makes it not easy to flow or be poured as well as wood pellets, which could be a factor that makes wood briquette less desirable. Basically wood briquette similar to wooden sticks as firewood used for cooking, with a density of approximately 2 times the hardwood so to burn is also not a difficult thing. Some furnaces are accustomed to using firewood will easily adjust to the wood briquette. 

Wood briquette is also less publicity than wood pellets, so wood pellets usually more popular. The use of wood pellets for various industries also have started to bloom as in the tea industry for the process of withering and drying the tea leaves themselves. The content of anthraquinone also be very low when using wood pellets as fuel for the process so that it can be accepted by European market in particular. Characteristics of wood pellets which can bulk this is what makes many selected.

Basically wood briquette also has the same functionality, only slight modifications to the furnace may be needed due to the large size. Resume biobriquette or wood briquette application can be read here. The use of wood briquette and mastery of production technology should be easier to do. Wood briquette has a longer produced in various regions in Indonesia, more than 20 years ago as an intermediate product in the production of sawdust charcoal briquette. Fabrication or manufacture of equipment for wood briquette production also has a 100% have been able to be produced in the country, in contrast to wood pellets that most of its production equipment is still imported.

In addition to the woody biomass waste, plantation waste such as empty fruit bunches of palm oil is also good potential compacted into pellets or briquettes. In the palm oil mill the energy needs both heat and electricity in general have been able to be satisfied by the mesocarp fiber and palm kernel shell. Palm Kernel shell even many left, and they can be sold because it can be directly used for fuel and could bulk as well as wood pellets. Large palm oil industry does not only produce crude palm oil or CPO (crude palm oil) but with a range of derivative products or purification/refinery to increase the added value of the CPO will need a lot of energy for the production process. Picture below about purification scheme (refinery) CPO to produce a wide range of derivative products. 

EFB briquettes as a source of energy that CPO refinery. A palm oil mill operations are efficient and zero waste with optimal utilization of wastes for energy resources could have done well with the above-mentioned mechanism. The ash from burning briquettes that are rich in potassium (K) also can be levied which will be used for organic fertilizer on palm plantations.

Wood Briquette Left Behind 25 Years of Wood Pellet

Common areas with wood burning application it will be appropriate to use wood briquette and less suitable when using wood pellets. Various areas in various parts of the world use wood for heating (wood burning stove or boiler) or for cooking. If the ratio of wood as fuel is much so the business of  wood briquette production will be more attractive than wood pellets. Globally wood briquette are less popular than wood pellets, so the wood briquette production is also far below the wood pellets. Wood briquette also has its own characteristics compared to wood pellets.

In general, wood briquette production is also much easier than wood pellets. The particle size, raw materials, moisture content and operations slightly more stringent than the requirements for the production of wood pellets. All wood pellets have a cylindrical shape which is only distinguished diameter of the cylinder, and a commonly used the diameter of 6 mm and 8 mm, while the wood briquette in addition to its shape can vary in terms of size also vary, for example, of the diameter of 50 mm (5 cm) to 90 mm (9 cm). Wood pellets almost all using mechanical compression on the wood briquette production while there is some compression options, namely mechanical, hydraulic and extrusion (screw). The different compression technology will also produce different product characteristics, such as differences in mechanical compresssion (ram / piston briquette) and by extrusion (screw briquette). Raw materials that can be made pellets almost certainly be made briquette, but all the raw materials that could be made briquette may not be successful to make pellets. Wood briquette density is also higher than wood pellets, which ranges from 1000-1400 kg/m3 (62.4 to 87.4 pounds/ft3) while on wood pellets range from 700-800 kg/m3 (43.7 to 50 pounds/ft3 ).

Whereas when compared with wood (round wood/log) are usually capable of burning (burning time) about 30 minutes then with a high density on the wood briquette made have burning time of about 6-7 time. Another factor that cause the long burning time is low moisture content than round wood/log.  In many ways wood briquette production process has many similarities with wood pellets or both in the biomass densification technology group. Although both carbon neutral because both biomass fuel, but the process of burning wood briquette produces 60% fewer emissions than using firewood. Then for the cool areas that burn a lot of wood for the fireplace (heating), the wood briquette is the right choice.

Take a Look Closer at Wood Pellet

When we examine more closely to the wood pellet surface that we will look smooth, slippery and shiny. Even as smooth surface, slick and shiny that there are people who say that wood pellets are specially coated. Obviously this statement is groundless because especially not supported with a strong argument. Production of several  tons, tens to hundreds to thousands of tons per day of  wood pellets will produce the number of units very much. How about coating process? And how many substances are used so that the coating and still economically? Altogether these people can not give an answer.

Smooth surface, slippery and shiny is really due to the lignin in the wood tends to be resin that have plastic property. If mold is stretched and the temperature increased, the heat and absence of air condition in the shell will cause pyrolysis is characterized by outer skin darkened by carbonized.  This appears more clearly in the process of screw briquetteproduction, which also features on heater in the die so that the outer skin of the  briquette carbonized. 

 

The main components of biomass are cellulose compounds, hemiselulose and lignin. Each of these compounds has a different thermal decomposition temperature. Carbonization occurs when compounds of lignin in the biomass decomposes at a temperature of about 400 C. The table looks like this below.

 

EFB Briquetting For Bioenergy And Other Purposes

Solid waste such as Empty Fruit Bunch-EFB numbers are very abundant in palm oil mills and to this day are generally not processed moreover utilized optimally.  EFB waste is generally just dumped somewhere and left to decompose naturally through biological processes. Some places have used it as mulch or as an organic fertilizer. But compared to the amount produced, processed EFB are few in number and little added value. The biological processes are also running slow so it takes a big investment to process all EFB waste every day when will use the process. Eco-friendly palm oil mills and "zero waste" certainly impossible achieved.

As energy needs continue to increase every time the diversification of energy becomes important and should be done. These shorter process and results can be used immediately would be an option for the EFB waste processing. Desification technology of biomass into briquette is an attractive option to implement. Briquetting is the shortest route to process the EFB commercially. Process variables such as the size of the briquettes, moisture content, particle size, ash content and plant investment looser than pelleting make it the quickest route of the EFB waste processing. While the briquettes usage  is not a massive pellets but also very large needs. A number of companies producing briquettes, and briquettes are used itself to produce electricity by gasification, pyrolysis and direct combustion technology. Gasification, pyrolysis and direct combustion technology also requires the size and shape of certain raw materials to get optimal performance.

Make the sustainable palm oil business from upstream to downstream is the desire of almost all palm oil businessman. When the palm oil plantation land in need of nutrients that can be supplied from the palm plant itself (EFB for example) but when taken out without anything coming into the soil will also interfere with the palm oil plantation soil fertility in the long term. So it need a good strategy to achieve a sustainable palm oil business. Briquetting is basically the biomass densification that will save transport to its user so that when the briquettes EFB if you want to use as compost can also be parsed again with biological processes to put into the ground so that the balance of soil fertility can be maintained.