The conversion of waste to energy through briquetting has the potential for providing energy, while simultaneously reducing wastes and their environmental health risks. The current study developed and evaluated high-energy fuel briquettes from mixtures of coal dust, biowastes and postconsumer plastics. Five waste mix ratios (wt%) of coal dust (C), postconsumer plastics (P) and sawdust (S) were tested: (1) C50-40-S10, (2) C-60-P30-S10, (3) C70-P20-S10, (4) C-80-P20-S0 and (5) C-80A-P0-S20. Waste mix ratio had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on water absorption, shatter index, compressive strength and energy values, but had no effect on density. The densities (1.1-1.3 g/cm 3 ) and shatter indices (94-98%) of all briquettes conformed to international standard specifications for fuel briquettes, indicating that the briquettes had acceptable handling properties. A waste mixture ratio of 50% coal dust, 40% plastics and 10% sawdust (C50-P40-S10) produced a briquette with the best overall combination of handling and energy properties. The high-energy briquettes had calorific values of 26.5-33.8 MJ/kg, which were significantly higher than or comparable to the maximum values reported for high-energy coal (27 MJ/kg), while the compressive strength was 0.7 MPa. Potential applications of the briquettes include (1) household and institutional heating and cooking and (2) industrial heating in kilns, furnaces, smelters, curing and drying of crops (e.g., tobacco barns. Further work is required to address the following:(1) evaluation of the detailed physicochemical, combustion and emission properties, (2) optimization of the briquetting process, (3) cost estimation of the briquettes relative to existing competing solid fuels and (4) comparative performance evaluation of the briquettes versus conventional solid fuels in the various applications.
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