An Experimental Study of Briquetting Process of Torrefied Rubber Seed Kernel and Palm Oil Shell

Abstract

Torrefaction process of biomass material is essential in converting them into biofuel with improved calorific value and physical strength. However, the production of torrefied biomass is loose, powdery, and nonuniform. One method of upgrading this material to improve their handling and combustion properties is by densification into briquettes of higher density than the original bulk density of the material. The effects of critical parameters of briquetting process that includes the type of biomass material used for torrefaction and briquetting, densification temperature, and composition of binder for torrefied biomass are studied and characterized. Starch is used as a binder in the study. The results showed that the briquette of torrefied rubber seed kernel (RSK) is better than torrefied palm oil shell (POS) in both calorific value and compressive strength. The best quality of briquettes is yielded from torrefied RSK at the ambient temperature of briquetting process with the composition of 60% water and 5% binder. The maximum compressive load for the briquettes of torrefied RSK is 141 N and the calorific value is 16 MJ/kg. Based on the economic evaluation analysis, the return of investment (ROI) for the mass production of both RSK and POS briquettes is estimated in 2-year period and the annual profit after payback was approximately 107,428.6 USD.

A Review of Technical and Economic Aspects of Biomass Briquetting

“…Sengar et al [183] reported that cashew shell and grass briquettes took 0.68 and 0.63 years, respectively, as the project's payback period. However, the same project took 2.5 year for rice husk briquettes, which is slightly above the two-year period reported by Hamid et al [74] for the production of rubber seed kernel (RSK) and palm oil shell (POS) briquettes. In other studies, the payback period for durian peel and rice straw briquettes was 1.3 years [187] while peat briquettes production was between five and six years [184].…”

Development and Characterization of Polypropylene Waste from Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)-Derived Char-Filled Sugar Palm Starch Biocomposite Briquettes

“…Based on the observations, it was found that the microstructure of the briquettes is apparently finely textured for C-100/SPS-0, but has a coarse and rigid structure for C-90/SPS-10, C-80/SPS-20, C-70/SPS-30, and C-60/SPS-40 briquettes. This is due to the presence of SPS as the binder inside the composites, which can be observed from the increased amount of SPS, as shown in Figure 4 [ 19 , 34 ]. This microstructure proves that good bonding of the fine particles and decreased porosity were obtained for the briquettes with SPS loading compared to the neat ones.…”

Production and Characterization of Hybrid Briquettes from Corncobs and Oil Palm Trunk Bark under a Low Pressure Densification Technique

“…There are however strong concerns about the amount of ash it may generate during combustion, as ash content in biomass above 4% may cause slagging [34]. Briquettes have been produced from some oil palm biomasses like the palm press fibers (PPF), palm kernel shell (PKS), mesocarp fiber (MF) and empty fruit bunch (EFB) [35][36][37][38][39][40]. Yet, very little or no attention has been given to OPT, as no studies can be traced to briquette made solely from OPT or mixed with another residue until now.…”