Physical, chemical, and thermal properties of branches mangrove wood of Bruguiera gymnorhiza during conversion into charcoal and charcoal briquette

Abstract

This study investigated physical, chemical, and thermal properties of the branch’s mangrove wood of Bruguiera gymnorhiza during conversion into charcoal and charcoal briquette. Two types of the branches were wood only (WO) and wood with bark (WB). Physical property of moisture content (MC) dropped from 34.76% to 3.02% for WO and 33.71% to 6.46% for WB when the wood was converted into charcoal briquette. In chemical property, carbon dioxide increased up to more than 90% for both WO and WB samples when the branches wood experienced carbonization into charcoal. Thermal properties comprised of calorific value showed positive characteristics of the branches wood when they were converted into bioenergy such as charcoal and briquette charcoal. The calorific value (MJ/kg) increased from 16.33 to 29.57 and 28.08, respectively for WO and from 15.98 to 26.72 and 26.07, respectively for WB. All these values indicated that branches of mangrove wood originated from B. gymnorhiza were prospective to be developed as source of bioenergy, particularly in the form of charcoal and briquette charcoal.