article · Energy Reports
Sawmills produce substantial volumes of sawdust that can serve as a renewable fuel source. This research examined the production and performance of solid fuel briquettes made from carbonised sawdust of two tropical timber species, Iroko and Padouk, bound with starch. Various blending ratios were pyrolysed, ground, and pressed into briquettes before undergoing standard combustion and chemical analyses. Production yields ranged from 12.4 percent for mixed blends to 18.4 percent for pure Padouk. The resulting briquettes achieved densities between 0.28 and 0.53 grams per cubic centimetre and gross calorific values between 22.62 and 24.72 megajoules per kilogram, with pure Padouk delivering the highest energy output. All formulations exhibited low ash contents between 3.48 and 7.46 percent. Chemical ratio analyses confirmed high flammability and strong carbonaceous properties, demonstrating their viability as cleaner alternative energy sources.
Sawmill residue often accumulates as industrial waste. Converting tropical wood sawdust into carbonised fuel briquettes provides an efficient way to recover energy from timber processing by-products. Because these briquettes combine high heat output with low ash and moisture contents, they offer a cleaner, sustainable solid fuel option to replace conventional, higher-polluting biomass fuels.
This work demonstrates an applied, early-stage method for converting industrial timber waste into drop-in solid fuel briquettes using standard pyrolysis, starch binding, and hydraulic pressing. Wood processing facilities and commercial biomass fuel producers could adopt these formulations to produce cleaner domestic or industrial heating fuels. Because production was performed at laboratory scale using a manual hydraulic press, further pilot-scale trials and automated processing tests would be necessary before commercial deployment.
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In the wood processing industry, sawmills generate huge amounts of sawdust as a renewable energy source. This paper aims to describe the production process and investigate the physico-chemical properties of mixed briquettes from two tropical sawdust species, including Iroko (Chlorophora excelsa) and Padouk (Pterocarpus soyauxii) and starch binder. The sawdust from each wood was dried, mixed in the ratios of 100:0; 75:25; 50:50; 25:75; 0:100 and then carbonised in the pyrolyser. The biochar was ground, mixed in the combinations of 75:25; 50:50; 25:75 and compacted using a manual hydraulic press. Proximal and ultimate analyses were applied to determine the combustion characteristics of the briquettes produced according to ASTM standards and Van Kreleven models. The results of briquette production showed that pure Padouk sawdust (P) has a high yield (18.4%), while mixed sawdust (C’) has a lower yield (12.4%). The density varies from 0.28 g/cm 3 to 0.53 g/cm 3 and the ash content from 3.48% to 7.46%. The gross calorific value of the briquettes produced varies from 22.623 MJ/kg to 24.719 MJ/kg. The highest Gross Calorific Values (GCV) obtained on Padouk briquettes indicates their high content of extractables. Ultimate analysis of the samples showed that the briquettes were highly carbonaceous. The Van Krevelen diagram shows an atomic H/C ratio of less than 1.5 and an O/C ratio of less than 0.8 which indicate that the briquettes are highly flammable. The briquettes produced are suitable as an environmentally friendly alternative energy source as they have low moisture and ash content (below 10%), and high calorific values.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.egyr.2023.02.006
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