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DEVELOPMENT OF RICE HUSK BRIQUETTES FOR USE AS FUEL
Update: 3/14/2013
Rice husk, which is a large portion of biomass produced in the rice growing regions has been lying waste at the rice mills in most part of this country.
It was investigated as a source of solid fuel; two sets of solid fuel briquettes were produced from rice husk using starch and gum as binders. The briquetting was carried out manually using a dead weight.
Good and strong briquettes were produced. Water boiling tests were carried out which showed that 1kg of rice husk - gum briquette and rice husk - starch briquette took 15 minutes respectively to boil 2 litres of water where as it took 1.2kg of firewood 21 minutes to boil the same quantity of water.
Flame test also showed a pale yellow throughout and pale yellow to pale blue for rice husk- gum and rice husk- starch briquettes respectively.
These indicate the superiority of briquettes over firewood in terms of combustion characteristics and quantity respectively and also indicate the advantage of briquette in terms of ease of handling and transportation.
Although all these terms are used loosely interchangeably, binder is generally becoming most widely used, and it is considered the most acceptable general term for all bonding agent.
Briquetting Process
These mixtures were loaded into a fabricated mould and compressed by weight to the mould for sometime and sun dried. The drying process was continued for proper drying to be achieved prior to the boiling water test.andling and transportation.
Source: © Emerging Academy Resources
By: D.B. Yahaya and T.G. Ibrahim
