Theoretical Aspects of Biomass Briquetting: A Review Study

Abstract

The existing burden on biomass resources, the negative impacts on the environment and the problems of energy supply could be alleviated by undertaking comprehensive alternative energy technologies for decentralized application. One of such viable and promising technologies is briquetting, which is used to extract biomass energy and convert it into a more useful form through densification in order to facilitate handling, storage and transportation. Briquette, which is final product of biomass briquetting, has a wide variety of use from household to industrial. Therefore, this paper reviews biomass briquetting, its technology and fundamental principles. The advantages as well as its drawbacks are also examined along with the factors that can influence biomass briquetting. The review study concluded that briquetting is one of viable means of converting biomass residues into renewable energy and that the quality of briquettes depends on the type of the biomass feedstock used and operating conditions such as moisture content, temperature and addition of substrates as well as particle size.

Keywords: agricultural wastes, briquetting, briquette, briquette charcoal, densification, deforestation.