An experimental study of various characteristics of biomass briquettes made from areca leaves — An alternative source of energy

In this paper, a study was undertaken to access the calorific value, and other properties of briquettes prepared using areca leaves. The areca leaves are bonded by using different bonding agents (sawdust, coconut coir and news paper). Areca leaves having size 1700μ and above were mixed with binder in 1:2 ratios, and densified by a piston type briquette machine to from briquettes. These densified briquettes were analyzed for their various properties by proximate and ultimate analysis. The results were the compared with a commercially available sawdust briquette. Results shows that briquettes produced by using coconut coir as a binder has a calorific value of 3422.13kcal/kg, which was higher than other briquettes, that used paper (2969.08kcal/kg) and sawdust (2680.27kcal/kg) as a binder and also there was a reduction of harmful combustion gases like fixed carbon and hydrogen, when compared with commercially available sawdust briquette. Since the purpose of conducting this experiment is to produce a briquette which can be used as an alternative fuel, by using raw materials that are easily and available aplenty. The best briquette was produced when areca leaves were mixed with coconut coir as the binder.