Development and Performance Evaluation of A Low-Cost Hydraulic-Operated Biomass Briquetting Machine

Large quantities of agricultural residues produced in Nigeria can provide an alternative way in meeting her energy demand through briquetting. Biomass briquetting is the process of compacting raw biomass materials (wood, charcoal, crop residues, and animal waste) into standard mini-brick units as solid fuel for improved handling and efficiency. A small scale, 40 bar hydraulic operated piston briquetting machine with a capacity of 120 briquettes per hour was developed. The machine comprised of hydraulic, control, press, power, ejection and frame sections, and adopted the binder-less technology. Sawdust and rice husk were used as sample biomass materials. The compressed biomass obtained from the developed machine in form of briquettes had mean diameter and height of 30 mm ±0.02 and 16 mm ±0.01 respectively. The force, deflection, and Young Modulus at peak were 16.30 N, 3.29 mm and 548.11 N/mm2 for Sawdust Briquettes (SB) respectively, while 12.50 N, 1.49 mm; and 481 N/mm2 were obtained for Rice Husk Briquettes (RHB).  The yield stress for SB and RHB were 12 and 9 N/mm2. The heating values obtained for SB and RHB were 51.0 Kcal/g and 39.4 Kcal/g respectively. The output efficiency of the machine was 88% indicating a satisfactory performance of the machine.