Effect of binder concentration on the physical properties of manually made sawdust briquettes

Large amounts of forestry and agricultural residues are not utilized properly, disposed or used in any beneficial way. Most of biomass residues are either dumped or burned directly. Marketing failure due to the production of low quality briquettes has its o 'n impact for the success or failure of briquetting. The study was undertaken to investigate the effect of binder concentration on the physical properties of manually made sawdust briquette. The binder used in this study was paper. The sawdust briquettes were made with different paper binder concentration level ranging from 8-20% by weight using Micro Single-Lever Press briquetting machine with 1.4MPa pressure. The physical and chemical properties were conducted for sawdust material and briquettes. For the storage test the len3th, the relaxation in len3th the swelling percentage and moisture content were conducted. The sawdust materials were is suitable raw material for production of briquettes. With regard to experimental results, it was found that all the briquettes didn’t pass the impact resistance test. All the briquettes made in different binder concentration had no mechanical strength and crumbles easily which was very difficult to handle 3nd transfer. In the storage test, all the briquettes could resist very humid condition. Further study is recommended for investigation of combustion properties of sawdust/paper briquette to understand the quality of briquette for house hold usage and be competitive in the market.