Fuel briquettes from crop waste

A project to evaluate the technical and material potential of fuel briquetting technology in Zimbabwe was successfully completed between 1992 and 1994. Its objective was to use crop-wastes to produce fuel briquettes that can partly substitute the current consumption of fossil fuels (such as coal), charcoal and fuelwood. The other objective of the project was to set up pilot briquetting activities in Zimbabwe. The basic justification behind briquetting biomass residues from the agricultural or forestry sector forestry sector that m their original state most residues, such as straws, shells and sawdust, are difficult to handle and expensive to transport, due to their bulk. Briquetting offers a solution for utilizing residues by compacting them under pressure to form a solid block of a size convenient to transport and use. Crop wastes used were coffee husks, cotton stalks, farm grass, groundnut shells, leucaena seed pods, maize stalks and cobs, soyabean stover, sunflower stalks, and pine and teak sawdust. Good quality briquettes were produced and tested during the pilot phase. Products were distributed for use among some rural and urban households and found to be very acceptable. Biomass Users Network Private Bag 7768 Causeway Harare ZIMBABWEA project to evaluate the technical and material potential of fuel briquetting technology in Zimbabwe was successfullycompleted between 1992 and 1994. Its objective was to use crop-wastes to produce fuel briquettes that can partly substitutethe..