Development of Biomass Stove for Heating up Die Barrel of Rice Husk Briquette Machine

AbstractIn rice husk briquette production process, electricity is used to drive the screw press and to heat up the die barrel. In the energy-starve countries, electricity consumption for producing biomass briquette fuel is not rationale. To reduce the electricity consumption in biomass briquette production process, a biomass fired stove is developed to use as the replacement of the electric heater. The biomass stove is capable of raising the temperature of die barrel at desired level for making briquette. The stove is made of refractory brick and clay. The stove is fired with rice husk briquette. The stove provides heat to die barrel instead of electric heater. The stove shows satisfactory performance by replacing the 6kW electric-heater in this study. The modified rice husk briquetting machine consumed about 76kg of rice husk briquette and about 80 kWh of electricity to produce one tonne of rice husk briquette instead of 179 kWh of electricity consumption by traditional rice husk briquetting machine for same quantity of rice husk briquette produced. Hence at least 50% of electricity consumption for rice husk briquette production could be replaced by using the modified technology discussed in this paper