Briquettes

A briquette (or briquet) is a block of flammable matter used as fuel to start and maintain a fire. Common types of briquettes are charcoal briquettes and biomass briquettes. Basic charcoal is produced by burning a carbon-rich material such as wood in a low-oxygen atmosphere. This process drives off the moisture and volatile gases that were present in the original fuel. The resulting charred material not only burns longer and more steadily than whole wood, but it is much lighter (one-fifth to onethird of its original weight). Resins and sugars burn, the smoke becomes yellowish. Finally the smoke changes to a wispy blue, indicating that charring is complete; this is the appropriate time to smother the fire and let the kiln's contents cool. Wood briquettes are made of dry, untreated wood chips (e.g. wood shavings). They are pressed with high pressure without any binder. By compacting the wood with this high pressure, it turns into a fuel like brown coal.

Advantages
The advantages of the wood briquettes are that they have a lower ash and sulfur content, compared to the fossil fuels. The carbon dioxide (CO2) balance is even, because wood briquettes release just as much CO2 to the atmosphere as the tree absorbs through growth by photosynthesis. In addition, briquettes have substantially higher BTU value per cubic foot due to their density which means less storage space and more heat released per lb.

Energy content
The low moisture content of about 10% leads to an energy content of around 5,0 kWh per kg, depending on the type of wood. Green firelogs have a water content of around 50% with 2,5 kWh/kg energy content.

Constituents of charcoal briquettes

Charcoal briquettes sold commercially for cooking food can include: 1.Wood charcoal (fuel) 2.Mineral char (fuel) 3.Mineral carbon (fuel) 4.Limestone (ash colorant) 5.Starch (binder) 6.Borax (release agent) 7.Sodium nitrate (accelerant) 8.Sawdust 9.Wax (some brands: binder, accelerant, ignition facilitator). 10.Chaff (Rice chaff and Peanut chaff) Some briquettes are compressed and dried brown coal extruded into hard blocks. This is a common technique for low rank coals. They are typically dried to 12-18% moisture, and are primarily used in household and industry.

Raw Materials
Charcoal briquettes are made of two primary ingredients (comprising about 90% of the final product) and several minor ones. One of the primary ingredients, known as char, is basically the traditional charcoal, as described above. It is responsible for the briquette's ability to light easily and to produce the desired wood-smoke flavor. The most desirable raw material for this component is hardwoods such as beech, birch, hard maple, hickory, and oak. Some manufacturers also use softwoods like pine, or other organic materials like fruit pits and nut shells.

The other primary ingredient, used to produce a high-temperature, long-lasting fire, is coal. Various types of coal may be used, ranging from sub-bituminous lignite to anthracite. Minor ingredients include a binding agent (typically starch made from corn, milo, or wheat), an accelerant (such as nitrate), and an ash-whitening agent (such as lime) to let the backyard barbecuer know when the briquettes are ready to cook over.

Carbonizing the coal

Lower grades of coal may also be carbonized for use in charcoal. Crushed coal is first dried and then heated to about 1,100 F (590 C) to drive off the volatile components. After being air-cooled, it is stored until needed.

Briquetting
Charcoal, and minor ingredients such as the starch binder are fed in the proper proportions into a paddle mixer, where they are thoroughly blended. At this point, the material has about a 35% moisture content, giving it a consistency somewhat like damp topsoil. The blended material is dropped into a press consisting of two opposing rollers containing briquette-sized indentations. Because of the moisture content, the binding agent, the temperature(about 105 F or 40 C), and the pressure from the rollers, the briquettes hold their shape as they drop out the bottom of the press. The briquettes drop onto a conveyor, which carries them through a singlepass dryer that heats them to about 275 F (135 C) for three to four hours, reducing their moisture content to around 5%. Briquettes can be produced at a rate of 2,200-20,000 lb (1-9 metric tons) per hour. The briquettes are either bagged immediately or stored in silos to await the next scheduled packaging run.

Bagging
If "instant-light" briquettes are being produced, a hydrocarbon solvent is atomized and sprayed on the briquettes prior to bagging. Charcoal briquettes are packaged in a variety of bag sizes, ranging from 4-24 lb. Some small, convenience packages are made so that the consumer can simply light fire to the entire bag without first removing the briquettes.

Peat briquettes
Peat briquettes are a common type of solid fuel, largely replacing sods of raw peat as a domestic fuel. These briquettes consist of shredded peat, compressed to form a virtually smokeless, slow-burning, easily stored and transported fuel. Although often used as the sole fuel for a fire, they are also used to quickly and easily light a coal fire.

Biomass briquettes
Biomass briquettes are made from agricultural waste and are a replacement for fossil fuels such as oil or coal, and can be used to heat boilers in manufacturing plants, and also have applications in developing countries. Biomass briquettes are a renewable source of energy and avoid adding fossil carbon to the atmosphere. Biomass briquettes can earn Carbon Credits for reducing emissions in the atmosphere. Lanxess India and a few other large companies are supposedly using biomass briquettes for earning Carbon Credits by switching their boiler fuel. Biomass briquettes also provide more calorific value/kg and save around 30-40 percent of boiler fuel costs. A popular biomass briquette emerging in developed countries takes a waste produce such as sawdust, compresses it and then extrudes it to make a reconsistuted log that can replace firewood. It is a similar process to forming a wood pellet but on a larger scale. There are no binders involved in this process. The natural lignin in the wood binds the particles of wood together to form a solid. Burning a wood briquette is far more efficient than burning firewood. Moisture content of a briquette can be as low as 4%, whereas green firewood may be as high as 65%.

For example parameters of fuel briquettes made by extrusion from sawdust . Parameter Briquette density, t/m Heat content, kilocalories/kg Ash content, % Value 1,0-1,2 4600-4900 0,5-1,5

The extrusion production technology of briquettes is the process of extrusion screw wastes (straw, sunflower husks, buckwheat, etc.) or finely shredded wood waste (sawdust) under high pressure when heated from 160 to 350 C . As shown in the table above the quality of such briquets, especially heat content, is much higher comparing with other methods like using piston presses. Sawdust briquettes have developed over time with two distinct types: those with holes through the centre, and those that are solid. Both types are classified as briquettes but are formed using different techniques. A solid briquette is manufactured using a piston press that compresses sandwiched layers of sawdust together. Briquettes with a hole are produced with a screw press. The hole is from the screw thread passing through the centre, but it also increases the surface area of the log and aids efficient combustion.

Briquetting Press

Biomass Charcoal Briquetting The agricultural residues are produced abundantly after harvest of each crop in our villages. Most of these residues are burnt in the open field. However using Biomass Charcoal Briquetting technologies, these residues, can be used for generating an alternative fuel which is cost effective and environmentally friendly. It can also add income to the family. Large numbers of plant are being put up in under-developed and developing countries to meet the need of fossil fuels in areas located far away from mines. Briquettes of 2? to 2.5? diameter are quite useful in low capacity fixed grate firing installation. Currently we are seeing the demand of briquette rise, as more and more coal fired installations are getting retrofitted to use biomass briquettes. Advantages of Briquetting 1. Smokeless: The charcoal briquettes burn without any smoke during ignition and burning. 2. Low Ash content: Minimum residual ash is formed (less than 5% of the original weight of the charcoal). 3. Higher Fixed Carbon & calorific value: Normally the concentration of fixed carbon will be about 82%. The calorific value of charcoal briquettes is 7500 Kcal/KG. 4. Odourless: The biomass charcoal briquette contains minimum evaporative substances, thus eliminating the possibility of odour. 5. Longer burning hours: Two times longer burning hours compared to hardwood charcoal. 6. Sparkless: These charcoal briquettes will not produce sparks as compared to hardwood charcoal. Bio-mass Briquetting Plant

Briquette Press is used for binder less production of high density solid fuel briquettes i.e. biocoal from all types of granulated degradable biomass, residues & wastes such as groundnut shell, wood waste, baggasse (sugar cane stalk), cotton shell/stalk, mustard husk/straw, coffee husk pine needle, saw dust etc.

Charcoal Briquette

Biomass Charcoal Briquetting

The agricultural residues are produced abundantly after harvest of each crop in our villages. Most of these residues are burnt in the open field. However using Biomass Charcoal Briquetting technologies, these residues, can be used for generating an alternative fuel which is cost effective and environmentally friendly. It can also add income to the family. Briquetting is the process of converting low bulk density biomass into high density and energy concentrated fuel briquettes. Large numbers of plant are being put up in under-developed and developing countries to meet the need of fossil fuels in areas located far away from mines. Briquettes of 2 to 2.5 diameter are quite useful in low capacity fixed grate firing installation. Currently we are seeing the demand of briquette rise, as more and more coal fired installations are getting retrofitted to use biomass briquettes.

Briquettes have these three essential features about them. High density : bulk density > 750 kg/m3. Low moisture : about 8-10%. Easy to store, transport and handle for firing.

Wood Pellet

Biomass Wood Pellet The agricultural residues are produced abundantly after harvest of each crop in our villages. Most of these residues are burnt in the open field. However using Biomass Charcoal Briquetting technologies, these residues, can be used for generating an alternative fuel which is cost effective and environmentally friendly. It can also add income to the family. Briquetting is the process of converting low bulk density biomass into high density and energy concentrated fuel briquettes. Large numbers of plant are being put up in underdeveloped and developing countries to meet the need of fossil fuels in areas located far away from mines. Briquettes of 2 to 2.5 diameter are quite useful in low capacity fixed grate firing installation. Currently we are seeing the demand of briquette rise, as more and more coal fired installations are getting retrofitted to use biomass briquettes. Briquettes have these three essential features about them. High density : bulk density > 750 kg/m3. Low moisture : about 8-10%. Easy to store, transport and handle for firing.

Wood pellet

Wood pellets are a type of wood fuel, generally made from compacted sawdust. They are usually produced as a byproduct of sawmilling and other wood transformation activities. The pellets are extremely dense and can be produced with a low humidity content (below 10%) that allows them to be burned with a very high combustion efficiency. Further, their regular geometry and small size allow automatic feeding with very fine calibration. They can be fed to a burner by auger feeding or by pneumatic conveying. Their high density also permits compact storage and rational transport over long distance. They can be conveniently blown from a tanker to a storage bunker or silo on a customer's premises.

Production
Pellets are produced by compressing the wood material which has first passed through a hammer mill to provide a uniform dough-like mass. This mass is fed to a press where it is squeezed through a die having holes of the size required (normally 6 mm diameter, sometimes 8 mm or larger). The high pressure of the press causes the temperature of the wood to increase greatly, and the lignin plastifies slightly forming a natural 'glue' that holds the pellet together as it cools. Pellets conforming to the norms commonly used have less than 10% water content, are uniform in density (density in excess of 1 ton / cubic meter, so they do not float if placed in water), have good structural strength, and low dust and ash content. Because the wood fibres are broken down by the hammer mill, there is

virtually no difference in the finished pellets between different wood types. Pellets can be made from nearly any wood variety, provided the pellet press is equipped with good instrumentation, the differences in feed material can be compensated for in the press regulation. Pellets conforming to the standards norms cannot contain any recycled wood or outside contaminants. Recycled materials such particle board, treated or painted wood, melamine resin-coated panels and the like are particularly unsuitable for use in pellets, since they may produce noxious emissions and / or uncontrolled variations in the burning characteristics of the pellets.

Energy output and efficiency

Wood-pellet heater

The energy content of wood pellets is approximately 4.7-4.9 MWh/tonne (~7450 BTU/lb). High-efficiency wood pellet stoves and boilers have been developed in recent years, offering combustion efficiencies of over 90%. Wood pellet boilers having limited control over the rate and presence of combustion compared to liquid or gaseous-fired systems - are particularly suited for hydronic systems due to the hydronic system's greater ability to store heat. In particular, pellet burners capable

of being retrofitted to oil-burning boilers are predicted to be available on the market within the next several years.

Emissions of regular air pollution

Emissions such as NOx, SOx and volatile organic compounds from pellet burning equipment, are, in general, very low in comparison to other forms of combustion heating, making this one of the less-polluting heating options available.[citation needed] One remaining problem is emission of fine dust (particulate matter), especially in urban areas, when there is a high concentration of pellet heating systems, coal, or oil heating systems in close proximity. The PM2.5 emissions of older pellet stoves and boilers can be problematic in close quarters, especially in comparison to natural gas (or renewable biogas), though electrostatic precipitators and baghouse particle filters for pellet heaters have been developed and considerably reduce the problem when installed as standard. A fully automated stove requires filling up with the pellets and turning on, the stove does the rest: it automatically lights, automatically feeds the pellets into the flame with an auger, automatically adjusts the rate to keep the room at a pre-set temperature with an electric thermostat.

Global warming potential, sustainability, and lifecycle emissions concerns

The climate impact of wood pellets is disputed[citation needed], though biomass fuels, including wood pellets (and other wood fuels, such as regular cordwood) produced using best practices from sustainably managed forests, fuel crops, or other forms of biomass waste are generally recognized as having far lower net lifecycle carbon dioxide emissions than fossil fuel equivalents, to the order of 98% fewer emissions. However, it must be emphasized that if best practices and sustainable biomass management is not instituted, carbon emissions can exceed those of natural gas combustion. Some argue that the source sawdust would not otherwise have contributed to greenhouse gases[dubious discuss], and that burning fuel pellets releases a large amount of CO2 into the air. Secondary emissions related to pellet manufacture also have a carbon impact, with the release of carbon involved in the harvesting, manufacturing, and process of transport to the end-user for these pellets and other biomass fuels (known as grey energy). These arguments illustrate the critical importance of best practices in the industry, which generally promote the use of the similar high-efficiency, renewable energy sources that are generally available in

the same local ecosystems as wood to power the entire process. The use of biodiesel for transport fuel and to power harvesting equipment, along with solar thermal energy in wood drying facilities, is recommended to reduce negative externalities to a minimum. Proponents of wood pellet biomass fuel, however, claim that the release of CO2 from burning sawdust, when derived from forest biomass in Boreal forest ecosystems, is carbon-neutral. Boreal Forests are disturbance driven ecosystems. Boreal carbon regularly cycles between standing, stored terrestrial carbon and free atmospheric carbon in the transition from regrowth to maturity, decline, decomposition/destruction and regrowth.[citation needed] Indeed, it is undoubtedly the case that pellet combustion releases carbon dioxide, but the use of pellet fuels is argued to have a low net lifecycle impact because the carbon dioxide released is ultimately consumed in the regrowth of the trees or biomass products used to produce the pellets; this process takes approximately 15 years (for trees) and as little as 1 season (for crop-based biomass) to sequester the carbon released by their combustion. Thus, although there is a short term radiative forcing effect from biomass combustion, there is a generally very low long term radiative forcing effect from biomass combustion if best practices for sustainability are followed. This is because wood/plant biomass is made up of mostly carbon (and water); carbon came from the carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere by the tree or grass while it grew through the process of photosynthesis, and the carbon returns to the atmosphere when the wood is either burned or left to decompose. It is true that in combustion, most of the carbon joins with oxygen and returns to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, with a GWP100 of 1. But - if the wood is instead left in the natural landscape to decompose through natural processes, the carbon still partially returns to the air - but in the form of the gas methane, which has a GWP100 of 21 thus causing 21 times more damage to the climate over 100 years than the same quantity of CO2 does over 100 years. Only part of the decaying wood is released as methane; other parts stay within the soil and often improve it substantially over time. This criticism of the climate aspect of wood decay does not apply if the wood is used in a process that fixates the carbon, such as in building materials, or, in the case of sawdust, in particle board, as these media sequester carbon unless or until they are allowed to decay or are consumed by fire.

Some[who?] say that the speed of return makes burning wood fuel more harmful than allowing it to decay; the release of methane, for example, takes over 5 years[citation needed], the release of CO2 is over five minutes if burned. Residence time also matters though, and the methane of wood decay is not absorbed by the oceans or by growing biomass, as is carbon dioxide. However, One undoubted source of potential radioactive forcing from wood pellets is when inefficient combustion technologies are used to burn them, which results in black carbon emissions.

Usages
Ferro Alloys Plants. Calcium Carbide Mfrs. Rayon Plants. Lead Smelting. Activated Carbon Mfrs. Biri Mfrs. Electrical Earthing. Initial firing of boilers / furnaces. Hotels. Barbecue Centers. Industrial and domestic consumers, etc

Specifications:

Size: 50mm Shape: Oval Fixed Carbon: 70% Gross Calorific Value: 6500-7000 Kcal/Kg Burning time About 3 to 4 hrs Inherent Moisture: 5% - 7% Ash Content: 7% - 9% Volatile Matter: 10% - 15% Smoke: None Sulphur/Phosphorus: Nil

Biomass Charcoal Briquetting