Charcoal briquettes from Madan wood waste as an alternative energy in Thailand

Abstract

The objective of this study was to manufacture charcoal briquettes from the agricultural wastes and investigate the properties of these briquettes. Madan wood (MW) and coconut shell (CS) were used as raw materials in this work. Two types of crushed charcoal were mixed with cassava starch and molded before they were air-dried. Four different mixing ratios of charcoal powder from Madan wood and coconut shell: MW (100%), MW:CS (80%:20%), MW:CS (50%:50%) and CS (100%) were used in this research. Following the ASTM standard, each type of charcoal briquettes was characterized and analyzed for their physical-chemical properties including moisture content, volatile matter content, ash content, fixed carbon, calorific value, bulk density, burning rate and heat utilization efficiency. The results revealed that charcoal briquettes made from Madan wood (100%) had the highest calorific value of 6,622 cal/g. Madan wood waste could be considered as a potential renewable raw material to manufacture briquette as alternative energy source. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.