RESUMO
Densification of agricultural wastes for briquette production has considerable potential to meet the growing energy demand and contribute towards a safe environment worldwide. The datasets contained in this paper are the performance characteristics of raw and torrefied briquettes produced from sawdust (SD), cassava peels (CP), cornhusk (CH), and their blends using a developed piston-type briquetting machine. The physicomechanical, chemical, structural, and combustion indices including the kinetic parameters, were determined using standard methods. The result obtained show that each briquettes sample has the infrared transmittance of C-H, OH, C-O, and C=C with the SD sample having the highest and CP, the lowest. The feedstock mixture and increase in torrefaction temperature enhance the physicomechanical properties of the briquettes through water preconditioning. The combustion characteristics show that the torrefied briquettes and their blends could be co-fired with coal, and are well suited for heating applications and reduce environmental pollution. The activation energy, pre-exponential factor, and R2 values of the briquettes ranged between 39.70-60.76 kJ/mol, 5.52-9.17 min-1, and 0.95-0.98, respectively. The data provided in this paper will therefore be useful for energy enthusiasts and coal engine design, and assist in choosing the appropriate briquette blends with increased calorific value for heating applications.
RESUMO
In recent years, the need for clean, viable and sustainable source of alternative fuel is on the rampage in the global space due to the challenges posed by human factors including fossil induced emissions, fuel shortage and its ever-rising prices. These challenges are the major reason to utilize alternative source of energy such as lignocellulosic biomass as domestic and industrial feedstock. However, biomass in their raw form is problematic for application, hence, a dire need for torrefaction pre-treatment is required. The torrefaction option could ameliorate biomass limitations such as low heating value, high volatile matter, low bulk density, hygroscopic and combustion behaviour, low energy density and its fibrous nature. The torrefied product in powder form could cause air pollution and make utilization, handling, transportation, and storage challenging, hence, densification into product of higher density briquettes. This paper therefore provides an overview on the performance of torrefied briquettes from agricultural wastes. The review discusses biomass and their constituents, torrefaction pre-treatment, briquetting of torrefied biomass, the parameters influencing the quality, behaviour and applications of torrefied briquettes, and way forward in the briquetting sector in the developing world.
