Abstract
The effect of starch on density, caloric value and specific fuel consumption were assessed in this research. Composite sawdust briquettes were produced from the mixture of sawdust and starch within four treatments in a percentage ratio of 80:20 for treatment A, 70:30 for treatment B, 60:40 for treatment C and 50:50 for treatment D. Densification of the mixtures was achieved using a manually operating briquetting machine and starch gel was used as a binding agent. The performance of briquette produced was examined under controlled cooking test. Energy content was determined using oxygen bomb calorimeter. The results obtained from density according to treatments A, B, C and D respectively were 0.0002067kg/cm3,0.0002433kg/cm3, 0.00025kg/cm3. Treatment D has the highest density of 0.00029kg /cm3. The caloric value was determined from the heat of combustion with treatment B having the highest energy content of 7.37cal/g, C=6.159cal/g, A=6.055calg, and D=4.573cal/g. Specific fuel consumption was determined during controlled cooking test and the values for the respective treatments were A=0.89g, B=0.47g, C=0.64g, D=0.86g, and fire wood=0.89g. Time taken to cook 200g of rice was obtained using wrist watch and the values were: A=50min, B=44min, C=48min, D=47min, and firewood had the highest value of 53min. Results showed that, increase in the quantity of starch led to increase in density of composites.
Highlights
Wood is a predominant source of fuel in rural areas of the developing countries
The results in table 1 shows the mean density of the briquettes produced from four different treatments made of the following combinations of sawdust and starch
Means followed by the same letter are not statistically different according to Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 5% level of significance
Summary
About 200 million people in developing countries depend on the wood biomass for their daily domestic energy need [1]. The wood wastes generated in the country in 1998 were estimated to be 1.72 million m3 [4]. This composes of slabs, (63%) bark (22%) and sawdust (15%). The slabs and barks are sometimes collected and used as firewood while sawdust can be converted to briquettes It will be more useful as a source of fuel for domestic cooking. The problem of acute scarcity and deficit in supply of fuel wood has resulted in energy crisis in arid and semi-arid regions of the developing countries [5]. Fuel wood provides about 30% of the total energy consumption in Africa, 17% for the countries of Asia 16% for the Latin American countries [1]
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