Combustion Characteristics of High density Briquette produced from Sawdust Admixture and Performance in Briquette Stove

Abstract

Combustion characteristics of high-density briquettes produced from sawdust admixture at three moisture contents of 12%, 10%, and 8% using screw press extruder was investigated in this work. The briquettes were burnt in free air and developed briquette stove and the combustion characteristics data collected and analyzed. The burn characteristics investigated include ignition time, total burning time, mass reduction, normalized burn rate, the effects of density on briquette characteristics, and stove performance. The results indicated that briquettes’ self-ignition time in open air and stove was slow, however, burns with a steady flame. High density of the briquette was responsible for slow flame propagation resulting in a longer time to burn out while lower density briquettes reach the burning phase faster than higher-density briquettes. The normalized burn rate increases with an increase in briquette density. The stove performance characteristics most depend on the quality of fuel material. There is an inverse relationship between specific fuel combustion and thermal efficiency of the stove. The specific fuel consumption increases with decrease in moisture content. From these results, the higher the briquettes particle moisture, the higher the specific fuel combustion and the lower the stove thermal efficiency and vice versa.