Production and Characterization of Sustainable Biomass Briquettes from Selected Bamboo Species

Abstract

Bamboo is a diverse group of fast growing perennial tall tree-like perennial grass species, versatile and growing in many parts of India. Every year, the bamboo based industries produce 14.6%–33.5% of bamboo waste, which could be better utilized in the form of briquettes, with the bamboo-based briquettes providing alternative resources for coal and loose biomass requirements in the diverse industries e.g., agro-industries, tea and coffee industries, food processing industries, brick kilns, beverage industries, and pharmaceutical industries. The physic-thermo-chemical analysis was conducted in the briquette produced from six bamboo species namely Bambusa vulgaris, Bambusa polymorpha, Bambusa cacharensis, Bambusa balcooa, Dendrocalamus longispathus, and Melocanna baccifera, by using a pilot hydraulic piston briquette machine. The current study concludes that the briquettes produced from a 4-year-old culm of Bambusa polymorpha gave better performance based on the briquettes properties of moisture content (4.75%), ash content (2.37%), volatile matter (71.59%), fixed carbon content (26.04%), gross calorific value (19.09 MJ kg−1), bulk density (367.7 kg cm−3), energy density (7.03 MJ m−3), compression strength (6.60 MPa), drop resistance test (0.31%), and swelling (3.54), respectively. The briquettes produced from locally available bamboo species in Tripura could potentially fulfill the demand for thermal energy and be an alternative to the usage of coal and loose biomass in the diverse industries, especially in the state of North-East India.