Studies on densification and conversion of wastes as fuel briquettes for power generation

Abstract

Energy in the world is on high emergency now days. Energy resources are abundant but exhausted as per present conditions. Search for alternate energy sources has been trending worldwide. Solar and wind energies are of present interest to minimize cost of investment. But utilization of Municipal and Solid waste as an alternate source of energy is vital in research. Producing fuel briquettes with naturally available waste materials which are biodegradable is an asset. The experimentation is carried out for moisture content, ash content, volatile matter, fixed carbon, sulfur, calorific value and water resistance. The waste materials are mixed with all purpose flour in different ratio’s. Calorific value is evaluated based on ultimate analysis. The effects of various parameters as fuel briquettes for power production were measured of data consisting of characterization (FTIR and XRD), Analysis of materials (Proximate and Ultimate) and Estimation of properties for fuel briquettes (Calorific value, porosity, waster absorption, shatter index, compressive strength, optimization of materials quantity using Response Surface Methodology, Tumbling test, Degree of Densification, Water Boiler Test–Thermal Efficiency, Power Estimation and Power Calculated). The experimental data are obtained by conducting batch experimentations. In the present investigation, the prospective of four materials (leaves) namely red sandal, Wrightiatinctoria, teak and mixed leaves were evaluated to estimate their performance as fuel briquettes for the power production. The result of four biomasses wastes are in fact potential sources of energy which has been validated by the quite substantial amounts of briquettes obtained using these as raw materials and fuel briquettes have environmental benefits that include reduced tree degradation, better management of waste and reduced emissions.