Biomass briquettes

Biomass briquettes are a biofuel substitute made of biodegradable green waste with lower emissions of greenhouses gases and carbon dioxide then traditional fuel sources. This fuel source is used as an alternative for harmful biofuels. Briquettes are used for heating, cooking fuel, and electricity generation usually in developing countries that do not have access to more traditional fuel sources. Biomass briquettes have become popular in developed countries due to the accessibility, and eco-friendly impact. The briquettes can be used in the developed countries for producing electricity from steam power by heating water in boilers.

Straw hay briquettes

The briquettes are fired with coal in order to create the heat supplied to the boiler. Biomass briquettes are built from recycled green waste, producing less greenhouse gas admissions because the matter has already completed part of the carbon cycle.

Composition and production

Biomass briquettes, mostly made of green waste and other organic materials, are commonly used for electricity generation, heat, and cooking fuel. These compressed compounds contain various organic materials, including rice husk, bagasse, ground nut shells, municipal solid waste, agricultural waste. The composition of the briquettes varies by area due to the availability of raw materials. The raw materials are gathered and compressed into briquette in order to burn longer and make transportation of the goods easier. These briquettes are very different from charcoal because they do not have large concentrations of carbonaceous substances and added materials. Compared to fossil fuels, the briquettes produce low net total greenhouse gas emissions because the materials used are already a part of the carbon cycle.

One of the most common variables of the biomass briquette production process is the way the biomass is dried out. Manufacturers can use torrefaction, carbonization, or varying degrees of pyrolysis. Researchers concluded that torrefaction and carbonization are the most efficient forms of drying out biomass, but the use of the briquette determines which method should be used.

Compaction is another factor affecting production. Some materials burn more efficiently if compacted at low pressures, such as corn stover grind. Other materials such as wheat and barley-straw require high amounts of pressure to produce heat. There are also different press technologies that can be used. A piston press is used to create solid briquettes for a wide array of purposes. Screw extrusion is used to compact biomass into loose, homogeneous briquettes that are substituted for coal in cofiring. This technology creates a toroidal, or doughnut-like, briquette. The hole in the center of the briquette allows for a larger surface area, creating a higher combustion rate.

History

People have been using biomass briquettes in Nepal since before recorded history. Though inefficient, the burning of loose biomass created enough heat for cooking purposes and keeping warm. The first commercial production plant was created in 1982 and produced almost 900 metric tons of biomass. In 1984, factories were constructed that incorporated vast improvements on efficiency and the quality of briquettes. They used a combination of rice husks and molasses. The King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC) along with the Institute for Himalayan Conservation (IHC) created a mixture of coal and biomass in 2000 using a unique rolling machine.

Use in developing world

The Legacy Foundation has developed a set of techniques to produce biomass briquettes through artisanal production in rural villages that can be used for heating and cooking. These techniques were recently pioneered by Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, following the massive destruction of the mountain gorilla habitat for charcoal.

Pangani, Tanzania, is an area covered in coconut groves. After harvesting the meat of the coconut, the indigenous people would litter the ground with the husks, believing them to be useless. The husks later became a profit center after it was discovered that coconut husks are well suited to be the main ingredient in bio briquettes. This alternative fuel mixture burns incredibly efficiently and leaves little residue, making it a reliable source for cooking in the undeveloped country. The developing world has always relied on the burning biomass due to its low cost and availability anywhere there is organic material. The briquette production only improves upon the ancient practice by increasing the efficiency of pyrolysis.

Two major components of the developing world are China and India. The economies are rapidly increasing due to cheap ways of harnessing electricity and emitting large amounts of carbon dioxide. The Kyoto Protocol attempted to regulate the emissions of the three different worlds, but there were disagreements as to which country should be penalized for emissions based on its previous and future emissions. The United States has been the largest emitter but China has recently become the largest per capita. The United States had emitted a rigorous amount of carbon dioxide during its development and the developing nations argue that they should not be forced to meet the requirements. At the lower end, the undeveloped nations believe that they have little responsibility for what has been done to the carbon dioxide levels. The major use of biomass briquettes in India, is in industrial applications usually to produce steam. A lot of conversions of boilers from FO to biomass briquettes have happened over the past decade. A vast majority of those projects are registered under CDM (Kyoto Protocol), which allows for users to get carbon credits.

The use of biomass briquettes is strongly encouraged by issuing carbon credits. One carbon credit is equal to one free ton of carbon dioxide to be emitted into the atmosphere. India has started to replace charcoal with biomass briquettes in regards to boiler fuel, especially in the southern parts of the country because the biomass briquettes can be created domestically, depending on the availability of land. Therefore, constantly rising fuel prices will be less influential in an economy if sources of fuel can be easily produced domestically. Lehra Fuel Tech Pvt Ltd is approved by Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), is one of the largest briquetting machine manufacturers from Ludhiana, India.

In the African Great Lakes region, work on biomass briquette production has been spearheaded by a number of NGOs with Energy 4 Impact taking a lead in promoting briquette products and briquette entrepreneurs in the three Great Lakes countries; namely, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. This has been achieved by a five-year EU and Dutch government sponsored project called DEEP EA (Developing Energy Enterprises Project East Africa) [1]. The main feed stock for briquettes in the East African region has mainly been charcoal dust although alternative like sawdust, bagasse, coffee husks and rice husks have also been used.[2]

Use in developed world

Coal is the largest carbon dioxide emitter per unit area when it comes to electricity generation. Carbon is also the most common ingredient in charcoal. There has been a recent^{[clarification needed]} push to replace the burning of fossil fuels with biomass. The replacement of this nonrenewable resource with biological waste would lower the carbon footprint of grill owners and lower the overall pollution of the world. Citizens are also starting to manufacture briquettes at home. The first machines would create briquettes for homeowners out of compressed sawdust, however, current machines allow for briquette production out of any sort of dried biomass.

Arizona has also taken initiative to turn waste biomass into a source of energy. Waste cotton and pecan material used to provide a nesting ground for bugs that would destroy the new crops in the spring. To stop this problem farmers buried the biomass, which quickly led to soil degradation. These materials were discovered to be a very efficient source of energy and took care of issues that had plagued farms.

The United States Department of Energy has financed several projects to test the viability of biomass briquettes on a national scale. The scope of the projects is to increase the efficiency of gasifiers as well as produce plans for production facilities.

Criticism

Biomass is composed of organic materials, therefore, large amounts of land are required to produce the fuel. Critics argue that the use of this land should be utilized for food distribution rather than crop degradation. Also, climate changes may cause a harsh season, where the material extracted will need to be swapped for food rather than energy. The assumption is that the production of biomass decreases the food supply, causing an increase in world hunger by extracting the organic materials such as corn and soybeans for fuel rather than food.

The burning of biomass briquettes also contributes to poor indoor and outdoor air quality. The organic nature of these fuels means that combustion can contribute to the emission of many hundreds to thousands of compounds in organic aerosol. The burning of biomass briquettes also releases many organic gases, which can react to form ground level ozone and secondary organic aerosol. The combustion of biomass briquettes, such as dried cow dung cakes, has been shown be a likely contributor to poor air quality, with emissions around 120 times more reactive with the hydroxyl radical than emissions from liquefied petroleum gas.

The cost of implementing a new technology such as biomass into the current infrastructure is also high. The fixed costs with the production of biomass briquettes are high due to the new undeveloped technologies that revolve around the extraction, production and storage of the biomass. Technologies regarding extraction of oil and coal have been developing for decades, becoming more efficient with each year. A new undeveloped technology regarding fuel utilization that has no infrastructure built around makes it nearly impossible to compete in the current market.