Influence of the Type of Mixture and Concentration of Different Binders on the Mechanical Properties of “Green” Charcoal Briquettes

Abstract

The application of biomass to generate energy has been highly studied as an alternative to fossil fuels. In Brazil, there is a large production of orange juice, and their solid waste (bagasse) has as its main destination the production of food for ruminants. Therefore, there is an interest among the industries to transformed this waste into a by-product with higher benefit. In this way, this work has as main objectives, the use of a new type biomass to produce “green” charcoal and the application of three different types of binders (industrial cornstarch, pectin with high degree of esterification and pectin with low degree of esterification) using three different proportions (5, 10 and 15%) and two types of mixtures in way to verify which briquette has the lowest friability index a better compression resistance. To determine the friability index, the tumbling method was applied. The compressive strength of the briquettes was also determined. The binder that brought better characteristics to the charcoal briquettes, and therefore would be chosen for a production line is the industrial cornstarch. For this binder, the briquettes showed higher mechanical strength when applied the second mixing method. In this case, the briquette with a composition of 10 % of industrial cornstarch, presented characteristics as non-friable and withstand a pressure of 4.093 MPa in the compression tests. The choice of this binder is also because it is cheaper among the three tested ones.