Development of fuel briquettes from biomass-lignite blends

The research was to study the briquetting of lignite combined with biomass binders. The biomass binders were rice husk and sawdust treated with sodium hydroxide. The ratio of biomass binders and lignite was 50:50 wt./wt. Rice husk was treated with 3% wt/v sodium hydroxide at 80C with a heating time of 1.5-4.5 hours, while sawdust was treated with a series of sodium hydroxide solution with a concentration of 7-13 % wt/v at the same temperature. The influence of time for sawdust digestion was investigated by increasing the time from 1.5 to 2.0 and 2.5 hours. The briquettes were formed in the cylindrical mold and the hydraulic press was used in the experiments. The mechanical, physical and combustion tests were performed. The investigations indicated that mechanical and physical tests related to NaOH concentration and digestion time depending on biomass used. The experiments showed that the rice husk and sawdust treated with sodium hydroxide would yield the quality of biomass-lignite briquetting.