Briquetting of organic waste like wheat straw, peanut shell, coconut fibers, rice husk, maize cob and various other agricultural residues is a common practice in India and abroad. Generally briquetting process is done by application of heat and pressure through electrically driven machines. This paper accounts for developing a bio briquetting machine in horizontal orientation and a comparative study between two models of manually driven bio briquetting machine for a harmful forest bio residue of Western Himalayas named as dry and fallen pine needles. One of the authors of this paper has successfully designed and manufactured these two types of manually driven forest bio residue briquetting machine in vertical and horizontal orientation. These machines are designed to reduce the use of fossil fuels and promote clean and green energy. The uniqueness of the paper is also reflected by adopting grass not level execution strategy for addressing climate change issue and creating livelihood opportunities for the communities through converting a harmful forest bio residue into a useful resource for clean energy under social entrepreneurship skills. It is further added that such an intervention will avoid devastating forest fires which are primarily initiated by huge quantity of dry and fallen pine needles lying on the forest floors. A manually operated bio briquetting machine finds its larger acceptability for a eco fragile, fire prone, chir pine forest areas of Western Himalayas by eliminating fire hazards as well as providing direct economic benefits to the villages through the sale of bio briquettes.

1. Remodeling a Manually Operated Bio Briquetting Machine for Bio Briquetting of Dry Chir Pine Needles in Western Himalayan Region
Remodeling a Manually Operated Bio Briquetting Machine for
Bio Briquetting of Dry Chir Pine Needles in Western Himalayan
Region
*1Kumar Joshi, I.F.S; 2Vinay Sharma
1Post Doctoral Fellow, 2Professor, Department of Management Studies, I.I.T Roorkee. Uttarakhand, India
Briquetting of organic waste like wheat straw, peanut shell, coconut fibers, rice husk, maize cob and various
other agricultural residues is a common practice in India and abroad. Generally briquetting process is done
by application of heat and pressure through electrically driven machines. This paper accounts for
developing a bio briquetting machine in horizontal orientation and a comparative study between two
models of manually driven bio briquetting machine for a harmful forest bio residue of Western Himalayas
named as dry and fallen pine needles. One of the authors of this paper has successfully designed and
manufactured these two types of manually driven forest bio residue briquetting machine in vertical and
horizontal orientation. These machines are designed to reduce the use of fossil fuels and promote clean
and green energy. The uniqueness of the paper is also reflected by adopting grass not level execution
strategy for addressing climate change issue and creating livelihood opportunities for the communities
through converting a harmful forest bio residue into a useful resource for clean energy under social
entrepreneurship skills. It is further added that such an intervention will avoid devastating forest fires which
are primarily initiated by huge quantity of dry and fallen pine needles lying on the forest floors. A manually
operated bio briquetting machine finds its larger acceptability for a eco fragile, fire prone, chir pine forest
areas of Western Himalayas by eliminating fire hazards as well as providing direct economic benefits to the
villages through the sale of bio briquettes.
Key words: Western Himalaya, Pine needles, Manual briquetting machine, Livelihood opportunities, Forest fires.
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
• This article basically aims at developing an indigenous and an appropriate technology in reducing the forest fire
hazards in Western Himalayan region.
• The article gives a complete picture of manually operated bio briquetting machines which are capable of converting a
loose bio mass into briquettes.
• The main author of the article is a field practitioner for over last 28 years in natural resource management and really
felt an urgent need to address environmental issues because of repeated forest fire in Western Himalayas. While
doing so, creation of sustainable livelihood options for the communities from waste and harmful dry and fallen pine
needles is also kept in mind.
INTRODUCTION
Energy has been the driving force behind the process of
economic development. Greater access to energy has
fostered economic growth as well as other indicators of
human development. India has a per capita energy
consumption of only about one third of the global average.
India’s per capita energy consumption equals 0.6 tonne of
oil equivalent (toe) as compared to global per capita
average of 1.8 tonne of oil equivalent. Though India
accounts for 6% of world’s population it uses only around
6% of the world’s primary energy. Indi’s per capita energy
consumption lags that of the world’s middle-income
countries. Figure 1 shows per capita primary energy
consumption of upper middle-class countries.
*Corresponding Author: Dr. Kumar Joshi, I.F.S, Post Doctoral
Fellow, Department of Management Studies, I.I.T Roorkee.
Uttarakhand, India. Email: kapilkjoshi@rediffmail.com.
Co-Author 2
Email: vinayfdm@iitr.ac.in
Research Article
Vol. 7(1), pp. 067-075, February, 2020. © www.premierpublishers.org. ISSN: 2167-0465
International Journal of Forestry and Wood Science

2. Remodeling a Manually Operated Bio Briquetting Machine for Bio Briquetting of Dry Chir Pine Needles in Western Himalayan Region
Joshi and Sharma 068
Within this consumption, access to clean fuel is unevenly
distributed spatially in rural vis-à-vis urban areas and
socio-economically when seen across income groups.
India, therefore, needs to quadruple its per-capita energy
consumption to meet the rising aspirations of its citizen.
This will also enable India to achieve the human
development status of an upper-middle-income country.
India has also strived to increase the share of energy from
sustainable sources. The share of renewable in total
generation has increased from 6 per cent in 2014-2015 to
10 per cent in 2018-2019 (GOI, 2019 1a). In addition to this
India’s energy needs have been complemented by efforts
to use energy efficiently. The overall electricity savings due
to adoption of these energy efficiency measures is
estimated at 7.21% of the net electricity consumption in
2017-2018 (GOI, 2019 1a).
India’s efforts for climate change mitigation through use of
renewable energy sources has placed it globally 4th in wind
power, 5th in solar power and 5th in renewable power
installed capacity (GOI, 2019 1b).
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world
leader in 2015 presents a roadmap for future development
trajectory to all nations with focus on poverty eradication,
environmental sustainability, peace and prosperity.
Indian’s development agenda has for long been based on
principles that are closely related to those that have been
propounded in the 2030 Development Agenda. India has
been preserving to address the climate challenges along
with other developmental imperatives. India has been
making substantial additions to its installation of renewable
power capacity. Increasing growth rate and rapid
urbanization in India have spurred the demand for natural
resources (GOI, 2019 1c). India’s seriousness about
sustainability in energy sector could be seen by its various
energy efficiency programmers which witnessed
exceptional performance in terms of reducing energy
consumption thereby leading to lower greenhouse gas
emissions and cost savings. According to Bureau of
Energy Efficiency Study, overall, this saving has resulted
in total cost savings worth Rs. 53.000 crore in 2017-2018
and contributed in reducing 108.28 million tonnes of CO2
emission (GOI, 2019 1d).
India, the world’s largest democracy, catering about 18%
of world’s population of 1369 million is bound and
determined to showcase unusual and remarkable
performance on 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, to take out its inhabitants out from income
poverty as well as energy poverty scenario, to shine
globally renewable energy framework and to promote
indigenous and appropriate technologies for
environmental supportability at grass not levels. In doing
so, there are some direct hindrances, where we are truly
not able to defend on global or international framework.
One amongst them is the gradual degradation of Western
Himalayan ecology because of rampant forest fires in chir
pine forests. The Himalayas is recognized for its
ecosystem services to the Asian region as well as to the
world at large for maintaining slope stability, regulating
hydrological integrity, sustaining high levels of biodiversity
and human well-being.
Himalayan mountain system is one of the most fragile
ecosystems in the world because of its inherent tectonic
and geological settings (Valdia, 1983)). It is known to have
a rich storehouse of large biodiversity ranging from tropical
forest, sub-tropical chir pine, temperate forest of broad leaf
and conifer to subalpine and alpine meadows. During the
recent past, the Himalayan bio resources have come
under great stress due to population pressure, resources
exploitation and various developmental activities which
have resulted in the reduction in biodiversity and
degradation of natural ecosystem. Among various causes,
the occurrence of frequent forest fires has of late emerged
as one of the severe threats for recession of biodiversity,
natural regeneration, productive capacity, soil fertility,
moisture, wildly and forest produce. This has adversely
affected the rural economy an ecosystem as a whole
(Kimothi, 1998). According to forest survey of India (FSI),
during the period of 6th five-year plan over 572417 area of
India’s forest was affected by forest fire amounting to a
loss of over half a million USD (Anonymous,1989). A
recent report on the status of forest reveals that on an
average 53% of the forest cover in the country is affected
by fire, and such incidents are more severe in the Western
Himalayan region of India which is predominantly rich in
chir pine (Anonumous, 1995).
Uttarakhand is a state of union of India in the western
Himalayan region. About 71% of its total geographical area
is under forest. This area comprises thousands of species
of trees, shrubs, herbs and climbers along with equally
large no of faunal species (Anonymous, 2013). Chir pine
is a major species found in this region starting from 1000
meters to 2000 meters under a gross estimation over half
a million hectare of forest area in Uttarakhand is
predominantly shadowed with chir pine trees (UFD, 2012-
13). Forest of this area are used variously for fodder, fuel
wood, timber, litter, timber and several other non-timber
forests produces (Ram et al.,2004). People living in this
state have less employment opportunities because of
rough terrain, adverse climatic conditions and developing
infrastructure.

3. Remodeling a Manually Operated Bio Briquetting Machine for Bio Briquetting of Dry Chir Pine Needles in Western Himalayan Region
Int. J. For. Wood Sci. 069
Chir Pine trees have a tendency of shedding its leaves
every year in the month of January to May. These dry and
fallen pine needles are highly inflammable and contain 18-
20 mega joules of energy per kg of its mass which is higher
than that of word, sawdust and fuel oil (Safi, 2002). In an
estimation by Forest Research Institute, Dehradun over a
million tonnes of dry pine needles fall every year on the
forest floor of Uttarakhand (UFD, 2010). These needles
are extremely combustible and repeatedly course
hazardous forest fires in the summer months. Burning of
pine needles is a big source of atmospheric carbon. This
also leads to soil erosion, land degradation, dryness, loss
of young plantation and damages to life and property of the
human beings.
Pine needles are abundantly available in the hilly region of
Himalayas on thermal decomposition they generate gases
such as light volatiles, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide,
hydrogen and other organic vapors. Since pine needles
pose serious threat to forests and forest fires, their
collection and disposal for energy recovery is a very
attractive proposition (Safi et al., 2004).
LITERATURE REVIEW
Biomass briquetting is the process of densification of loose
biomass to improve its fuel and handling characteristics. It
increases the volumetric calorific value and reduces
transportation cost and storage space requirement as
compared to raw biomass. Briquetting produces a uniform,
clean and stable fuel (Granada et al., 2002). By briquetting,
bulk density of loose biomass can be increased from 40 to
200 kg m-3 to 600-1200 kg m-3which would reduce the
storage requirement significantly (Adapa, 2009). Biomass
briquettes have been hailed as a potential means of
upgrading the raw biomass waste and providing a wood as
well as fossil fuel substitute that could potentially by use in
domestic cooking applications and industrial applications.
Biomass briquetting in many developing countries has for
years been synonymous with densification of sawdust and
other agro residues (FAO, 1990). Over the past many
decades, developing countries are promoting use of
electricity and fossil fuel energy to transform the life of poor
household (IEA, 2002). However, it is estimated that over
2.7 billion people rely on traditional biomass like wood,
charcoal and dung and half billion on coal for cooking and
space heating despite having access to some form of
electricity (Bravo, 2008) (Karekezi et al., 2008). This is
largely because electricity and Liquefied Petroleum Gas
(LPG) have become very expensive and unaffordable by
the majority of low-income earners. Use of wood, coal and
unprocessed biomass by a huge population in developing
countries contributes not only indoor air pollution but also
largely affects climate change issues.
Bio briquettes are produced from any lingo-cellulosic
organic material. Most widely used raw materials for
briquetting are saw dust, wheat straw (Wamukonya,
1995), paper mill waste (Yaman et al., 2000), peanut shell,
coconut fibers, palm fruit fibers (Chin & Siddiqui, 2000),
rice straw, rice husk and maize cob (Wilaipon, 2007).
Process parameters like densification pressure, particle
size, moisture content and temperature are different for
different raw material available for briquetting. Lignin of the
biomass melts at high temperature and pressure which
directly affect strength characteristics of the bio briquette.
Densification is influenced by compaction temperature,
compaction pressure, compaction velocity, moisture
content and particle size distribution (Mani et al., 2006)
(Rhen et al., 2005). An optimum process parameter is vital
for a good quality bio briquette as densification process
parameters directly affect change in volume, durability,
density and strength of the briquette (Kaliyan & Morey,
2009).
Different types of machine are available in the briquetting
industry globally. Europe and United States of America
have perfected the reciprocating ram- piston technology
while Japan has independently invented and developed
screw press technology (Grover & Mishra, 1996).
Briquettes produced by a piston press are completely solid
while screw press briquettes on the other hand have a
concentric role which gives better combustion
characteristics due to a larger surface area (Tumuluru et
al., 2010).
At present, these high-pressure technologies are widely
used for briquetting. China is also producing large scale
briquetting plants (Tumuluru et al., 2010). Cost of such
plants is very high. For a unit producing about 2000 tonnes
briquette in a year roughly cost a little over US D 1,00,000
which excludes the cost of the land (Fergunson, 2012). In
addition to large cost of plant and machinery for a
briquetting industry various technical constraints like high
wear and tear in screw extrusion briquetting technology,
very high electricity bills even up to 15% of the total
production cost (Grover & Mishra, 2010), inability of local
artisans to ensure smooth running and maintenance of the
machine, experts supervision for installation and site
specific variations in the plant and machinery have
resulted in numerous failure of the machines and inhibited
extensive exploitation of bio briquettes as fuel (Kaliyan &
Morey, 2009).
It is generally agreed upon that bio briquetting may be
treated as a suitable business case for a substitute fuel.
But challenges like inability of producers to access
appropriate technology for commercially producing quality
briquettes are widely existing (Clancy, 1995) (Hood, 2010).
There is therefore acute need to address high cost and
operational problems in order to ensure that commercial
briquette production result in successful enterprises.
Locally manufactured briquetting machines may be a
leverage point towards widespread adaptation of briquette
plants, increasing sales and improving the quality of
briquettes. Moreover, very high consumption of electricity
is also not desirable as the electricity is driven from mainly

4. Remodeling a Manually Operated Bio Briquetting Machine for Bio Briquetting of Dry Chir Pine Needles in Western Himalayan Region
Joshi and Sharma 070
fossil fuel sources which may make the whole process of
briquetting as a very high carbon positive venture (GVEP,
2011).
In order to create a mass movement towards reduction in
use of fossil fuels, proper utilization of agricultural and
forest bio waste, creating livelihood options for weaker
sections of the society and addressing various climate
change issues, innovations in locally made bio briquetting
machines are really needed specially in developing
countries like India. Locally made bio residue briquetting
machine must have following traits in order to execute
briquetting venture at grass root levels.
• Easy handling, low cost, less maintenance.
• Manually driven.
• No carbonization or pyrolysis process is needed.
• No additives or binding is needed.
• Site specific design and easy to transport.
• May convert a broad range of feedstock into briquette.
• Low noise and easy briquette discharge.
METHODOLOGY
In designing a vertically and horizontally aligned manually
operated bio briquetting machine, unknowingly a
continued evolutionary process with reflexive linkages as
given by the various stake holders was seen inherent in
methodological frame work. In addition to this knowledge
of structural engineering, hydraulics, material science and
pine needles chemical properties was deeply studied while
actually manufacturing the two machines.
Manually operated bio briquetting machines in vertical
orientation and horizontal orientation were designed and
developed at Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, Indian
Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India.
OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this study is to develop, present and
replicate an affordable and marketable manual briquetting
machine based on forest bio residue resource as a
sustainable mode of renewable energy and livelihood
option to the communities.
DISCUSSIONS
The discussion part of this paper includes general
description of horizontal and vertical type of briquetting
machine and the time study conducted over these
machines for optimizing the briquetting time.
❖ Vertical Briquetting Machine
This machine was finally developed and successfully
tested in the year 2016 at Alternate Hydro Energy
Centre, IIT Roorkee workshop. The actual brick making
photograph of the machine is shown figure 2.
• Components of the Vertical briquetting machine
This machine has following main components:
➢ Oil sump fitted with 2 levers and hydraulic oil.
➢ Pressure valve on the sump to bring the oil back
inside the sump.
➢ Mild Steel pipes connected to oil sump and
compaction and ejection cylinders.
➢ Main valve 1 and 2 for inflow and outflow of the oil.
➢ Compaction cylinder (85 mm) along with spring
and piston assembly.
➢ Die and mould assembly.
➢ Ejection cylinder (85 mm) along with spring
assembly.
➢ Measuring scale, pressure gauge.
• Line diagram and operation of vertical briquetting
machine
The Machine drawing is given in figure 3. The machine
operates on the basic fundamental of hydraulics. The
machine consists of an oil sump of about 7 liters oil
capacity. The raw material is poured in the die. Valve 2
is closed and lever no.1 is operated to pump the oil into
compacting cylinder. A constant watch is kept over the
pressure gauge fitted near the valve no 1. Depending
upon the type of raw material the pressure is built up to
70-150 kg/cm2. Once the pressure is built up and the
piston is moved well inside the die filled with raw
material, valve no.1 is closed and valve no. 2 is opened.
Once again lever no. 2 is operated and the backward
pressure works on the ejection cylinder facilitating
smooth withdrawal of the bio briquette from the die.
Though the working procedure seems to be very simple
but sequential opening and closing of the valve is very
crucial. Any expropriate faction may lead to oil spill,
bursting of hose pipes, slacken nut bolts, piston jam
and sticking of the spring of the ejection assembly.

5. Remodeling a Manually Operated Bio Briquetting Machine for Bio Briquetting of Dry Chir Pine Needles in Western Himalayan Region
Int. J. For. Wood Sci. 071
• Time study on a vertical briquetting machine
This machine has following sequence of operations:
Loading of raw material in the die, close valve no. 2, pull
and push lever 1, open valve 1, build up the desired
pressure, close valve no.1, open valve no. 2, push and
pull lever no. 2 till the briquette is ejected from the die.
A flow diagram of the briquetting process on this
machine is shown in figure 4.
Time taken to make one single briquette was recorded by
a stop watch. A total of 100 briquettes were made and the
average time for each step was recorded and then average
time was taken. It was observed that a total of 125 seconds
were taken by the machine to make a briquette of about 8
to 10 grams. Table 1 depicts the activity wise time taken
to manufacture a briquette from pine needles by this
machine.
Table 1: Time study for vertical briquetting machine
• Scope for improvement of a vertical briquetting
machine
Though the basic fundamental of densification of the
loose biomass through manually operated hydraulic
pressure application got well established in this
machine but many more scopes for appropriate
improvement in this machine were realized. This
machine has following limitations which were totally
blown away in the next version of a manually operated
bio briquetting machine in horizontal orientation.
➢ Output efficiency of the machine is low and may not
be able to deliver minimum wage rate guarantee to
the worker for 8 hours of working a day.
➢ Weight of the briquette manufactured is less. It may
be optimized by increasing the dig of the die but this
will further change the whole machine design as the
compacting pressure has to be increased.
➢ Hydraulic fluid if contaminated will spoil the various
piping and piston cylinder assembly.
➢ The weight of the machine is as high as 300 to 350
kg. It is not easy to be transported on hilly terrain as
it is fabricated as a single individual unit tightly
fastened by nuts and bolts.
➢ Operating the machine becomes very tiring for the
operator as the machine is only hand operated.
➢ This machine cost about USD 1500 per unit if
manufactured locally.
❖ Horizontal briquetting machine
It took almost over 2 years to modify and develop a
new briquetting machine in which all efforts were made
to eliminate the limitations of the previous machine.
This machine was also developed in the Alternate
Hydro Energy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology,
Roorkee, Uttarakhand in the year 2019. The actual
machine photograph is shown in figure 5.

6. Remodeling a Manually Operated Bio Briquetting Machine for Bio Briquetting of Dry Chir Pine Needles in Western Himalayan Region
Joshi and Sharma 072
• Components of the Horizontal briquetting
machine
The Machine has following main component:
➢ Horizontal bench reinforced with heavy mild steel
angles to give extra strength to the machine.
➢ Hydraulic oil sump fitted with one lever.
➢ Pressure on-off wall, pressure gauge.
➢ Horizontal piston - cylinder assembly.
➢ Horizontal die – mould assembly.
➢ Stopper plate, hopper, hose pipes.
➢ Foot pedal connected with hand lever.
• Line diagram and operations of the Horizontal
briquetting machine
The machine design is shown in figure 6 and figure
7. This machine also operator on the basic principle of
hydraulics. The machine operations are as follows:
➢ Charge the hopper with dry and crushed pine
needles
➢ Shut the stopper plate.
➢ Fill the niche of the die with pine needles by raising
the side of the hopper.
➢ Close the slide.
➢ Close the release value of the pump.
➢ Start pumping in reciprocator manner by using lever
(hand and foot) attached to the hydraulic pump. The
plunger attached to the pump pushes pine needles
and starts compressing it.
➢ Briquette is made inside the die with a pressure
ranging 100 to150 kgf/cm2.
➢ Open the pressure release valve, the plunger
withdraws automatically.
➢ Push the briquette with a stick from the die.
Fig. 6: Design of horizontal Briquetting Machine
Fig. 7: Design of horizontal Briquetting Machine (top view)
• Problems encountered while developing a
horizontal machine
During the process of designing a horizontal
briquetting machine, the biggest problem encountered
was repeated failure of the machine bench over which
horizontal piston-cylinder assembly was mounted. The
main cause of the bench failure was excessive
pressure of the level of 2500 to 3000 psi coming over
it through hydraulic unit. A further reinforcement was
provided over the bench in the form of heavy mild steel
angle rods strongly welded over the bench structure in
order to avoid its bending. Similar problem was faced
in horizontal die mould assembly which got displaced
under excessive pressure causing damages to piston
also. This problem was tackled by removing nut bolt
assembly used to fasten the die-mould system over
the bench and by providing a welded die-mould
assembly directly over the machine bench.

7. Remodeling a Manually Operated Bio Briquetting Machine for Bio Briquetting of Dry Chir Pine Needles in Western Himalayan Region
Int. J. For. Wood Sci. 073
• Time study on the Horizontal briquetting machine
This machine has following sequence of operation:
Loading of the raw material in to the die, close the
release valve and ensure sufficient pumping to ensure
briquetting, open the release valve, wait for the piston
to move back and eject the briquette with the help of
an ejecting handle. This machine has almost half of
the operations as desired in the previous briquetting
machine.
A flow diagram of the briquetting process is show in
figure 8.
Time taken to make a single briquette was recorded
by a stop watch. A total of 100 briquettes were made
and the average time for each step was taken. It was
observed that a total of 85 seconds were taken by the
machine to make a briquette of about 70 to 80 grams.
Table 2 depicts the activity wise time taken to
manufacture a briquette from pine needles by this
machine.
Table 2: Time study for horizontal briquetting machine
1. Advantages of the horizontal briquetting machine
over a vertical briquetting machine
➢ Output efficiency of the machine is quite high and
is completely able to guarantee a minimum wage
rate to a worker as etc over vertically aligned bio
briquetting machine.
➢ Weight of the briquette manufactured from this
machine is as high as 80-90 grams. This size and
weight is fair enough for transportation and for
various commercial uses.
➢ Movement is hydraulic fluid is comparatively very
less so chances of damages to piston-cylinder
assembly is quite low.
➢ Weight of the machine is of the order of 175 to
200 kgs, which increases its portability to hilly and
rough terrain.
➢ Operating the machine is quite comfortable as it
operates by hand as well as by foot. An operator
may switch over to hand as well as to foot as per
his operational.
➢ Cost of the machine comes about USD 1000 per
unit, if manufactured locally.
➢ Manually operated and horizontally aligned bio
briquetting machine has few more advantages
like low operating time, easily transportation, less
maintenance, less weight, dual operating feature
(hand and foot), multiple uses and low cost as
compared to manually operated and vertically
aligned bio briquetting machine.
Figure 9 depicts a consolidated sequence of operations
on both the machines in pictorial form.
Fig. 9: Working Comparison of Pine Briquette machines
CONCLUSION
An inclusion of an appropriate technology may turn
superior to an advanced technology, depending upon the
specific requirement of the area. Though many mega bio
briquetting plants are available and working but the option
of using forest bio residue in these plants was never
explored. It was primarily because of the excessive cost
involved in transporting the loose bio residue from the site
of its origin to the factory site. It was found that only 1 to 2

8. Remodeling a Manually Operated Bio Briquetting Machine for Bio Briquetting of Dry Chir Pine Needles in Western Himalayan Region
Joshi and Sharma 074
tonne of loose and dry fallen pine needles could be
transported in a truck, which makes this venture highly
uneconomical for mega bio briquetting plants. An
appropriate technology in the form of a manually operated
bio briquetting machine to convert forest bio residue into
useful briquettes at the place of it’s origin has given a
strong substitute of mega bio briquetting plants for
Western Himalayan region. Once densified at it’s place of
origin, a total of 6 to 7 tonnes of bio briquettes could be
easily transported to it’s end users. This phenomenon of
transporting 6 to 7 tonnes of bio briquettes in a single go
from a hilly terrain up to the consumer’s end not only make
this venture commercially viable but also provide ample
scope for livelihood creation to the local communities.
Such small machines may be provided to the local villagers
residing in and around the pine forest areas. These
villagers will collect the harmful dry and fallen pine needles
and convert them in to briquettes. A value chain shall be
created through customer-seller interface and villagers will
get sustainable livelihood options.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am highly thankful to Mr Jairaj, Head of Forest Force,
Uttarakhand Forest Department, Mr S.T.S. Lepcha Ex.
Managing Director, Uttarakhand Forest Development
Corporation and Mr. Monish Mullick, Managing Director,
Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation for
extending their full support in developing these machines
at Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, IIT Roorkee. I am also
grateful to Dr. R.P.Saini and Dr. M.P.Sharma , AHC, IIT
Roorkee for providing very useful technical inputs while
manufacturing these machines in the AHC workshop.
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9. Remodeling a Manually Operated Bio Briquetting Machine for Bio Briquetting of Dry Chir Pine Needles in Western Himalayan Region
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Accepted 28 January 2020
Citation: Joshi K, Sharma V (2020). Remodeling a
Manually Operated Bio Briquetting Machine for Bio
Briquetting of Dry Chir Pine Needles in Western
Himalayan Region. International Journal of Forestry and
Wood Science, 7(1): 067-075.
Copyright: © 2020 Joshi and Sharma. This is an open-
access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original author and source are cited.