The demand for energy is becoming a critical challenge for the world as the population continues to grow. This call for Sustainable energy production and supply such as renewable energy technologies. Renewable energy technologies are safe sources of energy that have a much lower environmental impact than conventional energy technologies. So shredding machine is a key to make briquettes which will be used in industries as well as domestic purpose.

1. 1
Major project report on
DESIGN & FABRICATION OF SHREDDING CUM
BRIQUETTING MACHINE
Session2016 -2017
SUBMITTED BY -
ESHVER CHANDRA 131116232 SUBMITTED TO
AMIT KUMAR - 131116244 Mechanical Engineering
department
ALOK K. VERMA 131116244
RAHUL NIGAM- 131116302
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF
DR. AMIT TELANG
(Asst. Professor,Mechanical Engineering Dept., MANIT, Bhopal)

2. 2
Index
Acknowledgement 3
Declaration 4
Abstract 5
Introduction 6
Objective 17
Literature survey 18
Methodology 27
Machine Components 27
Work Plan 30
Application 32
References 33

3. 3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have
been possible without the kind support and help of many
individuals and organizations. We would like to extend our
sincere thanks to all of them.
We are highly indebted to Mr. AMIT TELANG Assistant Professor,
Mechanical Department for their guidance and constant
supervision as well as for providing necessary information
regarding the project & also for their support in completing the
project.
We would like to express our gratitude towards member of
MAULANA AZAD NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,
BHOPAL for their kind co-operation and encouragement which
help me in completion of this project.
We would like to express our special gratitude and thanks to
college persons for giving us such attention and time.
Our thanks and appreciations also go to our colleague in
developing the project and people who have willingly helped us
out with their abilities.

4. 4
Declaration
We the undersigned Alok Kumar Verma, Rahul Nigam, Amit
Kumar and Eshver Chandra student of B Tech 7th semester from
Mechanical Engineering hereby declare that the project report
presented in this report is our own genuine work and has been
carried out under the supervision of Dr.Amit Telang (Assistant
Professor) of M.A.N.I.T Bhopal.
We declare that, it contains all the data and information required
for the pursing grades in the minor project. The data shown in the
report are our own data and we believe it to be the true.
Further I declare that it will not be used again in same or other
organization for the award of the B.Tech degree also this has not
been previously submitted to any other university for any
examination.
Date: 05/12/2016
Place: Bhopal
Student name Scholar number Signature
Alok Kumar Verma 131116284
Rahul Nigam 131116302
Amit Kumar 131116232
Eshver Chandra 131116244

5. 5
ABSTRACT
The demand for energy is becoming a critical challenge for the world
as the population continues to grow. This call for Sustainable energy
production and supply such as renewable energy technologies.
Renewable energy technologies are safe sources of energy that have
a much lower environmental impact than conventional energy
technologies. Of the available renewable energy options, only
biomass has a large enough carbon reserve to replace fossil fuels.
Although biomass is available in large quantities, it has not been
exploited to its full potential partly due to low energy density. There
has been a recent push to replace the burning of fossil fuels with
biomass. The replacement of this non-renewable resource with
biological waste would lower the overall pollution of the world. A
popular biomass briquette emerging in developed countries takes a
waste produce such as sawdust, compresses it and then extrudes it
to make a reconstituted log that can replace firewood. It is a similar
process to forming a wood pellet but on a larger scale. There are no
binders involved in this process. The natural lignin in the wood
binds the particles of wood together to form a solid. Burning a wood
briquette is far more efficient than burning firewood. Moisture
content of a briquette can be as low as 4%, whereas green firewood
may be as high as 65%.are gathered and compressed into briquettes,
these briquettes can also be transported and used as fuel to generate
heat. It is high time to take initiative to turn Biomass into a source of
energy. Hence here we take responsibility in converting agricultural
and forestry waste into useful biomass briquettes, which can also be
used as a substitute for coal characteristics. The process of
compaction of residues into a product of higher density than the
original raw material is known as densification or briquetting.
Densification has aroused a great deal of interest in developing
countries all over the world lately as a technique for upgrading of
residues as energy sources. There are different machine available in
market but those machine are bulky and are costly, Hence here we
developed a portable, low cost briquetting machine, which makes
use of simple mechanism to convert the biological waste into useful

6. 6
briquette. Any waste or any proportion can be used but with proper
binding agent. Some raw material do not require any binding agent if
we use high pressure compression. The paper presents the results of
a project focused on the development of briquettes from the waste
wood (sawdust) resulting from the main waste from timber
companies. This waste wood currently lacks a useful purpose, and its
indiscriminate burning generates CO and CO2 emissions. Sawmill
waste is a big problem especially in urban cities. These wastes are
burnt openly which is causing environmental pollution. The wastes
can be converted to wealth thereby providing jobs for many
unemployed citizens. The principles of machine design were
employed to design the essential parts such as hopper, grinding unit,
manual pressing unit, and stirrer.
.
INTRODUCTION
The current global energy mix is dominated by fossil fuels (coal, oil
and natural gas) whose reserves are on a definite downward trend.
However, the World Energy Council predicts that fossil fuels will
remain the dominant energy source beyond 2050 despite the
depletion of known reserves. In addition, the same report notes the
importance of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the
existing pressure and challenge to diversify the energy mix amid
projected population growth with consequent growth in energy
demand. Furthermore, fossil fuels are responsible for 80% of GHG
emissions while the remaining 20% is attributed to deforestation.
Utilization of agricultural residues is often difficult due to their uneven
and troublesome characteristics. Paper briquettes are the by-product
of a briquette, which compresses shredded paper material into a small
cylindrical form. Briquettors are often sold as add-on systems to
existing disintegrator or rotary knife mill shredding systems. The NSA

7. 7
has a maximum particle size regulation for shredded paper material
that is passed through a disintegrator or rotary knife mill, which
typically does not exceed 1/8” square. This means that material
exiting a disintegrator is the appropriate size for compression into
paper briquettes, as opposed to strip-cut shredders which produce
long sheets of paper. After being processed through the disintegrator,
paper particles are typically passed through an air system to remove
dust and unwanted magnetic materials before being sent into the
briquettor. The air system may also be responsible for regulating
moisture content in the waste particles, as briquetting works
optimally within a certain range of moisture. Studies have shown that
the optimal moisture percentage for shredded particles is 18% for
paper and 22% for wheat straw. The process of compaction of
residues into a product of higher density than the original raw
material is known as densification or briquetting. Densification has
aroused a great deal of interest in developing countries all over the
world lately as a technique for upgrading of residues as energy
sources. This dominance of fossil fuels needs to be addressed in order
to address the triple problem of global warming, climate change and
GHG emissions while ensuring energy security, energy equity and
accessibility and environmental sustainability. Focus should therefore
be directed at developing low carbon renewable options. Households
in rural India are highly dependent on firewood as their main source
of energy, partly because non-bio fuels tend to be expensive, and
access to affordable fuel alternatives to coal, gas, kerosene and
electricity for cooking and heating is limited. Approximately 96% of
rural households are estimated to be using bio fuels. These fuels
dominate the domestic sector and are primarily used for cooking. Fuel
wood is the primary energy source for cooking used by rural
households (78%) In actual volumes as well, fuel wood ranks first, at
252.1 million tonnes, followed by dung-cakes, at 106.9 million tonnes
and agricultural residue, at 99.2 million tonnes of annual
consumption. Similarly, the per capita consumption figures are also
high for fuel wood at 250 kg, 50 kg for animal dung and 134 kg for
crop residues This is further corroborated by the energy consumption
estimation given by NCAER .Many of the developing countries produce
huge quantities of agro residues but they are used inefficiently causing

8. 8
extensive pollution to the environment by reducing the electrical
energy consumption by pre-heating biomass, heating the die of the
briquetting machine by means of a briquette-fired stove and by
incorporating a smoke removal system. Apart from the problems of
transportation, storage, and handling, the direct burning of loose
biomass in conventional grates is associated with very low thermal
efficiency and widespread air pollution. The conversion efficiencies
are as low as 40% with particulate emissions in the flue gases in
excess of 3000 mg/ Nm2. In addition, a large percentage of unburnt
carbonaceous ash has to be disposed of. In the case of rice husk, this
amounts to more than 40% of the feed burnt. As a typical example,
about 800 tonnes of rice husk ash are generated every day in Ludhiana
(Punjab) as a result of burning 2000 tonnes of husk. Briquetting of the
husk could mitigate these pollution problems while at the same time
making use of this important industrial/domestic energy resource.
The briquettes can be used for domestic purposes (cooking, heating,
barbequing) and industrial purposes (agro-industries, food
processing) in both rural and urban areas. Thus Biomass briquetting is
the densification of loose biomass material to produce compact solid
composites of different sizes with the application of pressure.
Briquetting of residues takes place with the application of pressure,
heat and binding agent on the loose materials to produce the
briquettes. The potential of biomass briquetting in India was
estimated at 61,000 MW, while the estimated employment generation
by the industry is about 15.52 million and the farmers earn about $ 6
per ton of farm residues. Renewable energy sources contributed only
13% to the current total primary energy sources in 2011 while fossil
fuels and nuclear constitute the balance [4]. The contribution of
renewable sources is however expected to continue increasing as
shown in Fig. 1. Of the available renewable energy options, biomass
has the largest share of 10% and is therefore the fourth largest
primary energy source after oil (31.5%), coal (28.8%) and natural gas
(21.3%). The sources of biomass used as energy are diverse including
forest round wood, agricultural residues and wastes, industrial and
municipal wastes and energy crops such as jatropha. It is therefore
clear that biomass feedstock availability is closely linked to other
economic activities such as food processing, forestry, paper making,

9. 9
building materials etc. Furthermore, it is attractive to use biomass as a
source of energy as it is locally available, is renewable, is the only
renewable source that has enough global carbon reserve that can
significantly reduce dependence on fossil fuels and hence has the
largest potential . The end use of briquettes is mainly for replacing
coal substitution in industrial process heat applications and power
generation through gasification of biomass briquettes .There has been
a recent push to replace the burning of fossil fuel with biomass. The
replacement of these non-renewable resources with biological waste
would lower the overall pollution of world. We often see the dry
wastes getting burned on the roadside, dump yard, polluting the
atmosphere and causing many problems. Here we have taken
initiative to turn waste biomass into a source of energy. And also to
reduce the volume of shredded waste and hence decrease the cost of
waste management. To achieve this, we fabricate a briquetting
machine at low cost. This machine efficiently produces briquettes by
compressing the grinded dry waste. These briquettes are very
different from charcoal because they do not have large concentration
of carbonaceous substances and added materials. Compared to fossil
fuels, the briquettes produce low net total greenhouse gas emission ,
because the materials used are already a part of the carbon cycle.
Hence these briquettes are good replacement for fossil fuel such as oil
or coal. In addition to the cost savings associated with reducing the
volume of waste compressed briquettes can also be used as a fuel for
starting fires or as insulating materials. There has been a move to the
use of briquettes in the developed world, where they are used to heat
industrial boilers in order to produce electricity from steam. Biomass
Briquettes are a renewable source of energy and avoid fossil carbon to
the atmosphere. Biomass briquettes also provide more calorific
value/kg and save around 30 to 40% of boiler fuel costs. Burning of
wood briquettes is far more efficient than burning firewood. Moisture
content of a briquette can also be as low as 4% whereas green
firewood may be as high as 65%. Biomass briquettes produced
through such community based projects will be used mainly for
cooking and heating. However, there has been a recent increase in
small scale electricity generation projects using biomass. A number of
medium to small scale enterprises (MSSE) such as Rich Rewards

10. 10
Trading (Pvt) Ltd, which is funded by DTI, produce biomass electricity
generators in which synthetic gas (syngas) is produced by pyrolysis of
biomass. The gas is then used to power internal combustion engines
which drive electricity generators. The current work will also
contribute to availing consistent, usable and sustainable biomass for
such applications while at the same time providing alternative clean
energy to rural communities. The extrusion production technology of
briquettes is the process of extrusion screw wastes (straw, sunflower
husks, buckwheat, etc.) or finely shredded wood waste (sawdust)
under high pressure when heated from 160 to 350 °C (320 to 662 °F).
As shown in the table above the quality of such briquettes, especially
heat content is much higher comparing with other methods like using
piston presses. Sawdust briquettes have developed over time with two
distinct types: those with holes through the centre, and those that are
solid. Both types are classified as briquettes but are formed using
different techniques. A solid briquette is manufactured using a piston
press that compresses sandwiched layers of sawdust together.
Briquettes with a hole are produced with a screw press. The hole is
from the screw thread passing through the centre, but it also increases
the surface area of the log and aids efficient combustion.
If we deeply think on this particular topic then we come to know
that how important it is. Generally we treat waste material as
useless and burnt it into open air or dumped into sea. But there is
one best alternative through which we can utilise it in a best
manner and that is biomass briquetting machine. Yes briquette
machine through we can make briquettes which are used into
many brick industry, milk industry, ceramic industry and many
more. Now the question is that how these biomass briquettes are
made. So answer is simple briquettes are made from divested raw
material. In briquetting press any type of agricultural waste and
forestry waste can be used. Rice husk, paddy straw, almond shells
and many other raw materials we can use into this machine. All
the raw material is collected and compressed under high pressure
without using any binder and ash so it is known as binder less
technology.

11. 11
RAW MATERIAL FOR BRIQUETTE :-
Biomass briquettes are a bio fuel substitute to coal and charcoal.
Biomass briquettes are made from agricultural and forestry waste.
The low density biomass(agricultural and forestry waste) is
converted into high density biomass briquettes with the help of a
briquetting machine that uses binder or binder less technique,
without using any type of chemical so it is 100% natural The
replacement of this non-renewable resources with biological waste
would lower the overall pollution of world. We often see the dry
wastes getting burned on the roadside, dump yard, polluting the
atmosphere and causing many problems. Here we have taken
initiative to turn waste biomass into a source of energy. And also to
reduce the volume of shredded waste and hence decrease the cost of
waste management Compared to fossil fuels , the briquettes produce
low net total greenhouse gas emission , because the materials used
are already a part of the carbon cycle. Hence these briquettes are
good replacement for fossil fuel such as oil or coal. In addition to the
cost savings associated with reducing the volume of waste
compressed briquettes can also be used as a fuel for starting fires or
as insulating materials.
Waste Cal/kg Ash content
Groundnut Shell 4524 K. 3.80 %
Bagasse 4380 K. 1.80 %
Castor Seed Shells 3862 K. 8.00 %
Jute Waste 4428 K. 3.00 %
Cotton Stalks / Chips 4252 K. 3.00 %
Sunflower Stalk 4300 K. 4.30 %
Palm Husk 3900 K. 4.90 %
Coffee Husk 4045 K. 5.30 %
Tobacco Waste 2910 K. 31.50 %
Rice Husks 3200 K. 19.20 %
Paddy Straw 3469 K. 15.50 %

12. 12
Mustard Stalk 4200 K. 3.40 %
Biomass briquettes also provide more calorific value/kg and save
around 30 to 40% of boiler fuel costs. Burning of wood briquettes is
far more efficient than burning firewood. Moisture content of a
briquette can also be as low as 4% whereas green firewood may be
as high as 65%.Use about 10 – 20% of sawdust but remember that
un-carbonized sawdust will make your briquettes emit a lot of
smoke. To reduce the smoke from sawdust, just partly ferment your
sawdust for about five days by just letting the sawdust stay in water
for 5 days. 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. A
popular form of biomass briquettes emerging in developed
countries is called Sawdust Briquettes It takes the waste by-product
of saw mills such as sawdust, compressed it in the cylinder and is
extruded out of the cylinder to make a reconstituted log that can
replace firewood. The process is carried out in two phases i.e. with
and without the binding agent.. The composition of the briquettes
varies by area due to the availability of raw materials. Coal is the
largest carbon dioxide emitter per unit area when it comes to
electricity generation. It is also the most common ingredient in
charcoal. 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.
VARIOUS TYPES OF BRIQUETTES
In India, different types of briquettes are manufactured through
briquetting machines. All types of briquettes are made from
agricultural or forestry waste which are used in different
industries. There is a collection of various briquettes like biomass
briquettes, recycled briquettes, white coal briquettes, saw dust
briquettes, agro waste briquettes, wood briquettes, boiler fuel
briquettes etc.

13. 13
Biomass Briquettes
Biomass and other green waste are gathered and compressed
under high pressure and then convert into biomass briquettes.
This whole process is known as biomass briquetting
process. Biomass briquettes are perfect substitute to coal and
lignite. These biomass briquettes are used in industries to heat
the boilers and to produce steam as well as at home for cooking. It
does not emit sulphur or any other gas which pollute
environment.
Sawdust Briquettes
Sawdust briquettes are quality assured briquettes. These
briquettes are comes with low as content and delivers smokeless
usage. These briquettes are widely used to provide heat to
industrial boilers which in turn produces electricity from
steam. Sawdust briquettes are offered by biomass briquette
manufacturer are reliable and economic. They are making these
briquettes in saw dust briquette machine which is highly useful
machine. These are available in the industrial market with leading
price.
Agro waste Briquettes

14. 14
Agro waste briquettes are best alternative to coal and charcoal.
These briquettes are made from agriculture or forestry waste and
have high specific density compared to loose biomass. These
briquettes are easy to handle, transport and store. These are
cheaper than coal and offer high boiler efficiency due to low
moisture. These have no sulphur content that pollutes
environment. Briquette manufacturing unit use biomass
briquette press machine to manufacture these Eco friendly agro
waste briquettes.
Wood Briquettes
Wood briquette has burning efficiency and does not generate any
flash. It is the vital source of energy and can be used in the place
of coal and fire wood. These briquettes are pollution free and
having excellent burning efficiency. The carbon dioxide (CO2)
balance is even, because wood briquettes release just as much
CO2 to the atmosphere as the tree absorbs through growth by
photosynthesis.
1.2 BINDERS:-
Starch
Starch is the most common binder though it is usually expensive. It
doesn't have to be a food grade. In general, about 4-8% of starch is
needed to make the briquettes. Starch sources can be corn starch,
wheat starch, maize flour, wheat flour, rice flour, cassava flour,
potato starch, etc. To use the starch as a binder, you must first
gelatinize the starch, which is added to water and heated to form a

15. 15
sticky consistency, then adding to the mixer to be mixed with the
charcoal powder.
Clay
Clay is widely available at almost no cost in many areas. A briquette
can contain about 15% of clay. Clay does not add to the heating value
of the briquette. If too much clay is added, the briquette will ignite
and burn poorly or not at all. Besides, clay will turn into ash after
burning, which blocks the passage of radiant heat, resulting in the
loss of heating value of the charcoal.
Gum Arabic
Gum Arabic, also known as acacia gum, is a natural gum harvested
from acacia tree, which is Arabic is successfully being used as binder
material for charcoal briquette. It does not emit heavy smoke, nor is
thermal treatment needed.
Molasses
Molasses is a by-product of the sugarcane industry. One ton of
briquettes needs about 20-25% molasses. Briquettes blinded by
molasses burn well, but have an unpleasant smell during
combustion. To avoid this, thermal treatment can be applied before
using the briquette, which is also called “curing”.
Wood Tar and Pitch
Wood tar arises during the carbonization process and is recovered
from stationary kilns and retorts. Pitch is a viscous liquid that
remains after the distillation of coal tar. Tar is more liquid while
pitch is more solid. Both of them require re-carbonization to avoid
the emission of heavy smoke which may generate adverse health.
Besides, cow dung and paper pulp also can be the binding material for
briquettes. Cow dung is available mainly in rural areas. Waste papers
are torn to small pieces and soaked in water to form a gelatinized
paste. By going through the several journal we came to know that
using starch as a binder has more advantages than other binders.
Even though the price of the flour needed to prepare starch is high,
the minimum usage of starch as a binder makes it economical.
Wastes Cal. /kg. Ash Content
Babool Wood 4707 K. 0.90%
Bagasse 4700 K. 1.80%

16. 16
Bamboo Dust 3700 K 8.00%
Barks Wood 3900 K. 4.40%
Castor Seed Shells 3860 K. 8.00%
Coffee Husk 4200 K 5.30%
Coir Pitch 4146 K 13.60%
Cotton Stalks / Chips 4200 K 3.01%
Forestry Waste 3000 K 7.00%
Groundnut Shell 4500 K 3.80%
Jute Waste 4800 K 3.00%
Mustard Shell 4300 K 3.70%
Mustard Stalk 4200 K 3.40%
Paddy Straw 3469 K 15.50%
Palm Husk 3900 K 4.90%
Rice Husks 3200 K 22.20%
Saw Dust 4400 K 1.20%
Soya bean Husk 4170 K 4.10%
Sugarcane Waste 3700 K 10.00%
Sunflower Stalk 4300 K 4.30%
Tea Waste 4000 K 6.70%
Tobacco Waste 1100 K 49.40%
Wheat Straw 4000 K 8.00%
Wood Chips 4300 K 1.20%
Compare to coal
The use of biomass briquettes has been steadily increasing as
industries realize the benefits of decreasing pollution through the
use of biomass briquettes. Briquettes provide higher calorific value
per rupee than coal when used for firing industrial boilers. Along
with higher calorific value, biomass briquettes on average saved 30–
40% of boiler fuel cost. But other sources suggest that coffering is
more expensive due to the widespread availability of coal and its low
cost. However, in the long run, briquettes can only limit the use of
coal to a small extent, but it is increasingly being pursued by
industries and factories all over the world. Both raw materials can be
produced or mined domestically in the United States, creating a fuel
source that is free from foreign dependence and less polluting than

17. 17
raw fossil fuel incineration. Environmentally, the use of biomass
briquettes produces much fewer greenhouse gases, specifically,
13.8% to 41.7% CO2 and NOX. There was also a reduction from
11.1% to 38.5% in SO2 emissions when compared to coal from three
different leading producers, EKCC Coal, Decanter Coal, and Alden
Coal. Biomass briquettes are also fairly resistant to water
degradation, an improvement over the difficulties encountered with
the burning of wet coal. However, the briquettes are best used only
as a supplement to coal. The use of cofiring creates an energy that is
not as high as pure coal, but emits fewer pollutants and cuts down on
the release of previously sequestered carbon. The continuous release
of carbon and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere leads to
an increase in global temperatures. The use of cofiring does not stop
this process but decreases the relative emissions of coal power
plants.
OBJECTIVES
The main objective of this project is to fabricate a low cost portable
briquetting machine for rural use. There has been a recent push to
replace the burning of fossil fuel with biomass. The replacement of
these non-renewable fuels with product of biological waste would
lower overall pollution in world. It is high time to take an initiative to
turn waste biomass into a source of energy. The waste biomass like dry
leaves, sawdust, rice husk, coffee husk etc. are gathered and
compressed into briquettes, these briquettes can also be transported
and used as fuel to generate heat. These briquettes are replacement for
fossil fuel such as oil and coal and also provide more calorific value per
Kg and these products are available at low cost thus saves 30 to 40% of
the boiler fuel cost. Burning of these briquettes are more efficient than
burning the fire wood. The objective of this project is also to decrease
the volume of shredded waste and thereby reducing the cost and fuel
required in disposal process. In addition to cost saving these
compressed briquettes can also be used as a fuel for starting fires or as
an insulating material. And also for domestic use like cooking, heating
water etc. in rural areas. The use of biomass briquettes produces much

18. 18
fewer greenhouse gases, specifically 13.8% to 41.7% CO2 and NOx. A
number of companies in India have switched from furnace oil to
biomass briquettes to save costs on boiler fuels. The use of biomass
briquettes is predominant in the southern parts of India, where coal
and furnace oil are being replaced by biomass briquettes. In addition
to the cost savings associated with reducing the volume of waste,
paper briquettes are more useful in paper mills to create recycled
paper than uncompressed shredded material. Compressed briquettes
can also be used as a fuel for starting fires or as an insulating material.
LITERATURE REVIEW
J.T. Oladeji the findings of his study have shown that, the
briquettes produced from rice husk and corncob would make
good biomass fuels. However, from the study, it can be concluded
that, briquette from corncob has more positive attributes of
biomass fuel than rice husk briquette. Finally, the study also
concluded that, both briquettes will not crumble during
transportation and storage because the values obtained for their
relaxed densities are closed to the maximum densities of the
briquettes from the two residues.
S. H. Sengar , A. G. Mohod , Y. P. Khandetod , S. S.Patil , A. D.
Chendake have observed that the Cashew nut shell, grass and
rice husk were used as major biomass in the form of raw biomass,
hydrolysed biomass and carbonized biomass. Carbonized biomass
was found suitable as compared to raw (as such) and hydrolysed
biomass for briquetted fuel. The briquettes were prepared on
screw press extruder briquetting machine for different
combinations of major biomass. The prepared briquettes after
sun drying were subjected to various tests for assessing the
quality of fuel. The suitability of briquetted fuel as domestic fuel
was studied with standard water boiling test. Cashew shell
briquettes burnt with good flame in cook stove and observed 15.5

19. 19
per cent thermal efficiency. Better results in cashew shell
briquettes related to calorific value, shattering indices test,
tumbling test, degree of densification, energy density ratio,
resistance to water penetration and water boiling test as
compared to grass and rice husk briquettes were observed.
Calorific value was found more in cashew shell briquetted fuel as
5154.58 kcal/kg. Net Present Value of cashew shell, grass and rice
husk briquettes were 1935370.8, 2256434.38 and 631948.8
respectively. Payback period for cashew shell, grass, rice husk
briquettes were 8.1, 7.56 and 29.35 months respectively. Benefit
Cost Ratio for cashew shell, grass, and rice husk briquettes were
2.8, 2.93 and 1.51 respectively.
A. Olorunnisola said that the wood in form of fuel wood, twigs
and charcoal has been the major source of renewable energy in
Nigeria, accounting for about 51% of the total annual energy
consumption. The other sources of energy include natural gas
(5.2%), hydroelectricity (3.1%), and petroleum products (41.3%)
(Akinbami, 2001). The demand for fuel wood is expected to have
risen to about 213.4 x103 metric tonnes, while the supply would
have decreased to about 28.4x103 metric tonnes by the year 2030
(Adegbulugbe, 1994). The decreasing availability of fuel wood,
coupled with the ever-rising prices of kerosene and cooking gas in
Nigeria, draw attention to the need to consider alternative
sources of energy for domestic and cottage level industrial use in
the country. Such energy sources should be renewable and should
be accessible to poor. As rightly noted by Stout and Best (2001), a
transition to a sustainable energy system is urgently needed in
the developing countries such as Nigeria. This should, of
necessity, be characterized by a departure from the present
subsistence–level energy usage levels based on decreasing
firewood resources, to a situation where human and farming
activities would be based on sustainable and diversified energy
forms. Energy
Source that meets such sustainability requirements is fuel
briquette. If produced at low cost and made conveniently
accessible to consumers, briquettes could serve as complements
to firewood and charcoal for domestic cooking and agro-

20. 20
industrial operations, thereby reducing the high demand for both.
Besides, briquettes have advantages over fuel wood in terms of
greater heat intensity, cleanliness, convenience in use, and
relatively smaller space requirement for storage.
Previous studies have shown that waste paper could be mixed
with other biomass materials to produce relatively cheap and
durable binder-less briquettes Demibras and Sahin, 1998; Yamen
et al.2000) Attempts have also been made in the past to create
fuel from newspaper by rolling them up into ‘logs’. However, it
was found that the product did not burn well (Arnold 1998). In
the present study, efforts were made to produce binder-less
briquettes from a mixture of waste paper and coconut husk
particles at low pressures of these briquettes were also
determined.
Idah, P. A. Mopah, E. J. Has studied the effect on environment by
agricultural and other industrial wastes is on the increase and is
causing a lot of problem. Adequate means of disposing these
wastes are lacking, hence, converting them to other useful
products such as
briquettes for domestic fuel are desirable. In this work, the energy
values of briquettes made from some of these agricultural by-
products using two binders were assessed. Wastes from rice husk,
maize cob, groundnut shell and sugarcane bagasse were turned to
briquettes using two different types of agricultural by-product
binders (banana peel and cassava peel gel). The briquettes were
subjected to energy evaluation test using the Fulton XRY-1B
Oxygen Bomb Calorimeter. The mean bulk densities of the
briquettes produced from rice husk, maize cob, groundnut shell
and sugar cane bagasse were 0.75g/cm3, 0.69g/cm3, 0.81g/cm3
and 0.65g/cm3, respectively. The results obtained showed that
the average energy values of the briquettes produced using
cassava peel as binder from rice husk, maize cob, and groundnut
shell and sugarcane bagasse were 26.612MJ/Kg, 28.255MJ/Kg,
33.703MJ/Kg and 32.762MJ/Kg, respectively. The corresponding
average values for those produced using banana peel as
binders were 29.980MJ/g, 28.981MJ/g, 32.432MJ/g, 31.508MJ/g
for rice husk, maize cob, groundnut shell and sugarcane bagasse,

21. 21
respectively. The results indicate that briquettes produced from
groundnut shell using cassava peel gave the highest energy value
of 33.70 MJ/kg while those obtained from rice husk using cassava
peel gave the lowest calorific value of 26.61MJ/kg and these were
significantly different(p ≤ 0.05). The briquette from groundnut
shell is therefore more suitable for starting and maintaining fire
for cooking and other domestic heating. The briquettes from
these by-products in terms of energy values are ranked as
follows:
Ground nut shell > sugar cane bagasse > maize cob > rice husk.
The effective utilization of these agricultural by-products as high
grade solid fuel can reduce environmental pollution resulting
from the wastes and also help in minimizing the energy crisis
resulting from non-renewable energy sources like petroleum
products as domestic fuel.
Harshita Jain , Y. Vijayalakshmi, T. Neeraja have derived an
experimental research design was adopted to conduct the present
investigation. For the present study six biomass materials namely
Charcoal Dust, Saw dust Rice Husk, Dry Leaves, Wood Chips,
Groundnut Shells and two binders namely Cow dung and Starch
were identified. The commercially available briquetting machine
of 5 horsepower motor was selected for making the briquettes.
Subjective evaluation of physical properties of briquette i.e.
texture, cohesiveness, moisture, shape, evenness of surface and
appearance of surface was conducted by a panel of 6 judges
comprising of staff and PhD graduate students of College of Home
Science. The data obtained from the experimental tests was
compiled, tabulated and statistically analysed by mean and
standard deviation. The data obtained from subjective evaluation
was consolidated by averages,
standard deviation. The calorific value of all prepared briquettes
was measured by using bomb calorimeter. The results indicate
that briquettes made from charcoal dust and other biomass
materials with starch combinations were found to be best in
physical characteristics with highest scores whereas briquettes
made from charcoal dust other biomass materials with cow dung
combinations were found to be highest in calorific value. The

22. 22
results show that when cow dung is used as binder with charcoal
dust and other biomass materials, it was giving higher calorific
value The use of starch as binder with charcoal dust and other
biomass materials was making briquettes smooth in texture,
compact, dry, uniform, even without cracks and shiny.
Daham Shyamalee , A.D.U.S. Amarasinghe , N.S. Senanayaka
found that the Biomass briquettes are often used as an energy
source for cooking purpose and in some industries like bricks and
bakery. The briquettes are produced by densification of waste
biomass using various processes. In this study manual
densification of saw dust was tested with three different binding
agents; dry cow dung, wheat flour, and paper pulp. The samples
with cow dung as binding agent failed with mould detaching and
minimum required binder percentage for other two binders for
successful forming were found to be 30%. Density of briquettes
with 30% binder of wheat flour and paper pulp was found to be
373.7 kg/m3 and 289.8 kg/m3 respectively. Natural drying time
was evaluated at 86~89% relative humidity and 25~30oC
ambient temperature. The time for achieving 15% moisture
content (wet basis) was 55 hours.Compressive strength of the
briquettes was tested for binder percentages of 30%, 40% and
50% (dry basis) of wheat flour and paper pulp binders. Results
indicated that compressive strength increased with the increase
of binder percentage. The briquettes with paper binder exhibited
comparatively high compressive strength compared to wheat
flour binder. Calorific values of briquettes formed having 30%
paper binder and 30% wheat flour binder were found as
18.14MJ/kg and 20.04MJkg respectively, whereas the value of
pure saw dust was 18.8 MJ/kg. The briquettes formed with paper
pulp gave the minimum energy cost, the value being 0.16Rs./MJ.
Riya Roy has found that the Briquettes produced from ligno
cellulosic waste, through a simple process and low cost are an
excellent source of energy and environmentally benign, ideal for
replacing fossil fuels in this day. In the present research, an
experimental study was undertaken for production and quality
analysis of different briquettes using dry leaves, wheat straw &
saw dust as the feed stocks & paper pulp, cow dung as binder.

23. 23
These briquettes were analysed by using proximate analysis. The
results were then compared with a commercially available cow
dung briquettes. Results showed that briquettes produced by
using these feed stocks and cow dung as a binder had a calorific
value of 5920.40kCal/kg, which was higher than other briquettes
used paper pulp (5874.12kCal/kg) as a binder and also higher
than the
Commercially available cow dung briquettes (3452.34kCal/kg).
Other properties like percentage of ash content, sulphur content
& chloride content were less and also there was an increased
percentage of volatile matter when compared to traditional cow
dung briquettes.
Thus produced biomass briquettes can be used as a replacement
for the commercially available cow dung briquettes.
Olawale J. Okegbile, Abdulkadir B. Hassan, Abubakar
Mohammed*, Barakat J. Irekeola
have tested effect of starch and gum Arabic as binders in the
combustion characteristics of briquette prepared from sawdust of
different ratios was investigated. Briquettes of sawdust were
produced by mixing with different binders and agglomerate using
starch paste and gum Arabic. The mixture was compressed at
110kN using manually operated hydraulic briquette machine and
sun dried. Water boiling test was employed to obtain percentage
heat utilized, specific fuel consumption and time spent to boil 1kg
water. The calorific value, the volatile matter and flame
temperature were determined. Results showed that the briquette
formed using starch as a binder performed better in all aspect
than the gum Arabic.
Ogwu, I.Y, Tembe, E.T, and Shomkegh, S.A.have Compared
performance in calorific value was determined from the binary
and tertiary combination of briquettes produced from biomass
materials (sawdust) of Afzelia africana, Daniella oliveri and Rice
husk at 20% 30%, and 40% starch binder levels. From the
proximate analysis of the samples, it was observed that there
were significant differences (p<0.05) between the densities,
Percentage Ash content, Percentage Volatile matter and
Percentage Fixed carbon of the samples. A progressive increase in

24. 24
heating value was observed among briquettes produced as the
starch level increased.Briquettes produced at the tertiary
combination of Afzelia africana + Daniella oliveri + Rice
husk biomass recorded the highest heating value of
4827.20kcal/kg at 40% starch level while Daniella oliveri + Rice
husk briquettes at binary level recorded the least heating value of
4586.72kcal/kg at 20% starch level. Among the various starch
levels the tertiary combination had the least Ash content of 4.30%
at 40% starch level while Daniella oliveri + Rice husk briquettes
at 20% starch level had the highest Ash content of 9.29%. It is
therefore recommended that 40% starch level be used for
briquettes production .
Emerhi, E. A. have found that the calorific value of briquettes
produced from mixed sawdust of three tropical hardwood species
bonded with different binding agents (starch, cow dung and wood
ash). Sawdust from each of the species was mixed with the binder
in ratio of 70:30 for cow dung and wood ash and 70:15 of starch.
The sawdust where mixed in a ratio 50:50 for each briquette
combination produced. Combustion related properties namely
percentage volatile matter, percentage ash content, percentage
fixed carbon and calorific value of the briquettes where
determined. All processing variables assessed in this study were
not significantly different except for percentage fixed carbon at
five percent level of probability. The result shows that briquette
produced from sample of Afzelia africana and Terminalia superba
combination bonded with starch had the highest calorific value of
33116kcal/kg while briquette produced from sample of Afzelia
Africana and Terminalia superba bonded with ash had the least
calorific value of 23991kcal/kg. Since the aim of briquetting is to
produce briquette that will serve as good source of fuel and
support combustion, the best briquette was produced when
sawdust was mixed with starch.
TECHNOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF THE BRIQUETTING PROCESS
Material humidity
If the production of briquettes with standard defined quality is
required, it is necessary to know the impact of the material
humidity on the quality. For a growing tree water has a very

25. 25
positive effect, because it is a necessary prerequisite for every
vegetal organism to exist. For a cut tree, water is unacceptable.
Material humidity depends on the type of material. Every material
has its own specific nature. However, it is difficult to determine
the optimal value of humidity for briquetting. After analysis, the
optimal value of material humidity for briquetting is from 10 %
to 18 %, which can be calculated according to type of material. If
the humidity of the pressing material is very low or very high
(beyond the 10-18% interval) material elements are not
Consistent and a briquette falls to pieces. Material humidity has
an impact on lignin plasticisation. The lignin softening
temperature depends on the type of material and lignin
Isolation method. The relations between material humidity,
compacting pressure and pressing temperature are very
interesting. Pressing the material where temperature, pressure
and material humidity values are not in optimal interval results in
a briquette that is not compact and which can fall to pieces. It is
possible to combine temperature effects on lignin plasticisation
with pressure briquetting. Nevertheless, when the material
humidity is very high it causes the excess water to turn into steam
that tears a briquette to pieces. When the material humidity is
very low (lower than 10%), for a quality briquette very high
pressure is required and it is very expensive and uneconomic.
Finding the optimal value of material humidity will be one part of
this experiment (Križan, 2007, Janković, 1997).
Compacting pressure
This factor is the most important factor with the main influence
on briquette strength. Briquette strength is higher when there is
higher pressure. Briquette strength increases to the strength
limit of the compacting material. Briquette strength has an impact
on briquette durability because when the strength increases, the
absorption of atmospheric humidity decreases. Compacting
pressure, seen from the viewpoint of complex analysis or
research, is a very interesting and very complicated parameter.
Various parameters have an impact on compacting pressure e.g.
type of pressing material, temperature in the pressing chamber,
pressing material temperature and of course also the length,

26. 26
diameter and shape of the pressing chamber and the manner of
briquetting. The manner of briquetting has an impact on layer
distribution in briquettes and so on briquette strength. When
warmed material is pressed, the briquettes have a better density
and better quality at lower pressure. Material warming during the
briquetting process reduces the needed pressure for briquetting
of briquettes for the required quality. These briquettes then have
consistent shape and volume without cracks and scratches
(Križan, 2007). Pressing temperature Pressing temperature has
an expressive impact on briquette quality and strength. This
parameter determines the segregation of lignin from the cellular
structure of the wood. Lignin is very important in the briquetting
process because its function in material pressing is to join
the fibres. In addition, lignin acts as a stabilization factor for the
cellulose molecules in the cell wall. The more lignin is included in
the material the more the material can release it and then
the briquette quality is higher because lignin causes higher
material strength. Lignin is released only at specific pressing
temperatures that have to be provided during the briquetting
process. The optimal value for pressing temperature for lignin
plasticisation is approximately 120ºC, but optimal temperature
depends on the type of pressing material. It is not important to
increase the pressing temperature. When the temperature is out
of optimal value range the briquette is unstable, it has low
strength that causes faster decay in burning, and the briquette
burns for a shorter time. Lower temperatures do not lead to high
quality briquettes. Higher temperatures cause the occurrence of
highly volatile elements or pressing material to burn. With an
increase in the pressing temperature by constant compacting
pressure, briquette strength is also increased, but only to a
specific value (Križan, 2007).
Fraction largeness has a very high impact on the briquetting
process. The bigger the fraction is, the more power is needed for
briquetting. A briquette has lower homogeneity and stability.
An increase in fraction size results in the decrease of binding
forces which lead to faster decay in burning (the briquette burns
faster and that is not an advantage). Increase of the fraction size

27. 27
results in the increase of needed compacting pressure and a
decrease of briquette quality (Križan, 2007).
METHODOLOGY
The project is done in 2 phases
DESIGNING
FABRICATION
Principle
Here we are using Saw dust, Coffee husk, Dry leaves and Rice husk
etc. as raw materials .These raw materials are gathered and are
added to the hopper in required ratio to get the compact
briquette. After filling the raw materials the top portion of hopper
is closed this is because due to high speed of the blade the raw
material may move out. These raw materials are grinded by the
blade, which is driven by the motor. Here the regulator is used to
regulate the speed of the blade so that the grinding operation can
be controlled. That is by using high speed rotation the raw
materials are finely grinded and so on for the medium speed.
These grinded raw materials are allowed to pass through the
sieve plate, which is placed in between the blade and motor (size
of sieve 5 mm).
After complete grinding of the raw materials in the hopper the
motor is switched off. These grinded raw materials are stored at
the bottom and then carried out to press where it gets converted
in the form of slurry by mixing with water and binder. After
pressing, it becomes compacted and removed water is collected
below. Thus compacted briquette is obtained.
Main components of Machine
Hopper (Shredder):
This is where the raw material (saw dust, coffee husk etc.) is fed
into the machine. It is made of mild steel, and is conical in shape.

28. 28
It is placed on the hollow circular disc, which acts as supporting
member and also the hollow in the disc guides the grinded
materials to the box placed under the disc. The size of the hopper
is designed such that by one completely filled hopper we are able
to produce 4 to 5 briquettes, which can increase the production
rate.
Motor
Here we have used a High rpm motor. And we have used a
regulator to control the speed of the blade which is connected to
the motor, as required on the amount of raw material to be
grinded inside the hopper. The motor is placed on the circular
disc with the legs.
Hopper (shredder) Top View
Blade
This acts as a grinding member, and is made up of stainless steel.
Based on the power input from regulator the blade rotates at

29. 29
certain RPM and grinds the raw materials, which then passes
through the inclined plate and fills into the sieve box.
Sieve box
Through incline plate raw materials come into this box. This box
has four vertical plates and one bottom plate. Vertical plates may
have rectangular micro holes and bottom plate has same hole.
And a manually press handle is attached technically welded on
one vertical plate so that it can press the raw materials perfectly.
Moisture and liquid content is passed through rectangular micro
holes.
Manual press system
Slurry is compressed between two horizontal plates. Lower plate
is fixed and integrated part of sieve box and upper is welded with
press handle.

30. 30
LINE DIAGRAM OF PROPOSED MACHINE
Work Plan
 Study and selection of mechanisms according to the specific
functions of machine.
 CAD modelling of proposed design by using solidworks.
 Define approximate or appropriate dimensions of elements
of model.
 Select suitable material for several components.
 Fabrication of base frame using welded and bolted joints
 Modify dimensions of assembly for fabrication.

31. 31
Advantages Of Biomass Briquetting :
Briquettes produced from briquetting of biomass are fairly good
substitute for coal, lignite,
Firewood and offer numerous advantages
 This is one of the alternative methods to save the
consumption and dependency on fuel wood.
 Densities fuels are easy to handle, transport and store.
 They are uniform in size and quality.
 The process helps to solve the residual disposal problem.
 The process assists the reduction of fuel wood and
deforestation.
 It provides additional income to farmers and creates jobs.
 Briquettes are cheaper than coal, oil or lignite once used
cannot be replaced.
 There is no sulphur in briquettes.
 There is no fly ash when burning briquettes.
 Briquettes have a consistent quality, have high burning
efficiency, and are ideally sized for complete combustion.
 Since briquettes can be domestically made from plants and
animal wastes, they are consequently less expensive to
produce, and thereby sold at lower prices.
 Compacting biomass waste into briquettes reduces the
volume by 10 times, making it much easier to store and
transport than loose biomass waste
 The compression process allows the briquettes to burn for a
lot longer than if it was loose in its original condition.
Social benefits of Briquetts :
 A tree saved is more than a tree grown
 The above Bio-Message is very clear. We need not spend
more energy and money to grow more trees if we could
avoid using them.
 Thus, all ecological disaster arising from deforestation can
be checked.
 Saves the environment from pollution, all conventional fuel
pollutes the atmosphere.

32. 32
 Avoids using conventional resources like coal which means
that future generation will not be deprived of its utility.
 The main disadvantage of densification is the relatively high
cost of input energy, which is needed for the production of
pellets and briquettes. This will also increase the price of the
output product. The output product is in the form of
briquettes or pellets. Calorific value, water content and
chemical composition are approximately same for both, but
the density and strength is usually higher for pellets. The
main difference is in size. Pellets are 4-5times longer than
their diameter, while briquettes have a diameter of 80-
90mm. Briquettes and pellets provide a simple use in the
fully automatic operation from home use to large scale
applications.
Disadvantages Of Biomass Briquetting
 Undesirable combustion characteristics often observed e.g.,
poor ignitability, smoking etc.
 Tendency of briquettes to loosen when exposed to water or
even high humidity weather
Application of Biomass Briquettes:
Biomass Briquette are widely used for any type of thermal
application like steam generation in boilers, in furnace &
foundries (It can be used for metal heating & melting where
melting point is less than 1000d/cell.), for heating purpose
(Residential & Commercial Heating for winter, heating in Cold
areas and Hotels, Canteens, Cafeterias and house hold kitchen
appliances etc.), drying process and in gasification plant replacing
conventional solid fuels like Coal and Firewood and liquid fuels
like Diesel, Kerosene, Furnace Oil (FO), etc.
Briquettes are a forth coming fuel of the world. An upcoming use
of Briquettes is in Bio-Gasifiers for Thermal Applications and
Electricity Generation. It’s a high quality asset towards

33. 33
economical, ecological, & advanced environmental company
policy.
Future Scope :
The machine fabricated requires some human effort for
compressing the raw material. The requirement of human effort
can be eliminated by using a less capacity motor to actuate the
telescopic jack gradually for compressing the feed stock. This
increases the compression pressure which helps in obtaining the
good quality briquettes. And also this high pressure causes raw
material to bind stiffly and this may also lead to elimination of
using binder.
Any type of feed stock can be used apart from the saw dust, coffee
husk, dry leaves and other biological and non-biological waste can
be compacted to reduce waste management cost and facilitates
the easy transportation of the same.
REFERENCES
1. Aqa, S., 1990, A Study of Densification of Pre-heated Sawdust,
Masters Thesis No. ET-90-4, Asian Institute of Technology,
Thailand.
2. Aqa, S. and Bhattacharya, S. C., 1992, Densification of Preheated
Sawdust for Energy Conservation, Energy, Vol. 17, No. 6, pp. 575-
578.
3. Grover, P.D. and Mishra, S.K., 1996, Biomass Briquetting:
Technology and Practices; RWEDP Field Document no. 46, Food
and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Bangkok,
1996.
4. Joseph, S., Hislop, D. and Errey, S., 1985, The Development of a
Energy Production System to Briquette Papyrus Through Partial
Pyrolytic Conversion, Biomass Energy Services and Technology,
BEST, December.

34. 34
5. Joseph, S. and Hislop, D., 1985, Residue Briquetting in
Developing Countries, Energy From Biomass 3, pp. 1064-1068,
Elsevier, London.
6. Mishra, S. K., 1996, Hardfacing of Screw for Wear Resistance,
Proceedings of the International Workshop on Biomass
Briquetting, New Delhi, India, 3-6 April 1995.
7. Reed, T.B., Trezek, G. and Diaz, L., 1980, Biomass Densification
Energy Requirements, Thermal Conversion of Solid Wastes and
Biomass, American Chemical Society.
8.Saglam M. M.,Yusuf J. ,Yanike M.and Ustum D.(1990):Briquetting
of Lignities using Calcium and Ammonities Sulphite
liquors.fuel,,pp60
9.Kishinmoto,S.(1969):Briquetting of sawdust and other waste
materials,proc. Inst.Briquetting and Agglomeration,Sunc. Valley,
Idaho,Aug.27th - 29th.pp43
10.Grover P. O. and Mishia S. K (1996), Biomass Briquetting: Food
and Agricultural Organization of the United Nation Journal.
11.Mordi, F. A (2007), Production of Saw Dust/Charcoal Briquette
for Export (www.groundreport.com).
12.Osarenmwinda J. O and Imoebe S (2006): Improved Sawdust
Briquette: an Alternative Source of Fuel.Advanced Material
Research . 62-64 :769-773
13.Prokrohov A. M (1982), Great Soviet Encyclopedia: Macmillan
IC. New York.