Preparation and characterization of biomass briquettes made from banana peels, sugarcane bagasse, coconut shells and rattan waste

Biofuel briquettes were prepared using banana peels, rattan waste, coconut shells and sugarcane bagasse through a conventional method that involved drying, carbonizing, crushing, mixing with cassava starch as binder, compacting and drying. Briquettes produced were evaluated by proximate analysis using American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard and European Committee for Standardization (CEN) standard. Results of mass reduction study show that the losses are more important for banana peels (97.98%) and sugarcane bagasse (96%). Bulk density of briquettes produced is in the range 0.470–0.851 cm3/g; results of proximate analysis show that high calorific values of briquettes produced are 16.98, 30.07, 32.16 and 25.93 MJ/kg for banana peels, rattan waste, coconut shells and sugarcane bagasse respectively; of the four different residues used, volatile matters are slowly lower to the recommendation of literature, ash content has values in the range 7.44–11.95%, and moisture content is relatively higher than other agricultural residues especially banana peels and sugarcane bagasse.