Value Addition of Agroforestry Plantation Residues through Briquetting Technology for

Energy Purpose

S. Umesh Kanna, K.T.Pathiban, I.Sekar, A.Vidhayavathi, P.S.Devanand P.V.Anbu and

P.Durairasu
Forest College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Mettupalayam – 641 301, India

(Email:[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];
[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected])

Abstract
Energy and bio energy are becoming greater than ever concentration as one of the
important subjects for planner, stake holders and policy makers as a result of rapid depletion of
fossil derived energy coupled with associated environmental implications and its non renewable
nature. In India about 46% of total energy consumption including domestic and industrial
requirement is estimated to be met from various biomass resources viz., agriculture and animal
residues, forest biomass etc. The direct burning of these biomass residues in domestic and
industrial application faced with the challenges of energy inefficiency and the associated
environmental issues. This besides, collection from decentralized farm sources, transportation,
storage and handling problems played significant role in successful utilization of these energy
resources. One of the approaches that are widely practiced across the country is the densification
of these residues into briquettes. Hence attempts were made to assess the existing Agroforestry
based biomass residues available in the state and its possibility of conversion into briquettes
through value addition process. The study indicated the conversion potential of biomass residues
derived from the wide range of forestry tree species viz., Casuarina, Eucalyptus and many other
tree borne oil seeds which are raised in the form of plantations both us captive and also as farm
forestry models. These plantations during the rotation period could able to generate
approximately 2-3 tonnes of dry biomass residues per ha which were currently either unutilized
or underutilized. These residues were collected and converted in the form of briquettes using a
binderless technology which proved efficient way of conversion of plantation residues into value
added briquettes. This value addition through briquetting technology augured additional revenue
of INR. 1750 (€ 27.5) per tonne of briquette produced against the raw and bulk material value of
INR 800 per tonne (€ 12.6) and thus extend a better scope of value addition for energy purposes
using the farm grown tree residues. The energy efficiency studies conducted revealed that the
combustion efficiency has been augmented due to the uniform calorific value of more than 4000
kilo calories. Thermo chemical studies on the proximate analysis and ultimate analysis
parameters viz., moisture content, volatile matter, fixed carbon, ash content, carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen and nitrogen along with heating value has also proved the superiority of value added
product. This paper elaborates the various residual combination used to produce briquettes
coupled with the associated cost and returns through these value added products.

Keywords: Value addition – Agroforestry Residues – Briquettes – Energy

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Introduction

The energy consumption in the country is steadily increasing over years but there is no
concomitant increase in biomass availability. In India, about 46% of the total energy
consumption is estimated to be met from various biomass residues viz., agriculture residues,
animal dung, forest waste, fire wood etc (Ravindranath and Hall, 1995). The major portion of the
agriculture residues produced in the country is used for domestic utility (Tripathi et al. 1998) and
the direct burning of agriculture residues in domestic as well as industrial application is very
inefficient due to wide range of biomass sizes and varying water content coupled with more ash
content. Moreover transportation, storage and handling and other logistic issues also create
problems in their sustainable utilization. Hence forests in general and the forest biomass in
particular played significant role in energy generation due to their sustainable availability and the
associated positive factors like low ash content and increases burning efficiency coupled with
their role in environmental amelioration. This created the scope of large scale demonstration and
establishment of energy plantations in the country thereby helped to resolve the issues on energy
unavailability. These forest biomass were utilized directly both for domestic and industrial
consumption which resulted in inefficient energy conversion coupled with the associated
environmental issues due to the smoke and the ash that emanated from direct burning of forest
residues. This besides the huge volume of biomass residues (other than the major woody
biomass) viz., twigs, branches, leaves, saw dust, bark etc., have been so far under or unutilized
for want of suitable conversion technology and the associated operation and logistic issues. To
resolve these issues, the major approach widely practiced in the country was briquetting or
densification technology; however, such technology was not practiced for converting the forestry
plantation residues into briquettes. Hence the current study was conducted and successfully
evidenced the conversion of plantation residue based value addition through briquetting
technology for deployment in energy utility to meet the growing energy demands of the country.

Significance of wood based Biomass energy

Wood fuel plays an important role in the economy of rural people. It provides local income and
employment. About 70% of the rural population in India is dependent on wood energy. It is also
used by the medium and metropolitan group to meet their day today energy needs. In India,
wood fuel contributes to the extent of 69.2% of the rural energy needs and 35.5% of the urban
sector. The consumption of wood fuel is estimated to be around 300 million tons per annum.
Wood fuel is more sustainable than fossil based fuels like coal, peat, oil or bituminous rock. No
doubt the combustion of wood emits Co2, but the reforestation or regrowth of these forests
capture it back. The use of cogeneration technology has made a carbon neutral. Hence the wood
as direct energy and wood converted into various fuel forms have contributed significantly the
energy needs of the country and requires enough attention for their promotion, popularization
and rationale utilization to have clean environment.

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Biomass residues availability for briquetting

Essentially the residues from agriculture sector, forest biomass, saw dust from timber mill
can be successfully briquetted. The agriculture residues which do not host collection and drying
problem are also suitable for briquetting but not as a direct raw material but as a blended
material. The suitability of raw material for briquette production rely on several factors but the
prominent characteristics are moisture content, ash content, flow characteristics and particle size.
Moisture content is preferred in the range between 10 and 15 and the ash content up to 4%. The
particle size of the raw material must be uniform and the preferred size ranged between 6 and 8
mm which provide uniform flow in screw conveyors which facilitate easy briquetting and avoid
blockage. In India, wide range of raw materials viz., saw dust, groundnut shell, cotton stalks,
maize stalks, rice husk, tamarind shell. Coir pith, coffee husk, mustard stalk, sunflower stalk,
baggasse, wood chips etc., are used either singly or in combinations. The raw material suitable
for briquetting is classified into three categories viz., fine granulated, coarse granulated and
stalky biomass. However, the use of Casuarina residues has not been evidenced or reported
anywhere in the country and hence the current study formed a pioneering attempt which proved
lucrative in terms of income and employment generation.

Constraints

The major constraints faced by the briquetting industries in the country are

 The spectare of raw material unavailability

 Sporadic availability of raw material
 Wide variation in biomass
 Availability of higher volume of raw material with uncertain quality
 Seasonal availability
 Collection, transportation and other logistics
 Higher moisture content
 Availability of soil and other inert materials in the agriculture biomass
 Unorganized marketing and trade resulting in poor supply chain

Scope of briquetting

The constraints listed above are not exhaustive but only indicative which thus extent
adequate scope for briquetting in order to create self reliance in energy sector through value
addition process. The briquetting technology will help to convert the diverse biomass into a
value added quality products thereby create considerable scope for establishment of value
addition industries in rural and urban centers. These establishments will help to create adequate
income and employment generation activities thereby help to auger the socio economic status of
the rural dwellers. Above all, white smoke coupled with low ash content in the briquettes will
create clean and sustainable environment and help to achieve the policy requirements of the
country.

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Briquetting enterprise and the processing technology

a) Machineries

Briquette production is recognized as a business enterprise which predominantly uses wood

residues. Most of the briquetting units in the state of Tamil Nadu, India utilizes around 70% of
wood based saw dust and 30% of agro residues for all types of briquette production. The
briquetting enterprise will require the following machineries viz., cutting, pulverizing machine or
hammer mill grinder, drier, briquetting press. The schematic diagram of a briquetting plant setup
at the host institute is depicted in figure 1.

Figure 1. Schematic Diagram of Briquetting Plant

b) Processing technology

The briquetting process involved are drying (reduction in moisture content), size
reduction (change in surface area to volume ratio) and densification (change in density).

i) Drying

It is a method of removing moisture content of biomass. The heat generation of biomass

is dependent on the moisture content, therefore drying of biomass is essential for enhancing its
calorific value. It has been observed that only about 9% of energy value of biomass are lost in

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reducing the moisture content from 30 to 9%. But if it is not reduced the decrease in calorific
value is about 26%. The optimum moisture content of the raw material suitable for briquetting is
between 7 and 10% (Hasan Yumak et al. 2010).

ii) Size reduction

Size reduction of biomass is done to convert it to a convenient transportable, storable and

usable form. These processes include tree cutting (removing stems and branches from tree), log
cutting to convenient size for use and log cutting to small billet form for use.

iii) Densification

This process is to increase the bulk density of biomass for efficient and convenient
transportation and handling. It also reduces the requirement of bulk storage space. The physical
dimensions and the combustion characteristics of the fuel become homogeneous and uniform due
to the availability of required particle size, porosity and density which result in efficient energy
conversion.

The densification processes are broadly three types

1. Binderless densification technique

In this method, no external binders are added for compacting the material however the
process is done at high temperature (85 – 105oC) and at high pressure (1500 kg / cm2).

2. Densification with binders

In this method, the pressure requirement is low but the binding materials such as tar,
molasses, resins, wax, or other biological binding materials like tamarind and cashew shell are
used along with the biomass to enhance densification process.

3. Pyrolysis

In this method, the biomass is first carbonized and the charcoal obtained is powdered and
then compacted in required size and shape.

The flow of industrial process involved in briquetting technology is depicted below in the
figure 2.

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 Figure 2. Briquetting process

Chipping Drying

Residues Disintegration Densification Briquettes

Sieving Cooling

Thermo-chemical analysis of Briquettes parameters

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 The current study on Casuarina needles, Eucalyptus plantation residues, Jaropha (TBO)
fruit husk, match wood residues and plantation residues of Melia dubia were successfully
converted into briquettes and the thermo-chemical study findings are furnished in table 1.

Table 1. Briquetting quality of various tree residues

Heating
Volatile Ash Calorifi
Sl.N value
Raw materials matter content MC % c value
o MJ.kg-1
% % K.cal/kg
(DB)
1 Casuarina needles 15.53 7.77 31.54 5.06 4950
2 Eucalyptus plantation
12.87 3.96 32.87 7.42 4426
residues
3 Jatropha (TBO) fruit husk 17.82 9.90 30.78 4.15 2968
4 Matchwood industrial
14.42 4.81 32.56 4.48 4714
residues
5 Melia dubia plantation
15.00 8.00 31.46 5.01 3650
residues

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Economics of Briquetting

The economics of briquette production using various dominant raw materials were
assessed. The fixed cost consisted of Rental value of building, Machinery items- depreciation
and Electricity deposit and the variable cost comprises of Raw material cost, Transport cost,
Labour charges, power consumption, Spares, Lubricating oil, Packing, Miscellaneous cost and
Interest on working capital. The economics of briquette production revealed that Casuarina
residue based briquette production resulted in maximum net revenue of INR 1763.00 per ton of
briquette produced and thus lend support for further promotion of Casuarina needle based
briquette production.

Table2. Economics of briquette production using different tree based raw material
(Euros / ton)
Particulars Saw Casuarina Mill TBO
dust needles Residue Residues
s

Variable cost

Raw material cost 17.27 12.56 23.55 14.13

Transport cost 3.14 3.14 3.14 3.14

Labour @ of two women and one man 4.71 4.71 4.71 4.71
labour / ton

Power (Electricity) (Rs. 4.25/ W) 3.14 3.14 3.14 3.14

Spares 1.18 1.18 1.18 1.18

Lubricating oil 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79

Packing 3.14 3.14 3.14 3.14

Miscellaneous 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79

Interest on working capital (14%) 4.79 4.13 5.67 4.13

Total variable cost 38.94 33.57 46.10 35.14

Fixed cost

Rental value of building ( operating & 1.57 1.57 1.57 1.57

store room)

Machinery items- depreciation 1.33 1.33 1.33 1.33

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Electricity (power connection) 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24

Total fixed cost 3.14 3.14 3.14 3.14

Total cost 42.08 36.71 49.24 36.71

Selling price 64.37 64.37 64.37 64.37

Net price 22.31 27.68 15.15 26.11

Utility and other benefits

The forest biomass based briquette production technology has significant utility and made
tremendous impact in terms of value addition of underutilized biomass (nearly 5 to 8 tonnes of
green biomass) into value added briquettes thereby help to create adequate socio economic and
environmental impact. The state of Tamil Nadu, India is currently housed with nearly 0.1 million
ha Casurina plantation which will result in the availability of 0.5 to 0.8 million tones of green
biomass distributed in 24 districts of the state. Hence establishment of decentralized value
addition units may result in efficient utilization of biomass residues and their conversion into
briquettes will result in meeting the energy requirements of the country.

Benefits of the briquetting

 Utilized as domestic and industrial fuel for energy supply

 The bulk density is increased from 80-200 kg/m3 to 600-800 kg/m3
 The specific density will range from 1,100 – 1,200 kg/m3
 Increased heating efficiency
 It produces white smoke and low ash and hence environmentally safe fuel
Conclusion

The art of briquetting technology attempted using various forest biomass residues proved
quite attractive in terms of technological value coupled with the associated economical and
environmental values. Though all forest residues are amenable for briquette production, the
superiority of Casuarina needle based briquette production proved efficient in terms of calorific
value, combustion efficiency and bulk density. Above all the availability of 0.1 million ha
plantations of Casuarina in the state of Tamil Nadu have attracted many to venture into the
Casuarina needle based briquetting technology. It is expected that with the increase in cost of

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fossil fuels, depleting reserves of natural forests, the net zero carbon emitting biomass briquettes
may find large scale application in industrial and commercial applications besides satisfying the
energy demands of domestic needs. Above all the efficient value addition process will help to
augment the logistic issues and will create clean development mechanism through white smoke
and low ash from the briquettes. Hence it is ideal to establish one briquetting unit for every 200
ha of Casuarina plantation in a decentralized manner which will create self reliance in energy
needs of the country.

Acknowledgement

The authors are profoundly thankful to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research
(ICAR), New Delhi for having funded a project on “A Value Chain on Industrial Agroforestry in
Tamil Nadu” through National Agriculture Innovation Project (NAIP) wherein the current study
formed the current study formed a part of objectives of the scheme.

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References

1. Ravindranth, N.H. and Hall, D.O. 1995. Biomass Energy and Environment, Oxford
University, Press, Oxford.
2. Tripathi K.Arun, Iyer, P.V.R and Tara Chandra Kandpal. 1998. A Techno-Economic
Evaluation of Biomass Briquetting in India. Biomass and Bioenergy (14):pp. 479-488.
3. Hasan Yumak, Tamer Ucar, Nesim Seyidbekiroglu. 2010. Briquetting soda weed (Salsola
tragus) to be used as a rural fuel source. Biomass and Bioenergy (34): pp.630-636.

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