Mechanical And Combustion Characteristics Of Oil Palm Biomass Fuel Briquette

Abstract

Palm Kernel Shell (PKS) and Mesocarp Fiber (MF) are residues from oil palm which are treated as waste in most oil palm production mills. PKS was pulverized and sieved into different grain particle sizes of 350 µm, 250 µm and 150 µm. The pulverized PKS were then mixed with MF in the ratios 90:10, 80:20 and 70:30, respectively, with cassava back peel as the binder. After thorough mixing, a 200 kN force was placed on each sample in moulds to form briquette. Mechanical and combustion characteristics of the briquettes were determined to ascertain their efficiency as solid fuel. The results of the mechanical assessment revealed that the fuel briquette with 90 % PKS of 350 µm and 10 % MF displayed poor mechanical strength compared to other samples while fuel sample with 90 % PKS of 250 µm and 10 MF gave best results in terms of the combustion property.