Nnkkmlll, EVALUATION OF THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SOME BIOMASS BRIQUETTES

In many developing countries, the use of energy in the form of firewood, twigs and charcoal has been the major source of renewable energy due to the high cost of cooking gas and kerosene. This necessitated the use of agricultural and wood wastes in producing briquette as alternatives. In this work, the physical properties (compressed density, relaxed density, lengt h expansion and swelling thickness) of some biomass briquettes of different sizes were evaluated. They are maize stalk (0.6, 1.0, 2.36, 4.75, 8.0, 9.5 and12.5mm), rice husks (0.6, 1.0, and 2.36mm), and sawdust (0.6, 1.0, 2.36, 4.75, 8.0, 9.5 and12.5mm. It was discovered that rice husk briquette of 0.6mm particle size showed better compressed and relaxed density than the other briquettes. Also, the briquettes produced from 0.6mm particle size for the three biomass materials showed better result for swelling thickness while rice husks of particle size of 0.6mm with 3% starch content showed better result for length expansion. It can therefore be concluded that the smaller the particle size of the briquette considered the better the physical properties evaluate d. However, it is recommended that the production of good biomass briquettes should include moderate starch proportion or other good binder in order to influence the physical properties.