Proximate Analysis of Biomass and Cotton Stalk Charcoal Briquettes Produced from Biu, Nganzai, and Zabarmari in Borno State using a Locally Fabricated Briquetting Machine

Biomass briquettes are a proven way of generating energy from waste. Different types of waste have been utilized in order to develop biomass briquettes. Therefore in this research work, briquettes of Millet chaffs, Rice husks, and Cotton stalk charcoal were produced and evaluated for use. The different briquettes produced were made by blending 150 g of the different Agro-waste each using 30 mL of gelatinous Cassava starch as a binder and Calcium Hydroxide (Ca(OH)2), as a pollutant fixing agent. The Briquettes were produced manually in a cylindrical mould and a piston press to apply pressure on the compacted Agro-waste in the mould. The result of the proximate analysis indicates that the different briquettes have reasonable calorific value ranging from 146-200KCal/g. Their Ash contents ranges from 30.3-40.0%, Volatile matters 15.5-38.5%, and moisture contents 10.5-13.3%. The fixed carbon 31.2-50.6%. The analysis gave a contrasting combustible quality when the fifteen samples were compared. Based on the above results, use of briquettes like millet chaff, rice husk and cotton stalk charcoal can effectively substitute the existing source of fuel like firewood and fossil fuel products because of the reasonable calorific value and other parameters obtained from the proximate analysis.From the results obtained it can be seen that briquettes produced from millet chaff, rice husk, and cotton stalk charcoal using the manually fabricated mould briquetting machine would make good biomass fuels as it has an appreciable volatile matter and a low percentage ash content.