Briquettes

Briquette/ Bio-coal or white-coal is a solid fuel made from a variety of waste materials such as charcoal from low-density wood, agro-forestry waste material, domestic, municipal solid wastes and typically any type of biomass waste. A wide array of feedstocks, some that are not pelletable, can be briquetted, including agricultural residues, paper, etc. Briquetting is the process which converts these low density biomass into high density and energy concentrated fuel briquettes.

Briquettes have Gross Calorific Value (GCV) up to 4200Kcal/kg. About 2.2 kg of briquettes are equivalent to 1 liter of furnace oil. Briquettes made from charcoal dust are called charcoal briquettes and those which are made from crop wastes are biomass briquettes.  Other types of briquettes include wax briquettes, coal- coke briquettes, sawdust briquettes, lignin briquettes, peat briquettes and so forth.

Applications

Briquettes are widely used for any thermal application where coal can be utilized i.e. steam generation in boilers, heating purpose etc. They are used as a flammable material in brick kilns, paper mills, chemical plants, distilleries, pharmaceutical units, dyeing houses, food processing units, oil mills etc.

Applications of briquettes in various industries

Textile process houses

Dyeing, bleaching etc.

Agro-products

Tobacco curing, tea drying, oil milling etc.

Clay products

Brick kilns, tile making, pot firing etc.

Domestic

Cooking and water heating

Gasification

Fuel for gasifiers

Charcoal

Suitable for making charcoal in kilns

 

 

 

 

 

Value Chain

Briquette making process involves preparation of raw materials which includes sorting, chopping and drying. The prepared raw materials are then carbonized wherein charring is done, following which the carbonized material is subjected to grinding. Shredding might be required depending on the waste being processed. These ground materials are then coated/ mixed with a film of binders usually starch to enhance adhesion and produce uniform briquettes. In case of lignin rich biomass waste, there is no need to use binders since lignin liquefies during carbonization and acts as natural binder. 

The briquettes usually contain about 10% of binder and about 30% of water before drying down to about 5% moisture content. This mixture is then transferred into a briquettizer / molder which form uniform-sized briquettes. These are then sun-dried and packaged.

 

Business Opportunities from the Value Chain

Each step in the briquette production value chain provides business opportunities for entrepreneurs, equipment and machineries manufacturers and those in the service industry. The analysis of business opportunity is to an extent not country specific but we have provided many information in the Indian context.

Feedstock Suppliers

Briquetting plants in India are using saw dust, bamboo dust, bagasse, cotton stalk, coffee husk, groundnut shell, mustard husk/stalk, pine needles, rice husk, sugar mill waste, jute waste, coir pith and other wastes. Also, residues like castor shell, red gram stalk, tobacco stem, tea waste, sander dust, tree bark, wild grasses & shrubs and sander dust etc. can be also be briquetted individually or in combination without using any binders. As you are aware by now that diverse list of waste materials and typically any type of biomass waste can be used for briquette production, the business opportunity for supply of feedstock for briquetting plant holds great promise.

Raw materials such as rice-residues which were once takeaways are not free anymore. If the rice husks wastes are used for briquetting, the rice-mills charge up to 250 INR/ton (20 US$/t) though a more usual price is 100 - 150 INR/ ton. Food processing industries, distilleries and agro product developers can harness this potential opportunity and one can expect that the price of biomass waste feedstock will be on uphill. 

Opportunities in Manufacturing Sector

The equipments required for briquetting is determined by the characteristics of the raw materials being processed. Usually, equipments such as briquetting press; hammer mill grinder, chipper cum grinder, dryer/ flash dryer are used  Depending on the feedstock, there is also the need for auxiliary equipment units such as pulverizer, chopping units etc.

After equipment and machinery, the next hot deal in briquette making is component manufacture, especially since the briquette machineries consist of several components such as briquetting press body, load wheel, vertical screw, die holder, screw conveyor, oil cooling system, and electrical panel board. Components are also required to support the auxiliary units. For instance, the dryer unit consists of components such as cyclone, pneumatic fan, screw conveyer blower, air lock and oven. Similarly, the pulverizer contains components such as hammer mill, cyclone, pneumatic fan, air lock etc.  With increasing interest towards the use of generic components in briquetting machineries and auxiliary units, the component manufacturing segment is indeed an attractive business.

Service Opportunities

Briquetting being a relatively new area of business that is receiving increased attention, the need for consulting is of paramount importance.  Companies have come up which aids in the facilitation of the production of fuel briquettes for fuel wood and other end uses. They assist entrepreneurs in the development of briquetting projects using various types of wastes. In addition, they assist fuel briquette entrepreneurs in developing local and export markets for their briquettes.

Other Service Opportunities exist in the following areas:

  • Design, installation, operation and maintenance of a briquette machineries and auxiliary units.
  • Market research and feasibility studies for using the appropriate feedstock and research on the end user market segments.
  • Developing energy production estimates for the process and feedstock.
  • Assisting briquette entrepreneurs in developing export markets for their briquettes.
  • Logistics support for briquette manufacturers.
  • Due diligence and expert witness services
  • Financial and insurance services. 

Global Scenario and Market Segment

Year

Thou. Tons

2006

1,985

2007

2,331

2008

2,626

2009

2,868

2010

3,059

Demand for briquettes in Korea

In 2008, the sales volume of biomass briquetting densification fuel accounted to 180 million tons with the market size exceeding € 50 billion. Forecasts suggest a CAGR exceeding 25% by 2012. 

The demand for fuel briquettes is huge and increasing every year. Even in a small country like Korea, the annual demand is increasing by more than 11% each year. If such a small country has such a steadily increasing demand, the global scenario needs no explanation. In underdeveloped African countries, the demand for briquette is even higher than the global scenario. For example, in Uganda, over 93% of domestic fuel is in the form of briquettes and wood charcoal.

Biomass co-firing is receiving a serious consideration these days and this opens up a huge market demand for Briquettes. For example, if we consider North America, there are more than 600 coal-fired plants, many in the 600 MW ranges, which equates to approximately one million tons/year of coal per plant. If 5–10% of it is exchanged for biomass briquettes, it equates to millions of tons of required biomass.

Various industries such as ceramic and refractory industry, chemical industry, textile and dyeing industry, food processing industry, leather industry, brick making units, solvent extraction industries etc, are potential end users for briquettes. The finished product could be sold through vendors to households, restaurants, and hotels; this is already a sizable market and one that is expanding. 

Countries rich in forestry biomass resource have already taken up biomass briquetting densification fuel as a development priority. For instance, if we consider countries such as Sweden, 30% of the country's total energy consumption is renewable energy, 46.7% of which is biomass briquetting densification fuel.

In the EU, biomass briquettes have become an integral part domestics and ordinary merchandise in super markets. More EU countries have established the corresponding industrial standards, technical specification for biomass briquettes and industrial development has entered into a rapid development stage of mature commercialization in those countries. It is highly likely that such a scenario would come into existence in other countries of the world especially Asia Pacific and Africa. 

References 

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