Biomass briquette

Last edited: 29 September 2019

Briquette press being demonstrated at Cyprus conference in 2010

Collect any type of waste from around your home or surrounding area including paper, cardboard boxes, sawdust, scrap wood, rice husk, fruit wastes, grass, leaves, kitchen wastes, charcoal dust, or agriculture and forest residues. Shred these and soak them. Now press the pulp in an improvised press to remove the water. Finish drying the resultant briquettes for two to three days and your briquettes will be ready to burn in a range of stoves ranging from a three-stone fire to a rocket stove and a room chimney. It is energy efficient, cost-effective, manages waste, and moreover is an inexpensive alternate source of energy that can fuel simple households or even act as an income source for poor people who can make the briquettes for resale.

News[edit | edit source]

August 2015: The Mount Kenya Energy Project's German organisation Lernen-Helfen-Leben e.V. has focused on the construction of gasifier/pyrolysis stoves during the past threeyears. These stoves perform very well when pellets or Biomass briquettes made from plant waste are used. In my discussions with MKICDO board members we came to the conclusion that making briquettes for sale could be a viable income-generating project for the Kiini workshop. It would also be in line with our plans to build gasifier stoves at the new institute and train promotors to market them. Mugo found a young entrepreneur who already had some experiences in setting up such projects. We met and came up with a basic outline for a medium-scale business. The briquets will be made of sawdust and coffee husks. Sawdust is readily available from carpentry workshops. The husks are a waste product at coffee dry mills and are sold very cheaply. We went to a nearby coffee cooperative and made arrangements to be given priority once we need these raw materials.

Diagram showing the role the solar dryer plays in helping produce dried fruits, vegetables, and briquettes for fuel-efficient cookstoves.

December 2014: Joshua Guinto, a specialist with Appropriate Technologies has provided an update on recovery developments in the Philippines in the wake of typhoon Haiyan. Their focus has been providing solar dryers to dry fruits and vegetables, as wells to dry wood for bio-char and briquette production for use in fuel-efficient cookstoves. Read more at: The Approtech Training for Salcedo Eastern Samar - Joshua Guinto, November 2014

Constructions plans[edit | edit source]

Variations[edit | edit source]

Honeycomb biomass briquettes[edit | edit source]

Beehive briquettes and the briquettes mold (ICIMOD, 2009)

Briquettes make use of compacted agricultural wastes, including fallen dry leaves, for fuel. Beehive briquettes (a honeycomb beehive-shaped biomass briquette) are made using a hand mould. The air channels help the briquette burn more easily.