Vol. 6, Issue 5 (2018)
Development of briquettes from cotton stalks with the high-pressure briquetting machine
Author(s): P Lavanya, D Bhaskara Rao, L Edukondalu and D Sandeep Raja
Abstract: Agricultural residues are principal energy sources for domestic and industrial activities. This study aims at converting cotton stalks which is a commercial crop of the farmers in Andhra Pradesh, into briquettes so that energy crisis faced in rural area can be addressed. In this research, cotton stalks were produced from high pressure briquetting machine (118 MPa). The different physical, strength and thermal characteristics namely moisture content, compressed density, relaxed density, relaxation ratio, water absorption, shatter resistance, ash content and calorific value was evaluated by standard ASTM procedures. The obtained value of bulk density of milled cotton stalks before briquetting was 187.66 kg m-3. The results showed that the moisture content and ash content of briquette was 4.44% and 3.89% respectively. The compressed density and relaxed density of cotton stalk briquettes was 900.63 and 886.61 kg m-3. The shatter resistance, water absorption of maize cob briquettes was 93.66 and 32.96% respectively. It was noted that the change in dimensional stability of briquette in longitudinal direction after 3 days, 5 days, 7 days and 20 days were -2.76 %, -4.07%, -3.29% and -0.87 % respectively. It was also noted that the change in dimensional stability of briquette in diametric direction after 3 days, 5 days, 7 days and 20 days were 0%, 5%, 0% and 2.38 % respectively. The calorific value of briquettes is 3197.47 kcal kg-1. These results showed that cotton stalk briquettes have good potential in fuel quality in terms of strength and heating value.
Pages: 2311-2315 | 550 Views 144 Downloads
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How to cite this article:
P Lavanya, D Bhaskara Rao, L Edukondalu, D Sandeep Raja. Development of briquettes from cotton stalks with the high-pressure briquetting machine. Int J Chem Stud 2018;6(5):2311-2315.
