assessing the effects of different binders on the quality and properties of carbonised briquettes produced from water hyacinth
Abstract
Energy is one of the most essential and most demanded resources on the planet earth. Due to this fact, there has been growing interest in utilizing water hyacinth as a source of renewable energy through the manufacture carbonised water hyacinth briquettes, this project evaluates the impact of various binders on the overall quality and performance of water hyacinth briquettes. This was done by collecting the water hyacinth, cleaning, drying, size reduction, carbonization and binding of the carbonised char using several binders like the molasses, cassava starch and the mixed binder which was the mixture of the molasses and cassava starch binder. The manufactured briquettes were then dried from the sun and characterised investigating on fuel briquette properties like the moisture content, ash content, volatile matter, the fixed carbon and the calorific value. From the results, it was observed that the moisture content increased with the increase in the binder concentration with the highest being 13.70% for the 30% mixed binder briquettes and the lowest being 7.31% for the 10% mixed binder briquettes while for the different binder types, the cassava starch binder briquettes had the highest moisture content of 15.47% and the molasses binder briquettes with the lowest of 8.04%; the ash content increased with the decrease in the binder concentration with the highest being 47.8% for the 10% mixed binder briquettes and the lowest being 9.2% for the 30% mixed binder briquettes whereas for the different binder types, molasses binder had the highest of 16.46% and the lowest being 9.18% for the mixed binder; the volatile matter increased with the increase in the binder concentration with the highest being 37.99% for the 30% mixed binder briquettes and the lowest being 15.09% for the 10% mixed binder briquettes whereas for the different binder types, molasses binder had the highest of 38.38% and the lowest being 34.40% for the cassava starch binder; the fixed carbon increased with the increase in the binder concentration with the highest being 39.13% for the 30% mixed binder briquettes and the lowest being 29.81% for the 10% mixed binder briquettes whereas for the different binder types, mixed binder had the highest of 39.13% and the lowest being 36.03% for the cassava starch binder; the calorific value (CV) increased with increased briquette binder concentration which ranged from 2569.6286-1730.1313kcal/kg, with the highest being that for 30% and lowest for the 10% mixed binder briquettes whereas for the different binder types, mixed binder had the highest of 2569.6286 kcal/kg and the lowest being 1864.72 kcal/kg for the cassava starch binder; Inconclusion, the mixed binder briquette had the favourable and desired briquette characteristics compared to the others from the molasses and the cassava starch binder briquettes and the 30% binder ratio was the best composition mixture.