Manufacture of briquettes from spent bleaching earth after crude palm oil refining at BIDCO Uganda Limited as an alternative to charcoal

Abstract

This project mainly aimed to transform spent bleaching earth (SBE) a by-product after crude palm oil refining into fuel briquettes as an alternative to wood charcoal using molasses from Kakira sugar factory in Jinja district as the main binder. Briquettes were manufactured by a molding process to form cylindrical briquettes from spent bleaching earth (SBE) as the main raw material obtained from BIDCO Uganda Limited (BUL). This was done to convert the waste SBE after crude palm oil refining into usable energy other than disposal in landfills. The properties of the formed briquettes were measured. Sample 1 gave the briquette with the highest calorific value of 35 MJ/kg. Sample 2 had the highest ash content of 30.17%. Sample 1 had the highest volatile matter content of 23.7%. Sample 2 had the highest fixed carbon content of 51.03%. Sample 2 gave briquettes with the highest bulk density of 1.33g/cm3. In conclusion, sample 1 had the optimal SBE to binder ratio (72.8: 19.4) for the quality briquette.