Production of charcoal briquettes from charcoal dust, clay soil, cassava flour and cowdung.

Abstract

The use of wood fuel as the major source of energy for cooking and heating in most households in the country poses a very big risk on the conservation of forests for future use. Therefore the study provides environmentally friendly and clean source of cooking energy in local communities in Uganda. Three samples of briquettes were made from mixing charcoal dust, clay soil, cassava flour and cow-dung as follows. sample 1(charcoal dust and cassava flour), sample 2 ( charcoal dust, clay soil and cassava flour) sample 3(charcoal dust and cow-dung). The three samples' physical and combustion properties were tested i.e. burning rate, cleanliness, time to ignite, soot produced and odour. It was found out that all the samples were able to burn effectively and the best briquette sample was sample 1 followed by sample 2 and finally sample 3.