Yes, believe it or not, there is a publication out there called Biomass magazine.
Come to think of it, why wouldn’t there be? After all we do have a Cowboy & Indian magazine, Garden & Guns magazine, and OMFG! No. It’s not what you’re thinking. It’s the Official Meetings Facilities Guide.
Either way, an article in the November edition of Biomass magazine has boosted our IQ of biomass briquettes.
We’ve extracted below the section of greatest interest to us.
By the way, according to one of those online dictionaries, “feedstock” refers to “the raw material that is required for an industrial process.“
Research at Boise State University in Idaho, explored both the caloric content and shape to optimize burn efficiency of the biobriquettes. The energy content of briquettes ranged from 4.48 to 5.95 kilojoule per gram (kJ/g) depending on composition, whereas the energy content of sawdust, charcoal and wood pellets ranged from 7.24 to 8.25 kJ/g. Biobriquettes molded into a hollow-core cylindrical form exhibited energy output comparable to that of traditional fuels. The study demonstrates that low-energy content feedstocks can be composted, pressed and combusted to produce heat output commensurate with higher energy content fuels.
This is an interesting statement considering the highest calorific value they report for the briquette is almost 6KJ, while the lowest for sawdust, charcoal, and wood pellets is 7.25. That’s roughly a 1.25 spread. The authors suggest the spread is low enough to bundle briquettes in the same calorific range as charcoal and wood pellets.
From conversations we’ve had with members of the stover community, conventional hockey-puck briquettes with a hole in the center, currently being produced using a Bryant press, are not well suited for burning in a clean cookstove, such as a rocket stove.
One significant variant is that the briquette tested by the researchers included air vents (adapted from Kobus Venter of Vuthisa Technology in South Africa) that apparently helped greatly increase temperatures during combustion.
Calorimetric Results
Combustion Analysis
When approximately 100 g masses of wood and wood pellets were rapidly ignited, the result was an average increase in temperature of 500 mL of deionized water of between 57 and 64 degrees Celsius, respectively. The charcoal sample was the slowest to ignite, resulting in the smallest water temperature increase, a change in temperature of 17 C, although it burned for the longest duration. In comparison, it was found that briquette combustion was optimized by airflow grooves and a 150 second ignition time in an air-rich environment. These conditions mimic the combustion of multiple briquettes at one time, which is their intended use.
From our own limited understanding, this analysis suggests that the longer you hold a match to the fuel, the hotter it will get once it’s combusting properly.
So why isn’t there more research being done to design a stove that works best with fuel briquettes?
English 
French 
The briquette with a hole through the middle , burns hotter, due to a “venturi” effect. Our DEMECO briquette is 2 1/2 inches wide, and suitable for most stoves and boilers. JohnO
Why is this site called – the charcoal project – when its actually are promoteing briquettes………a bit confusing, but on the right track…………..
Could you John provide us some samples for Haiti to be tested in the TLUD ND “PekoPe”?
Dear Otto,
It’s called The Charcoal Project because we seek to find solutions to the impact of unsustainable and inefficient traditional solid biomass fuels, such as woodfuels, charcoal, and animal dung. “The Biomass Project” just didn’t have very inspiring ring to it. 😉
Rgds,
Kim
Kim,
Great article. Briquettes are tricky. Many people have tried to crack this huge problem but failed due to non-adoption. A wise and successful investor in Africa once told me that it’s incredibly difficult to change how people ‘cook, have sex and raise children.’ I think whatever the solution is to the charcoal problem, it has to integrate seamlessly with current cooking methods and must be economically favorable to users.
best,
Jason Aramburu
founder
re:char
http://www.re-char.com
Absolutely, Jason. We agree with you whole-heartedly. Briquettes should be cheap, easy to use, and easily available in urban areas. That’s the entrepreneurial nut that needs to be cracked!
I don’t know why the briquette project in Haiti was failed. There may be several weaknesses in promoting briquettes. If I am given a chance, I love to involve in briquette program in Haiti. Anyway, I am very much encouraged to see a piece of compact briquette in Clinton’s hand.
We are in this process since 2003 in Nepal. I introduced compact briquettes in Cambodia, Afghanistan, and India.
For more information, please contact me PCIA Forum in Lima.
sir I m doing research on biomass briquettes. My research title is “preparation of biomass briquettes and testing its efficacy”. please help me in review writing. suggest me some sites where i will get articles for guidance.
Thanks
Dear Harshita,
I suggest you look at Legacy Foundation online (Legacyfound.org) and contact Aprovecho.org for additional information.
Rgds,
TCP
I am a briquette producer in the US. I have shipped close to 30 tons of briquettes in large a small/puck configurations to Haiti.
I flew in to see how the “tests” were going. I was not encouraged as it is difficult to use just a part a couple pucks to try and cook with in family setting. Commercially in the laundries and bakeries they would work fine.
To date it is very difficult to try and motivate from traditional methods.
AND there is the issue of moisture and storage. We are changing production to pellets for export so maybe my next endeavor will be the implementation of the more efficient stove.
Les
Hi! I’m Karj from Philippines. We were doing a project feasibility study as a partial requirement in our course Management Consultancy. And our product is about paper charcoal. Hope you can help us.
I want to ask the machine you use in making the briquette charcoal with a hole in the center. I just read that it burns more hotter when it has a hole in the center.
Hi, Karj. Thanks for your query. Yes, it appears that in combustion tests, briquettes with holes in them do burn hotter because they allow the oxygen to flow and expose more surface area of the briquette to combustion. There are manual and semi-industrial machines that make these. The Chinese manufacture a briquette with several holes in them but I believe their machinery is quite more expensive than the simple hydraulic presses that are most common. I recommend you do a google search for Petterson or Mini-Bryant presses. You can also find documentation at the Legacy Foundation website: legacyfound.org
Keep us posted on how your project develops!
Best regards,
Kim
Thanks for your reply. It was really a big help for our study 🙂
Is it okay if we mix the waste paper and rice hull and straw in making the charcoal?
Karj,
To be honest, we don’t develop ourselves the formula for carbonizing biomass as every situation is different due to the variety of ingredients. However, you can ask the question on a google group on briquettes (google it). You can also contact Isaac Owor, our expert adviser in Uganda, at envirocoalug at hotmail dot com
Please keep us posted on the outcome!
Rgds,
Kim
Okay. I’ll try to google it. Thanks for your response 🙂
Hi everyone,
my query is more from industrial point of view…
You may have heard of Tyre Pyrolysis plants where in they recycle waste tyres in to Oil, Steel and Carbon Black.
Oil and steel got their own uses but carbon black is full of impurities have less no. of takers.
I have read on internet if carbon black powder is processed in briqutte form it yeild upto 6200KJ… which is equivalent to A grade coal…
I want to reconfirm it with your expert panel and if you can help me get more information on same I would be grateful.
Regards
Ravi Rathi
India
I am looking for supplier of paper charcoal or paper charcoal briquette.
Can you email to me the names, postal addresses and the email addresses of those suppliers and/or
manufacturers. My email address is: j.umipig@yahoo.com
I would appreciate your immediate reply.
Regards
Juan
I am looking for supplier of paper charcoal or paper charcoal briquette.
Can you email to me the names, postal addresses and the email addresses of those suppliers and/or
manufacturers. My email address: j.umipig@yahoo.com
I would appreciate your immediate reply.
Regards
Juan
Dear Juan,
Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, we don’t keep track of paper charcoal briquettes manufacturers.
Regards,
Kim
Hi everyone,
I am from the philippines and would appreciate if you can help me find answers why saw dust briquettes wont burn properly. This is why perhaps it failed in some areas in using biomass briquettes fuel for cooking. I made many experiments on briquette making but charcoal still is best for fuel in cooking than briquettes. Here in the phils. LPG is becoming very costly and so with charcoals. biomass briquettes might be the answer but we dont get a good fire of it. Many websites teaches the methods on making briquettes but dont give us the formula in making it having a good fire or what burning accelerants do they use?
thanks >Dale
Dear Dale,
Apologies for the delayed response. While we are not experts on biomass briquettes, we are currently experimenting on various projects and such can provide some feedback. The uncarbonized biomass tends to absorb moisture in tropical regions and thus makes it sometimes difficult to light. When lit, the briquettes sometimes emit a lot of smoke. The current trend we’ve seen is combining the sawdust with other biomass, like waste paper, and charcoal fines. Of course, this will also depend on the density of the briquette. Some high-density units can probably burn better but they have to be combined with some accelerant, maybe a resin of some sort. Unfortunately, we are in the process of trying out technologies ourselves, so we don’t have a good answer yet. Nevertheless, it is our intention to very soon establish a web-based forum that will focus on charcoal and briquette-making around the world so that people can have a public place to share questions. I’m sorry I can’t be of greater help right now but please keep checking back with us over the coming weeks.
Also, can you tell us a bit about your project? We are always interested in learning more about different briquette projects around the world, especially in the South Pacific. You can write to my email: jkimchaix at charcoalproject dot org. Thanks!
Rgds,
Kim
Hello Kim,
I’m glad to get a respond from you, thanks. My first time to listen about uncarbonized biomass tends to absorb moisture in tropical countries. Well, it does makes sense.
Here in my country there are lots of throw away biodegradable trash that could be convertible to fuel and briquettes is one of the solutions. However, we cannot get the right formula to get it burn better than charcoal or fire woods.
Our group continuously find ways in converting waste to fuel. We can see in you tube the holey rocket stove that burns good briquettes and we could not just get ourselves a good fire on briquettes. We are looking forward to the web-base forum you are creating and perhaps some good guys can share us the knowledge in the venture we are seeking.
Thank you very much and may the “Force be with you!”
Have a nice day > Dale
Hi I am very interested in using this kind of heating for my home situated in Malta. Before I was using gas operated fireplaces but apart from the smell it does which I really can’t stand I also do not like the idea of having the gas cylinder behind my house door. Would someone please please so kind as to let me know whether a normal stove is good to used the biomass briqettes? I am unable to have a chimney in my house and a friend suggested paper biomass briquettes. Is this the case where I am able to have a fireplace whithout chimney? Appreciate your replies…brgds Sue
Hi everyone I’m Zoilo from Philippines..I’m doing a thesis research project study as a partial requirement in our graduation. And my product is about paper briquettes, but my problem is i don’t know how to start, i mean is i don’t know what will i put the problem it says that why we produce these product?
Dear Zoilo,
Briquettes help people meet their need for energy for cooking and heating. In some urban areas around the world, the cost of charcoal and wood is high so finding alternative solid biomass fuels can help populations meet a great need. I suggest you look at the case of Port-au-Prince in Haiti where briquettes are being produced made from paper and other solid biomass fuels. Good luck!
Hi
am a briquette manufacturer from India. The project of saw dust briquette was success when we started almost 8 years ago, now we are facing a competition in the raw materials and its getting difficult to run business.
Does anybody suggest me a new material which has high calorific value to be added in briquettes,
Or new destination to sell my products.
currently we use saw dust, coffeehusk,rice husk.
I am in a process to produce biomass charcoal – I use different types of biomass from straw to olive waste to saw dast (I know how to make the carbonisation and the briquet)
At the moment I need help to find the appropriate proportion of mixied material to make a strong charcoal that has long burning time and aroma
your help is appreciated
Dear Offer,
Thank you for your comment. Where are you located? The right proportion will depend on a variety of issues, including the type of briquette you want to produce (high-density, pillow-shaped/roller-pressed, or agglomerated (ball-type). It also depends on the type of binder you plan to use. You might also consider the stove that will be used for combustion/cooking. The good news is that over the coming weeks we plan to launch publicly a new initiative called the Harvest Fuel Initiative. (harvestfuel.org). The aim will be to provide (free of charge) the technical and business assistance necessary to entrepreneurs like yourself who are interested in developing or scaling up their briquetting and clean cookstove operations. Over the coming months we plan to launch a feature “ask the technical specialist” where people, like yourself, can ask specific technical questions. The aim is to create a global community of small and medium-scale entrepreneurs interested in advancing the growth of this budding industry. Keep us posted on your progress, nonetheless! Best regards, Kim
my e mail address is offer_baruch2004@yahoo.com
Goodday,I am currently doing a research project on biomass briquttes.there are lots I don’t understand.pls is there a web site I can go to see a detailed information on biomass briquettes
Hello, Ijeoma. Thank you for writing. In a few days we will be launching a new website dedicated to biomass briquetting. There you will be able to ask all the questions you want. If you subscribe to our updates here on the website you will see the announcement of the new website when it’s ready. Thanks for your interest! The Charcoal Project
We are producing briquettes made of saw dust and we are getting a calorific value of 3200 and ash content is approximately 18%..what should i do to improve the quality and maximise the calorific value..
hello,
Just today people in my area were clearing the weed infested areas in the city and burning it at no use. I see the potential for making charcoal from such biomass.
I wish you are accessible in our country so that I could seek help from you on how to aggresively work and convert this resource into something useful for the ordinary people.
Dear Tesfay Belay,
I hope that we will be able to soon begin running small project in Ethiopia!
Our partner website, harvestfuel.org, provides resources and other information to entrepreneurs interested in starting their own businesses. Maybe you too can become a renewable energy entrepreneur!
— The Charcoal Project
what is the maximum pressure needed in paper briquettes to increase heating value? thanks.
Dear Cesar,
Please send your query to info at harvestfuel dot org