PREPARATION AND CHARACTERISATION OF RICE AND WHEAT HUSKS COMPOSITE BRIQUETTE USE AS ALTERNATIVE FUEL FOR DOMESTIC COOKING

Abstract

In this work a composite briquette formed from agricultural waste (rice and wheat husks) with the manual hydraulic press which was fabricated for this kind of purpose. The briquettes was prepared and characterised as an effort for alternative fuel to the rural and urban households in Nigeria. The samples of rice and wheat husks were grinded and sieved with a sieve mesh. Thereafter the samples were properly mixed with a binder made from gum Arabic and obtained seven different ratios of rice and wheat husks RH:WH ( 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, 50:50, 0:100). The ash content, moisture content, bulk density, volatile matter, fixed carbon and calorific values were determined. The experimental results show that the ash content ranged from 8.60 % to 12.01 %, moisture content ranged from 28.01 % to 42.97 %, bulk density ranged from 0.30 g/cm3 to 0.33 g/cm3, respectively after briquetting, FTIR spectra of the composite briquettes revealed the participation and presence of –NH2, -NH, -CO, -COO, -OH, -CH3, SO2. The results obtained for the calculated calorific values of the composite briquette revealed that the calculated values are 17.54 MJ/kg and 17.05 MJ/kg which is in accordance with American Standard of Testing Materials (ASTM) and also in accordance with the reported values in the acceptable range of 17 MJ/kg to 21 MJ/kg. It was discovered that the briquette at 60:40 and 90:10 of rice and wheat husks have the highest calorific values and implies that they have more heating advantage and are therefore recommended as an alternative fuel to content with the conventional fuel (charcoal and firewood).