An Experimental Investigation on the Handling and Storage Properties of Biomass Fuel Briquettes Made from Oil Palm Mill Residues

As a major crude palm oil exporter Malaysia contributed 51% of the world’s palm oil production in 2010, large amounts of waste material was generated from the palm oil extracting process from which 4.46 million tonnes were palm kernel shell, 7.73 million tonnes were mesocarp fibre and 21.34 million tonnes were empty fruit bunches. One of the major technical challenges in utilizing biomass waste material as a solid fuel is the handling and storage issues of loose and wet waste material. A solution to improving the handling and storage properties of loosely-bound oil palm mill residues is proposed in this work via a densification process known as fuel briquetting. Raw palm oil waste material was pulverized and compacted with a 159 MPa pressing pressure to form 40 mm diameter fuel briquettes. The Fuel briquettes made from the different types and combinations of palm oil mill residues were explored for optimum storage and handling features. It was found that a fuel briquette with a 60:40 palm kernel shell to mesocarp fiber ratio using waste paper as its binding agent gave the best mechanical properties without sacrificing the combustion properties of the solid fuel.