Jay Khodiyar

Briquetting Process
admin February 27, 2024 0 Comments

Briquetting Process Guide: Applications, Process and Waste Solution

Briquetting systems are machines that compress loose material. They include sawdust, paper, wood chips, agricultural waste, and other biomass. These machines turn the material into compact briquettes.

Installing a briquetting system can improve efficiency, sustainability, and profits for many manufacturing businesses. Here’s an in-depth look at what briquetting is and the benefits it offers. Learn how a briquetting system can transform your manufacturing process.

What is Briquetting?

Briquetting Machine

Briquetting is the process of compressing loose material into compact, solid briquettes. It also involves molding the material.

Briquettes are typically cylindrical logs or blocks. They can substitute for metals, coal, and other non-renewable fuels in manufacturing applications. They require heat and energy generation.

The briquetting process uses high pressure and temperature to compact the material. This binds it together without the need for any more binders or adhesives. The natural lignin in biomass acts like glue. As they compress under heat, they hold the briquettes together.

Briquettes are extremely dense and energy-concentrated compared to the loose bulk material. This makes them easier to handle, store, and transport. Briquettes also burn more efficiently and uniformly compared to loose biomass. This makes them ideal for use as fuel in boilers, furnaces, stoves, and other heating applications.

Briquetting System Waste to Recycle Solution

Installing a briquetting system offers manufacturers major advantages. It enhances efficiency, sustainability, safety, and cost savings. Here are some of the top benefits of briquetting:

Reduce Waste

Loose materials, such as sawdust, wood chips, and paper scraps, usually go to waste in manufacturing facilities. Briquetting transforms these wasted byproducts into usable, valuable briquettes. You can burn them for fuel or sell them. This gives you a new revenue stream while reducing waste disposal costs.

Improve Combustion Efficiency

Briquettes are compact and dense. They burn more completely than loose biomass. Improved combustion results in the conversion of more fuel into usable heat energy. Briquettes burn longer, more consistently, and with less smoke compared to loose material.

Decrease Transportation and Storage Costs

Loose biomass takes up a lot of space for the amount of actual usable material. Compressing it into briquettes significantly decreases the volume. This makes it cheaper to store and transport.

Briquettes also don’t need special handling. They also don’t need explosion-proof facilities like some loose dusty materials.

Automate Fuel Production

Briquetting systems allow you to automate what was previously a labor-intensive manual process. Automated briquetting machines can run 24/7 with minimal supervision. This improves efficiency and frees up labor for other tasks.

Improve Safety

Loose sawdust, wood chips, and dust from paper and textile manufacturing are major respiratory hazards for workers. Briquettes reduce airborne dust particles. Automated briquetting systems also reduce the need for workers to handle loose combustible material.

Reduce Energy Costs

Biomass briquettes have high density and complete combustion. This allows manufacturers to displace or reduce their use of expensive non-renewable fuels. They use them in boilers and industrial processes.

Examples include coal, oil, and natural gas. Using “free” waste material for fuel is cheaper than buying traditional fossil fuels.

Meet Sustainability Goals

Briquetting converts waste destined for landfills or incineration into usable green fuel. Substituting briquettes for coal, oil, and other fossil fuels reduces your manufacturing operation’s carbon footprint. Many companies use briquetting to meet corporate sustainability targets.

Use for Briquetting Machine In Industries

Here are some of the most common manufacturing processes. They can benefit from installing a briquetting system.

Biomass & Biofuel Production

Bio Fuel

Many industries widely use briquetting systems to process forestry and agricultural residues. These include sawdust, straw, cotton stalks, bagasse, palm kernel shells, and other biomass. The systems turn these materials into dense biofuel briquettes.

You can use these to power boilers, dryers, foundries, cookstoves, and other equipment. Briquetting converts waste biomass into renewable fuels to support bioenergy and sustainability initiatives.

Wood Processing & Furniture Manufacturing

Sawmills, timber mills, and wood product manufacturers generate tons of sawdust, chips, shavings, and bark debris. Furniture makers and other wood-based businesses also produce these waste materials.

Compacting these wood residues into briquettes creates a profitable secondary income source. It also reduces waste handling costs. You can use the briquettes as fuel for drying lumber, and space heating, or sell them commercially.

Paper, Pulp & Cardboard Production

Paper mills produce massive quantities of lignin and other fibrous residues. Briquetting this material adds value to what would otherwise end up in a landfill. The energy-dense paper briquettes can provide steam and power for paper manufacturing. Solid biofuel products are also sellable.

Agriculture & Crop Processing

Agricultural operations, such as grain mills, cotton gins, rice mills, and coffee and olive oil production. Potato processing and similar crop processing systems generate a lot of leftover plant material. Briquetting systems let these businesses recoup value from the stalks, husks, hulls, straws, and other wastes. The briquettes have numerous applications as bio-coal substitutes.

Textiles & Manufacturing

Apparel factories, carpet manufacturers, and upholstery businesses generate considerable cloth scraps, fibers, dust, and other waste. Compressing these residues into briquettes reduces waste. It also provides inexpensive fuel for boilers and textile manufacturing equipment.

Metal Processing

Metal industries use briquetting systems to compress metal waste like chips, shavings, turnings, slag, and more.

You can safely remelt the dense metal briquettes. After that, they can recycle them into usable raw materials. Briquetting also allows metal manufacturers to earn extra profit from scrap metal. Otherwise, the metal would end up landfilled.

What is the Process of Briquetting? Explained

The briquetting process compresses waste materials into compact, solid blocks, reducing volume and facilitating storage and transportation for energy use.

Pre-processing

Raw loose material often requires initial grinding, crushing, or drying to prepare it for briquetting. A chipper, shredder, hammer mill, or other equipment may feed material into the briquettes.

Compression

Briquetting presses use a piston or screw feeder. These feeders deliver the loose material into a tapered compression chamber. Hydraulic rams or motors apply intense pressure. They compress the material into a dense, compact log.

Heating

During compression, manufacturers typically apply heat using heated dies or steam injection. This melts the natural lignin in the biomass. It fuses the material when forced into the molded cavity.

Cooling

To harden them, cool the formed briquettes in ambient air or a water jacket. When they remove the briquettes from the press, it helps them keep their shape.

Finishing

Finally, the cooled briquettes may move through more finishing equipment. This includes cutters to trim them to uniform lengths or tumblers to smooth rough edges. Conveying systems then transport finished briquettes to storage and packaging.

Automation

Automated briquetting lines include coordinated material handling, processing, and packaging components. They transform the raw waste material into a bagged briquette product. They do this with minimal human intervention. The process involves automation.

Criteria For Selecting a Briquetting System

If you think a briquetting system would help your manufacturing, consider these factors when choosing the right equipment.

Throughput capacity

Match your briquette’s hourly production rate to the volume of waste your facility generates. They call this throughput capacity. Make sure to account for future expansion plans.

Briquette dimensions

Standard briquette diameters range from 50-150mm. Rectangular pillow-shaped briquettes are also common. The intended end use of your briquettes determines the optimal size.

Intended application

What is the intended application for the briquettes? Will you use them for in-house fuel or sell them commercially? This affects the ideal moisture content, density, and other properties.

Type of waste material

Sawdust and wood briquettes have different requirements than high-pressure compaction of metal chips. Ensure that you design the briquetting press for your material.

Throughput capacity

Match your briquette’s hourly production rate to the volume of waste your facility generates. This ensures your throughput capacity is sufficient. Make sure to account for future expansion plans.

Automation capabilities

Manual, semi-automatic, and fully automated briquetting systems are available. Automated units provide the most labor savings and production efficiency.

Maintenance Requirements

Choose briquetting presses with sturdy construction. They can handle prolonged use with minimal maintenance downtime.

Power consumption

More powerful briquetting machines typically have higher electricity demands. Make sure your operation can support the system’s energy needs.

Conclusion

Installing a briquetting system is a major investment that needs careful planning. However, it can yield tremendous benefits for manufacturers with enough waste material streams.

Compress low-value sawdust, paper scraps, wood chips, and metal debris into compact, energy-dense briquettes. This reduces waste disposal costs. It lowers fossil fuel consumption and creates a profitable new product line.

Briquetting systems automate fuel production. They improve combustion efficiency and decrease storage and transportation costs. This promotes sustainability and improves workplace safety by reducing dust. The upfront costs are significant.

But, a briquetting system matched to your waste materials can lead to a short payback period. A sized and designed system is key. This is due to energy savings and revenue from selling briquettes.

Your manufacturing plant may generate volumes of biomass or metal waste. Integrating a briquetting system can be a smart investment. It can transform your production processes for the better.