Effectiveness of Different Binders on RDF Potential from Agro Waste

Abstract

The energy crisis of Pakistan has led to devise new ways for producing an alternative source of energy and provides opportunity to industrialists for making cheap energy source. Wheat straw is a seasonal agricultural waste which was utilized in this research work for making its RDF briquettes. For this purpose three different particle sizes of wheat straw (10-5mm, 5-2mm and less than 2mm) were taken along with banana peels and wheat bran as binders. Their proximate analysis and energy content was tested according to ASTM standard methods. This illustrated that wheat straw had moisture content 8-12 %wt, volatile matter 70-73%, ash content 5-7% and fixed carbon 11-12%. Among the binders banana peel had least ash content of 1.28% and fixed carbon as 0.32%, compared to wheat bran ash content i.e. 3.52% and fixed carbon be 10.56%. The energy content (tested in bomb calorimeter) of wheat straw of size less than 2mm was highest i.e. 19.91 MJ/kg among other sizes of straw because smaller the size greater will be the surface area for effective burning. So, when this size was combined with both binders separately, the results gave high variation relative to others. The wheat straw of 5-2mm particle size gave the highest peak of calorific value of 42.40 MJ/Kg mixed with wheat bran. In the last step these samples were shaped to briquettes to enhance their efficiency for usage. These briquettes will have therefore a great potential to be used for energy production sector.