Effect of Particle Size on Quality of Briquettes Produced from Sawdust of Daniella oliveiri and Gmelina arborea in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria

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1 Asian Research Journal of Agriculture 3(4): 1-7, 2017; Article no.arja ISSN: X SCIENCEDOMAIN international Effect of Particle Size on Quality of Briquettes Produced from Sawdust of Daniella oliveiri and Gmelina arborea in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria Emmanuel Terzungwue Tembe 1, Evander Azeh 1 and David Oriabure Ekhuemelo 1* 1 Department of Forest Production and Products, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. Authors contributions This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Author ETT designed and interpreted the manuscript. Author EA analyzed and prepared the manuscript. Author DOE managed the literature search. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Article Information DOI: /ARJA/2017/32079 Editor(s): (1) Martha Isabel Torres-Moran, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico. Reviewers: (1) Engr Dr O. A. Oyelaran, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria. (2) Klaus doelle, State University of New York, USA. Complete Peer review History: Original Research Article Received 6 th February 2017 Accepted 27 th February 2017 Published 10 th March 2017 ABSTRACT The effect of particle size on the quality of briquettes produced from sawdust of Daniella oliveiri and Gmelina arborea was determined using some properties such as Compressed and Density, Shattered Index and Combustion properties of the briquettes produced. The sawdust samples were collected from Timber Market in Northbank Makurdi Benue State Nigeria, sundried for 7 days and sieved into three different sizes; 1.70 mm, 2.36 mm and 3.35 mm. Starch binder was used in producing the briquettes in the proportion of 25% to 100 g of sawdust sample. The briquettes were produced in the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory of the University of Agriculture Makurdi. The experimental design was based on a 2 x 3 Factorial in Completely Randomised Design (CRD). Data was collected to determine Compressed Density at 0 minutes and relaxed Density at 30 minutes, 1 hour, 24 hours and 7 days: Shattered index and Combustion properties of the briquettes produced. The result showed a gradual reduction in compressed and relaxed density of briquettes as drying time increased from 0 minutes to 7 days. There was also an observed *Corresponding author: davidekhuemelo@gmail.com;

2 decrease in density as particle size of briquettes increased from 1.70 mm to 3.35 mm. The species densities did not show any significant differences, though Gmelina arborea recorded a higher relaxed density of 0.32 in 7 days. The effect of species and particle size were not significant on Shattered index, where as Gmelina arborea had a shattered resistance of 99.9%.There was no significant difference in the heating values of the briquettes produced from three particle sizes, but Gmelina arbore are corded a higher Specific heat of Kcal/kg compared with Daniella oliveiri with Kcal/kg. The assessment showed that particle size had no significant effect on the quality of briquettes produced from the two species. Therefore sawdust particles of Daniella olivieri and Gmelina arborea are suitable sources of material for briquettes production in Nigeria. Keywords: Briquette; Daniella oliveiri; Gmelina arborea; particle size; quality; sawdust. 1. INTRODUCTION Briquette production has become a reliable alternative source of energy due to its utilization as conventional fuels like fuelwood, cooking gas and kerosene [1]. Sawdust biomass is one the most promising material for briquette production due to its availability and abundance. Sawdust of Daniella olivieri and Gmelina arborea have been used to produce briquettes but the impact of particle size on briquette quality has not been properly assessed. Research on heat efficient briquette production is needed to produce briquettes that will be favoured by households for domestic uses [2]. [3] reported that fraction largeness has a very high impact on briquetting process, the bigger the fractions, the more compression is needed for briquetting. An increase in fraction size results in the decrease of binding force, which lead to faster decay in burning. The finer the particle size, the easier is the compaction process and the higher the briquette quality. This paper assesses the effect of particle size on the briquette quality of sawdust of Daniella oliveiri and Gmelina arboreawith a view to determining the most suitable sample fractions for briquette production from the chosen wood species. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1 Study Area The study was conducted in University of Agriculture Makurdi, in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State Nigeria. Makurdi town is located between Longitude 6º 35 1 East and 10 1 East and Latitude 6º 30 1 Northand 8º 10 1 North. 2.2 Sample Collection The briquetting process was done in Mechanical Engineering Laboratory of the University of Agriculture Makurdi Benue State. Sawdust of Daniela oliveri and Gmelina arborea were collected from Timber Sawmills in Makurdi and used for the study and Cassava starch was used as binding agent Briquetting production process The sawdust samples of Daniela oliveri and Gmelina arborea were first sieved into 3 different particle sizes of 1.70 mm, 2.36 mm and 3.35 mm and sundried for 7 days to ensure that all moisture have been removed. The dried samples were then used for preparation of briquetting material. Cassava starch was prepared by mixing 25g starch in 100 ml of water. The 25% starch solution was mixed with 100 g of each sawdust fraction for briquetting. A briquetting die (mould) made of cylindrical steel die 7 mm high and 4.2mm in diameter was used for producing puck shaped briquettes. The steel cylindrical die was hand-filled with 100g weight of sample-binder mixture, and compressed manually using hydraulic compressive press at a pressure of kn/m 2. The compressed briquettes were kept under pressure for a dwell time of 60 seconds. The experimental design was a 2 x 3 factorial in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) and differences between means were determined using Least Significant Different (LSD).The data was collected to determine: Density (compressed and relaxed density), Shattered index and Combustion properties: Percentage Ash content (%Ash), Percentage Moisture content (%Mc), Percentage Fixed carbon (%Fc), Percentage Volatile matter (%Vm) & Specific Heat of Combustion (kcal). 2.3 Determination of Briquette Density Density is defined as mass per unit volume of a sample ( ). The mass per unit volume ( ) of briquettes was determined at 0 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 24 hours and 7 2

3 days to assess the compressed density (0 minutes) and relaxed densities at various levels of drying. The density of the briquettes was calculated using the formula: = / (1) D = Density M = Mass V = Volume 2.4 Determination Shattered Index of Briquettes Shattered index of a briquettes was assessed as an index of briquette durability which determines the resistance to shear and impact forces a briquette could withstand during handling, storage and transportation processes [2]. The durability of 4 sampled briquettes was determined after sun drying for 7 days to a constant weight in accordance with the shattered index described by [4]. The briquettes were dropped repeatedly from the height of 1.5m onto a solid base. The fraction of the briquettes that remained unshattered was used as an index of briquette durability. A total of 24 briquettes representing 4 briquettes per treatment were used for durability test. The weight loss and shatter resistance of the briquettes gave an indication of the ability of the briquettes to withstand mechanical handling. The percentage weight loss and shatter resistance were calculated with the formula developed by [5], as below: % = 1 2/ (2) Sr = % (3) = Weight loss w 1 = Weight of briquette before shattering w 2 = Weight of briquette after shattering Sr = Shatter resistance 2.5 Determination of Combustion Properties of Sawdust Briquettes The proximate analysis of briquette samples was done based on ASTM Standard [6] E (2004) for determination of combustion properties which include percentage Moisture content, Volatile matter, Fixed carbon, Ash content and Specific Heat of Combustion. 2.6 Percentage Moisture Content (%Mc) This was determined by measuring 2 g (W 1 ) of pulverized briquettes into a crucible. The content was dried in an oven at 103ºC for 2 hours to obtain oven dry weight (W 2 ) as was done by [4,2]. The dried sample were kept in a Desiccator to prevent moisture gain from the atmosphere before weighing. Moisture Content was then calculated based on the formula as used previously by [7] as below % =( 1 2)/ (4) Mc = Moisture content w 1 = Initial weight w 2 = Dry weight 2.7 Volatile Matter (%Vm) Percentage Volatile matter was determined by keeping the substance in crucible with dry weight (W 2 ) in the furnace for 4minutes at 400ºC to obtain charred weight, this method was used by [8]. The percentage Volatile Matter (%VM) was calculated thus: % = 2 3)/ (5) Vm = Volatile Matter w2 = Dry weight w3 = weight of sample 2.8 Ash Content (%Ash) Charred weight (W 3 ) was placed in the furnace for 3hours at 600ºC to obtain ash weight (W 4 ). Percentage Ash Content (%Ash content) was calculated as used previously by [9] as below: % Ash = w4/ w2 100 (6) w4 = Ash weight w2 = Dry weight 3

4 2.9 Fixed Carbon (% Fc) This was calculated by subtracting the sum of % Volatile matter and Ash content from 100 as done by [10]: % =100% (% + % h) (7) Fc = Fixed carbon Vm = Volatile Matte 2.10 Specific Heat of Combustion (Hc) Specific heat of combustion was calculated using the formula by [9] = 0.35[(147.6 )+ (144 )+(% h) (8) Hc = Specific heat of combustion Fc = Fixed carbon Vm = Volatile Matte 3. RESULTS 3.1 Effect of Species on Density of Briquettes The result of analysis of variance (ANOVA) contained in Table 1 shows no significant difference on compressed density at (0 min) and relaxed density at 30min, 1hour, 24 hour and 7days. However the density of Gmelina arborea briquettes was higher than that of Daniella olivieri, Gmelina arborea briquettes had the highest density of 0.48 for 30 minutes and lowest of 0.32 for 7days, there was a general trend in reduction of density of briquettes as drying time increased (Table 1). 3.2 Effect of Particle Size on Density of Briquettes The result of analysis of variance (ANOVA) show that effect of particle size on density of briquettes was not significant (Table 2), however the smaller the particle sizes, the higher the density of briquettes produced. Density of briquettes with particle size of 1.70 mm recorded the highest value of 0.32 in 7 days. 3.3 Effect of Species on Shattered Index of Briquettes The result of analysis of variance (ANOVA) on the effect of species was not significant on shattered index of briquettes as shown in (Table 4). However Gmelina arborea briquettes had the lowest percentage (%) weight loss of 0.10% while the shattered resistance of briquettes was not significant. 3.4 Effect of Particle Size on Shattered Index of Briquettes The result of analysis of variance (ANOVA) on the effect of particle size shown on (Table 5) reported no significant differences on shattered index of the briquettes produced. The percentage (%) weight loss of particle sizes of 2.36 mm and 3.35 mm had the lowest values. Effect of Species and Particle size of briquette samples was not significant on %MC, %VM, %FC, %AC and Specific Heat of Combustion as shown in Tables 5 and DISCUSSION The density of briquettes produced from Daniella olivieri and Gmelina arborea species reduced progressively from 0 minutes to 7 days of drying time indicating a gradual moisture loss in the starch binder used in briquettes due to drying, a similar result was reported by [11]. The relaxed densities of the Daniella olivieri and Gmelina arborea briquettes were 0.31 and 0.32 respectively indicating that both species could serve as good briquette materials, as reported by [12]. However the densities values were less than 0.87 for Bambara + rice briquettes as reported by [11] but higher than 0.15 obtained by [13] in his work on maize cob. The particle sizes of the briquettes were not large enough to cause any variation density of the briquettes. Shatterred index of briquettes was not significant based on variation in species, it ranged from 99.85% to 99.90% for Daniella olivieri and Gmelina arborea briquettes respectively. This indicates high durability of the briquettes when exposed to hard surfaces or rough handling as reported by [14]. The effect of particle size on Shattered index was also not significant enough to cause any change in briquette durability. 4

5 Table 1. Effect of species on density of briquettes Species Compressed density (0 min) density (30 min) density (1 hr) density (24 hr) density (7 days) Daniella oliveiri Gmelina arborea LSD Particle size (mm) Compressed density (0 min) Table 2. Effect of particle size on density of briquettes density (30 min) density (1 hr) density (24 hr) density (7 day) 1.70 mm mm mm LSD Table 3. Effect of species on shattered index of briquettes Species % Weight loss % Shattered resistance Daniella oliveiri Gmelina arborea LSD Table 4. Effect of particle size on shattered index of briquettes Particle size (mm) % Weight loss Shattered resistance 1.70 mm mm mm LSD Table 5. Effect of species on combustion properties of briquettes Species %MC %VM %FC %AC SH Kcal/kg Daniella oliveiri Gmelina arborea LSD Table 6. Effect of particle size on combustion properties of briquettes Particle size (mm) %MC %VM %FC %AC SHKcal/kg 1.70 mm mm ,35 mm LSD

6 The heating values of Daniella olivieri and Gmelina arborea briquettes were not significant, the values ranged from Kcal/kg to Kcal/kg respectively. The heating values were higher than those of briquettes produced from Bambara groundnut shells and its combinations which recorded the highest heating value of 4859 Kcal/kg as reported by [2]. However the heating value was lower than that of briquettes made from Anogeissus leocarpa with 5210 Kcal/kg as reported by [8]. The variation in the heating values of the briquettes due to differences in species may be related to the density of the individual species which increased the amount of latewood composition and consequently the heating values. Similar effects were recorded by [2] in his work on Bambara briquettes. The size of the particles was too small to cause any significant variation in heating values of the different species. 5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDA- TION The range sizes of sawdust particles of Daniella oliveiri and Gmelina arborea were too small to cause variation in density, shattered index and combustion properties of briquettes produced at twenty five percent (25%) starch binder proportion. This implies that these materials donot require further sieving before processing for briquette production. The particle sizes of these materials therefore did not add value to the quality of briquettes produced. COMPETING INTERESTS Authors have declared that no competing interests exist. REFERENCES 1. Lucas BE, Fuwape JA. Burning and related characteristics of 42 Nigerian fuel wood species. Nigeria Journal of Forestry. 1984;14: Tembe ET. Heating value of briquettes produced from Bambara groundnut shells: A Ph.D Thesis presented to the Department of Forest Production and Products, Federal University of Agriculture. 2015; Maninder IC. Rupinderjit SK, Sonia G. Using agricultural residue as a an alternative source of energy for biomass briquetting. Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. 2012;1(15): Suparin C, Suwit S, Prantana K. Development of Fuel briquettes from biomass-lignite blends. Chiangi Journal of Science. 2006;35(1): Sengar SH, Mohol AG, Khandetod YP, Patil SS, Chendake AD. Performance of briquettes machines for briquette fuels. International Journal of Energy Engineering. 2012;2(1): Davies RM, Abolude DS. Ignition and burning rate of water hyacinth briquettes. Journal of Scientific Research & Report. 2013; 2(1): ASTM Standard E Standard Test Method for Gross Calorific Value of Refuse- Derived fuel by the Bomb Calorimeter. Annual Book of ASTM Standards, ASTM International. 2004; Davies RM, Abolude DS. Ignition and Burning Rate of Water Hyacinth Briquettes. Journal of Scientific Research and Reports. 2013;2(1): Egbewole ZT, Sotannde OA, Aina KS. Combustion efficiency of briquettes produced from wood sawdust: An alternative for energy generation. Proceeding of the 2 nd Biennial National Conference of the Forests and Forest Product Society. 2009;1(11): Carre J, Lacrose Land Herbert J. Critical analysis of the dry process improvement of lignocellulosic for energy producing purpose. A final submitted to the commission of the European community s general directorate of development and Ministries, Belgede L. Agriculture Center de Researches Agronomiques de IE tat de Gemloux (CRN) France; Obi OF, Akubuo CO, Okonkwo WI. Development of an appropriate briquetting machine for use in rural communities. International Journal of Engineeringand Advanced Techonology. 2013;2(4): Bailey, Blankenhorn. Calorific and porosity development in carbonized. Wood Science Journal. 1982;15(1): Tembe ET, Otache PO, Ekhuemelo DO. Density, Shatter index, and Combustion properties of briquettes produced from groundnut shells, rice husks and saw dust 6

7 of Daniellia oliveri. Journal of Applied Biosciences. 2014;82: Adetogun AC. Ogunjobi KM and Are DB. Combustion properties of briquettes produced from maize Cobof different particle sizes. Journal of Research in Forestry, Wildlife and Environment. 2013; 6(1): Sotannde OA, Abah GB. Physical and combustion properties of briquettes from sawdust of Azadirachta indica. Journal of Forestry Research. 2010;21(1): Tembe et al.; This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Peer-review history: The peer review history for this paper can be accessed here: 7