The briquette coconut is a source of energy derived from biomass that is utilized as a fuel source other than fossil fuels. Several sorts of briquettes can be made from dumped material. Raw materials may be found in everyday life, such as coconut, rice, charcoal, sawdust, maize cobs, leaves, and so on. Briquettes are manufactured by compressing or compacting charcoal. The goal is to enhance the calorific value of biomass per unit area. Coconut charcoal shells are used as an alternative energy source. Coconut charcoal briquettes can generate a lot of energy from a small quantity of biomass.
Most of the time, coconut shells or husks are just discarded. Yes, coconut shells may be utilized as raw materials to make high-quality charcoal briquettes. It has the potential to evolve into unique value-added goods. Starting from an experiment, coconut shell waste is converted into briquette products. However, there is still a long way to go before a clean environment is truly created.
Among the scattered garbage, coconut shell waste leaves a big problem. Its size is large enough to take up existing space. The lignin content in coconut shells makes it not easily decomposed in the soil. As a result, coconut shells mount and leave an unsightly landscape for tourist areas.
The Briquette Coconut Industry in Indonesia is Growing Rapidly
One of the residents took the initiative to process coconut shell waste into fuel for the roof tile industry. The coconut shells are dried in the open field to dry and then transported to a tile factory located around Tabanan. However, this effort is not optimal to overcome the existing piles of coconut shell waste.
The coconut shell waste is then crushed using a crusher until the fibers are quite fine. Based on the experiment, the coconut shell powder was mixed with sawdust in order to reduce the water content in the mixing machine. The composition is 1:1. To make it more sticky, the powder mixture was given a starch solution with a dose of 220 ml for 1 kilogram of powder.
The next process is printing using a printing press. The engine capacity is still relatively small, namely four semi-finished briquettes in one process. The molding process also helps reduce the water content so that the briquettes are not too wet.
Then, the coconut briquette is dried using an oven or drying in the sun. If using the oven, drying is only done for two hours at a temperature of 90 degrees C. However, they are more often dried in the sun between two to four days depending on the weather. This can reduce electricity consumption in the production process.
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