Selected properties of briquettes made from blends of bamboo and beech biomass

Abstract

This study reported the experimental analysis on wood briquettes manufactured from Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) and beech wood (Tagus sylvatica), regarded as an economically valuable fuel source. The following properties of briquettes: physical properties (density and moisture content); chemical properties (heating value, namely calorific value, and ash content); thermal properties (thermal conductivity and specific heat); and mechanical properties (breaking strength). These properties allowed the assessment of the efficiency of two species for using them in briquette manufacturing. The briquettes with higher fractions of bamboo wood showed enhanced characteristics as compared to the briquettes made of beech. This can be explained by the increase of the higher heating value of bamboo wood briquettes by 8.4% as compared to the beech wood briquettes. Similarly, bamboo briquettes had higher the breaking strength (2.1%) with respect to beech wood briquettes. The thermal conductivity of beech wood briquettes was 0.155 W/mK while it was determined as 0.177 W/mK for bamboo wood briquettes. The average densities of beech wood and bamboo wood briquettes were 780.9 kg/m(3) and 813.1 kg/m(3), respectively. The ash content difference between the bamboo wood briquettes and beech wood briquettes was minor. The advantage of using the bamboo wood in different mixture ratios with other wood species for briquettes manufacturing is that it is one of the fastest growing plants on the world as well as widespread around the world, predominantly in Asia. Based on the results of the present study, it was concluded that the bamboo wood biomass could be efficiently used in the production of lignocellulosic briquettes, regardless if individual or in combination with beech wood biomass.