Potential for Developing Biocarbon Briquettes for Foundry Industry

Abstract

The foundry industry is currently facing challenges to reduce the environmental impacts from application of fossil fuels. Replacing foundry coke with alternative renewable carbon sources can lead to significant decrease in fossil fuel consumption and fossil CO2 emission. The low bulk density, low energy density, low mechanical strength and the high reactivity of biocarbon materials are the main factors limiting their efficient implementation in a cupola furnace. The current study aimed at designing, optimizing and developing briquettes containing biocarbon, namely, biocarbon briquettes for an efficient use in cupola furnace. Laboratory hydraulic press with compaction pressure of about 160 MPa and stainless-steel moulds (Ø = 40 mm and 70 mm) were used for compaction. The density, heating value, energy density, mechanical strength and reactivity of biocarbon briquettes were measured and evaluated. The compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of biocarbon briquettes were measured by a compression device. The reactivity of biocarbon briquettes was measured under controlled conditions of temperature and gas atmosphere using the thermogravimetric analysis technique (TGA). Different types of binders were tested for the compaction of commercial charcoal fines with/without contribution of coke breeze. The effect of charcoal ratio, particle size, binder type, binder ratio, moisture content and compaction pressure on the quality of the biocarbon briquettes was investigated. Molasses with hydrated lime and cement were superior in enhancing the biocarbon briquettes strength and energy density among other tested binders and additives. The briquettes’ strength decreased as the biocarbon content increased. The optimum recipes consisted of 62% charcoal fines, 20% molasses, 10% hydrated lime and 8% cement. Cement is necessary to develop the tensile strength and hot mechanical strength of the briquettes. The charcoal with high ash content showed higher strength of briquettes but lower heating value compared to that with low ash content. Dispersion of silica suspension on charcoal particles during the mixing process was able to reduce the reactivity of biochar in the developed biocarbon briquettes. The biocarbon briquettes density and strength were increased by increasing the compaction pressure. Commercial powder hydrated lime was more effective in enhancing the briquettes’ strength compared to slaked burnt lime. Upscaling of biocarbon briquettes (Ø = 70 mm) and testing of hot mechanical strength under load indicated development of cracks which significantly reduced the strength of briquettes. Further development of biocarbon briquettes is needed to fulfil the requirements of a cupola furnace.

Special Issue on New Carbon Materials from Biomass and Their Applications

“…The use of biomass waste as a potential environmentally friendly energy source is also a relevant research field. In this sense, Mousa et al [13] studied the use of biocarbon briquettes for foundry industry. The foundry industry, like many others, is currently facing challenges to reduce the environmental impacts from application of fossil fuels.…”

Techno Economic Study of Liquid Smoke From Cashew Nut Shell Waste

“…Several researchers have previously made efforts to utilize cashew nut shells for biobriquettes (Mousa et al, 2019;Ifa et al, 2020), vernis (Ifa, Sabara, et al, 2018), pesticide(La Tima, Yopi and Ifa, 2016). Cashew nut shell waste is biomass such as coconut shell that can be converted into bio charcoal and bio oil which can be condensed into liquid smoke, tar and noncondensed gas using the pyrolysis method.…”

Techno-economic analysis of bio-briquette from cashew nut shell waste

“…The change in fuel usage from liquid petroleum gas (LPG) to bio-energy, such as biomass, can reduce household costs. Some sources of biomass converted into bio-briquettes could be sawdust ( Akowuah et al., 2012 ), bagasse ( Onchieku et al., 2012 ), agricultural products ( Stolarski et al., 2013 ), cotton dust ( Suvunnapob et al., 2015 ), wood, waste paper ( Tamilvanan, 2013 ), coconut shell, palm shell biochar, empty palm fruit bunches, banana peels, rice husks, peanut shells, jatropha, durian peels, cocoa shells, corn cobs ( Faizal, 2017 ), textile industry solid waste ( Avelar et al., 2016 ), peat ( Hakizimana and Kim, 2016 ), banana leaves ( Maia et al., 2014 ), agro waste ( Sharma et al., 2015 ), bagasse and corn starch waste ( Zanella et al., 2016 ), palm kernel shell ( Abdillahi et al., 2017 ), wood ( Borowski, St¸pniewski, & Wójcik-Oliveira, 2017 ), cashew shell ( Sawadogo et al., 2018 ), cotton stalk ( Wu et al., 2018 ), blend of areca nut husk, simarouba seed shell ( Ujjinappa and Sreepathi, 2018 ), cashew nut waste ( Ifa et al., 2019 ) and carbon ( Mousa et al., 2019 ).…”

“…Therefore, bio-briquettes generally have better energy parameters, higher density, and calorific value and lower water content than other raw materials ( Stolarski et al., 2013 ). Similarly, the bio-briquettes from cashew nutshells are cheaper, act as cleaner energy for domestic cooking ( Lubwama and Yiga, 2017 ), and are also applied to the casting industry ( Mousa et al., 2019 ).…”