Briquetting characteristics of bean straw-maize cob blend

摘要

Bean straw briquettes exhibited high quality in terms of density, impact resistance and compressive strength. The impact resistance was above 96% for a particle size up to 4 mm and pressures as low as 100 MPa at a compacting temperature of 80 degrees C. Reducing the compacting temperature required higher pressure and smaller particles to obtain similar quality briquettes. There were strong interactions between briquetting parameters with the pressure x temperature interaction significantly affecting both density, impact resistance and compressive strength. Adding bean straw significantly improved the mechanical properties of maize cob briquettes produced at low pressure and from larger particle size. From a practical and energy point of view, a temperature of 80 degrees C should be used for briquetting to reduce energy inputs (pressure and grinding) as this low temperature could be obtained directly from industrial waste heat.