Peanut Shell Briquettes: An Environmental-Friendly Substitution for Wood Charcoal

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Failure to curb excessive charcoal production contributes to massive depletion of the country's forests. The removal capacity of forests decreases as forests are lost. People continuously use wood, but they seldom plant trees, making it a less percentage of having it around. The researchers ventured an aid regarding the continuous cutting of trees through the use of peanut shells. The Philippines widely grows peanuts, which produces several residues that may be used in generating energy. The researchers looked into the economic viability of peanut shells as an alternative source of biofuel and to have inexpensive yet environmental-friendly charcoal. It is for long-term, sustainable development, which teaches the proverbial man to fish, instead of just giving one away.

METHODS

The study evaluated an ample amount of materials for the production of peanut shell briquettes and determined the effectiveness of it as a replacement for commercially available charcoal. Experimental design and analysis of variance were used. There are two stages, the preparation (collection of peanut shells, carbonization, binding process, and compression) and testing stages (durability).

RESULTS

Peanut shell briquette 1:3 (one cup of uncompressed peanut shell char is to one tbsp. of tapioca flour) had the highest rate in terms of durability. Peanut shell briquette 1:5 was the best type in terms of flammability, and the recorded time in seconds for the boiling point of water. Furthermore, an increase in compressed density and binder level enhances durability while moisture content reduces it. The more binding agent a mixture has, the more heating capacity will occur, thus making the PSB 1:5 to be the product with the fastest occurrence of flame. Binder types can produce high-quality charcoal briquette with high heating value because the PSB 1:5 has the highest amount of binding agent, it was considered and recorded that this proportion of briquette produced the highest heating value.

DISCUSSIONS

Based on the results, the peanut shell briquettes 1:5 were more fragile than wood charcoal, yet it excelled on the combustion process. It can be concluded that peanut shell briquettes can be an alternative to wood charcoal. At the same time, peanut shell briquettes proved that it had a new purpose so that it would not just be thrown away and can help lessen the wastes in the environment.