Abstract
Deforestation has significantly affected
availability of reliable low cost energy resources in low
income rural households. As a result, off grid communities
are becoming less and less reliant on round wood for
energy. However, large amounts of agricultural and
forestry residues that are produced annually are destroyed
in perennial veld fires and some are deliberately destroyed
to prepare for new crop fields. Accessing these loose
agricultural and forest residues for energy use is one
possible panacea. In the process, the challenges of
deforestation can also be partly addressed. The main aim
of this paper is to report on adopted methods to produce
loose biomass briquettes using agricultural and forestry
residues collected from the Maphophe village in Limpopo
Province of South Africa. The goal was to avail workable
processes for harnessing energy from loose biomass
available in this locality. Production methods, energy
content and combustion behaviour formed key
performance variables. Two types of binders were tried,
namely cow dung and cactus plant paste. A 30 tonne
hydraulic press was using to compact the mixture of loose
biomass and binder into briquettes. Out of 12 loose
biomass samples collected, the best performing include
ground nutshells, Mopani leaves, yellow thatching grass
and sugarcane leaves. Performance was based on density,
energy content and combustion behaviour. Cow dung was
found to be the best binder and produced briquettes that
offer a viable energy source for off grid communities.