Production and characterization of charcoal briquettes from sesame stalks as an alternative energy source

Materials for Renewable and Sustainable Energy https://doi.org/10.1007/s40243-024-00286-3 (2025) 14:23 ORIGINAL PAPER Production and characterization of charcoal briquettes from sesame stalks as an alternative energy source Brhanu Teka Gebrezgabher1 · Mulu Berhe Desta2 · Fentahun Abebaw Belete1 Received: 14 December 2023 / Accepted: 10 December 2024 © The Author(s) 2025 Abstract Using of agricultural residues for briquette production attracts the attention of many researchers to overcome the problems related to the usage of fossil fuels as an energy source. This study focused on the production of briquettes from sesame stalks as an alternative fuel in Cement industries. The briquettes were produced from carbonized sesame stalks using paper waste, cow dung, and a mixture of cow dung and paper waste binders. The data analysis of the charcoal briquettes was carried out using two-way ANOVA without replication using Microsoft Excel. The binder ratio and binder types have a significant effect on the density and shatter resistance. Briquettes made using carbonized sesame stalks have the highest density of 1.133 g/cm3 at 5% of cow dung binder. The highest shatter resistance having a value of 91.00% was found in carbonized briquette prepared using 25% cow dung binder. Six briquettes were selected for proximate and calorific value analysis. The highest heating value of the produced briquettes was 4794.38 kcal/kg at 5% of cow dung binder, which has moisture, ash, fixed carbon, and volatile matter of 6.54, 14, 30.7, and 48.76% respectively. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur contents of a briquette, which has the highest heating value, were recorded at 46.34, 2.50, 50.89, 0.27, and 0.00% respectively. Production of a briquette from carbonized sesame stalks using 5% cow dung binder is suitable from economic and environmental points of view. Keywords ANOVA · Binder · Briquette · Carbonization · Densification Introduction For the development of many countries, energy is the most imperative factor [1]. Due to continued urbanization, global economic growth, and an increased demand for mobility and other energy-dependent services, global energy consumption has almost doubled in the last three decades [2]. Renewable energy resources like biomass, wind, solar, and geothermal energy attract many researchers since they are clean and environmentally friendly. It estimates that among non-fossil * Brhanu Teka Gebrezgabher Mulu Berhe Desta 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Ethiopian Institute of Technology‑Mekelle, Mekelle University, PO Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia 2 Department of Chemistry, College of Natural and Computational Science, Mekelle University, PO Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia fuels, usage of energy from renewable (including biofuels) is likely to grow from 3 to 8% in 2035 [3]. The huge imbalance between demand and supply of energy can be filled by using biomass wastes as a source of energy in the form of briquettes [1]. As a result, biomass wastes have great attractive potential for large-scale industries, cottage enterprises, and household utilization. It is an attractive energetic source due to its cheapness, renewability, and availability in most parts of the world [4]. Biomass in its different forms provides about 1250 million tons of oil equivalents of primary energy, which covers about 14% of the world’s annual energy consumption. The majority of the biomass energy is produced from wood and wood wastes (64%), followed by solid waste (24%), agricultural waste (5%), and landfill gases (5%). Biomass is the only renewable resource with the potential to produce power, fuels, and chemicals [4]. Agricultural wastes such as woodchips and sesame stalks can be utilized directly as fuels. Nevertheless, the majority of them are bulky, fluffy, uneven, and dusty. They also have high moisture and low energy density as compared to fossil fuels. This property makes these kinds of waste difficult to handle, Vol.:(0123456789) 23 Page 2 of 10 transport, store, and utilize. One of the promising solutions to those problems is briquetting technology. The technology is a densification process for improving the handling characteristics of raw material and enhancing the volumetric calorific value of the biomass [5]. Biomass briquette aims to produce the material with improved bulk density and high calorific values. Low ash contents, lower moisture content uniform size and shape make these materials easier to package and store, cheaper to move, and more convenient to use, and their combustible characteristics become better than those of the first material [6]. Solid fuel size, binder/additive ratio, water addition mixing procedure, curing time, and extruding temperature are the main parameters that affect the nature of the briquette [7]. Briquettes have an economical advantage because they can be produced in a simple process, have high heating value, and the raw materials are readily available in most parts of the world [8]. Sesame stalk is plentifully available in Ethiopia in rural regions of Tigray specifically in the Western region in Humera, the largest farmland in north Ethiopia. According to Gebresas et al., in this region, about 285,744 hectares of sesame are cultivated and this can provide 571,488 tonnes of sesame stalks [9]. The farmers in this region use part of this agricultural waste without value addition for heating purposes. Animals do not consume this biomass and farmers burn it during ploughing seasons. In recent years, Messebo Cement Factory (MCF) has used this biomass as an alternative energy source by direct burning for heating purposes in the kiln operation. However, direct burning of sesame is not advisable due to its high amount of volatile matter, GHG emissions, and problems related to transportation and storage due to the lightweight and large volume of sesame stalk. In addition, the burning time of sesame stalk is very low. Therefore, according to Bogale and Suryaningsih, it is better to convert the sesame stalk as an alternative way of converting into charcoal briquettes by using the appropriate type and percentage of adhesive to produce better quality charcoal briquettes to provide a much-needed source of cheap fuel that is cleaner in burning [10, 11]. Production of charcoal briquettes from these sesame stalks using a simple extruder and carbonized can overcome the problem of pollution and smoke as well as efficient utilization of natural resources and allow the material for long-term storage [9]. This study aims to produce and characterize carbonized sesame stalk briquettes using cow dung, paper waste, and a mixture of cow dung and paper waste binders to see the effects of the alternative organic binders on the physical and composition properties of the produced briquettes. Materials for Renewable and Sustainable Energy (2025) 14:23 Materials and methods Preparation of binder The binders used for this study were paper waste, cow dung, and a mi (...truncated)