PALM KERNEL HUSK BRIQUETTES AS AN ALTERNATIVE SOURCE OF ENERGY

PALM KERNEL HUSK BRIQUETTES AS AN ALTERNATIVE SOURCE OF ENERGY

ABSTRACT

This study describes the utilisation of palm kernel husk briquettes as an alternative source of energy. In several developing countries, briquettes from agricultural residues contribute significantly to the energy mix especially for small scale and household requirements. In this work, briquettes were produced from Palm kernel shell. This was achieved by carbonising the shell to get the charcoal followed by the pulverization of the charcoal. Starch was used as a binder. The briquettes were analyzed for their combustion characteristics. The results obtained showed that the Palm kernel shell briquettes had higher calorific value than the briquettes from charcoal and sawdust. It also had other desirable combustion characteristics.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Energy exists in different forms, all of which measure the ability of an object or system to do work on another object or system. Energy is fundamental to the survival of people, it is used in different areas of life such as; source of light and also for powering our vehicles, trains, planes, and rockets, machinery and tractor on the farm. The different forms of energy includes; electrical, fossil fuels with quite a number of availability in the form of coal, oil and natural gasses; hydro, nuclear and wind energy.(www. energyquest.ca.gov, 2011).

Agriculture is the main occupation of most Nigerians. It involves a lot of activities. These activities generate so many wastes which are disposed indiscriminately. It has been found out that these wastes can be reintegrated to contribute in solving the energy problem in the country. The harnessing of biomass to make significant contribution to the energy mix has been reported in several research findings (Ogbuanya, 2005). In most Nigerian rural communities, forest resources are the predominant fuel source. The trees are felled, allowed to dry and the different parts of the dried plants are used as firewood. Another way that people use to generate heat and light is by converting wood to charcoal.

Other plants, apart from trees, are also used as fuel sources. The problem of felling trees for the purpose of using it as fuel source is that it impacts adversely on the environment. One way of limiting the deforestation and protecting the environment is by briquetting of flammable materials.

Briquetting is a process of binding together pulverized carbonaceous matter, often with aid of binder (Martin, et al., 2008). The common forms of briquettes are the coal briquettes and the biomass briquettes. Biomass briquettes originate from mostly agricultural residues. This includes the charcoal briquettes. By converting the agricultural residues to briquettes, a gamut of advantages is derivable. These include:

• Briquettes provide an easier way of getting energy supply for cooking and ironing of clothes as the briquettes can be transported easily than the agricultural residues
• Briquettes provide cleaner emission than wood and other dried plants usually used for obtaining rural energy supply
• The raw material for making briquettes are sourced from materials that would have been chunked, and as such it converts waste to energy
• Briquettes can be used in stoves and boilers
• Briquetting increases strength, density, heat emitted per volume of the biomass (Martin, et al, 2008)

This studies intends to evaluate palm kernel husk briquettes as an alternative source of energy. After the oil extraction from the fruit, the nuts are broken for the palm kernels. The broken shells are called Palm Kernel Shells (PKS).

The conversion of Palm Kernel Shells (PKS) into useful energy can produce heat and electricity, which can be achieved through: thermal conversion, biochemical method, and mechanical methods of conversion.

1.1     STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Global warming has become an international concern. Global warming is caused by green house gasses which carbon dioxide is among the major contributors. It was shown that increased emissions of CO₂ have been drastically reduced owing to the fact that the rate of deforestation is higher than the afforestation effort in the country.

The use of fuel wood for cooking has health implications especially on women and children who are disproportionately exposed to the smoke apart from environmental effects. Women in rural areas frequently with young children carried on their back or staying around them, spend one to six hours each day cooking with fuel wood.

In some areas, the exposure is even higher especially when the cooking is done in an unventilated place or where fuel wood is used for heating of rooms. Generally, biomass smoke contains a large number of pollutants which at varying concentrations pose substantial risk to human health. Among hundreds of the pollutants and irritants are particulate matters, 1, 2-butadiene and benzene (Schirnding and Bruce, 2002). This problems necessitate the research to examine parm kernel husk briquettes as an alternative source of energy since the utilization of palm kernel briquette as source of energy offers numerous advantages such as better fuel characteristics and consistent burning quality compared to its raw material, reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG), contains a very low sulfur and ease of transportation and logistics as well.

1.2     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The aim of the research work is to investigate Palm Kernel Husk as an alternative source of energy.

The specific objectives are as follows:

1. To conversion of Palm Kernel Shell in briquettes which serves as alternative source of energy.
2. To determine the efficiency of briquette produce from Palm Kernel Shells as source of energy
3. To determination of combustion characteristics such as; Volatile Content, Nitrogen, Carbon, Oxygen, Sulphur, Fixed carbon, Moisture Content, Hydrogen Content Ash Content.

 1.3     JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY

Biomass, hydroelectric, power and solar power are the most important sources of renewable energy while petroleum product as the major non renewable energy used in Nigeria today.

Petroleum production in its own part is expensive and the price increases at interval, during exploration and uses, it also has environmental hazards. Firewood usage on a perennial bases leads to deforestation, solar power is expensive to install and cheap to maintain but there should be consideration for less sunny days during which less or No power is produced. Therefore, there is need for the production of less smoky fuel using palm kernel shell.

CHAPTER TWO

2.0     LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1     BRIQUETTING PROCESS

A briquette is a block of compressed coal, biomass or charcoal dust that is used as fuel to start and maintain fire (Grainger et al, 1981).

Briquetting is a mechanical compaction process for increasing the density of bulky materials. This process is used for forming fine particles into a designed shape. It can be regarded as a waste control measure in the case of production of briquettes from agricultural wastes. However, depending on the material of interest, briquetting can be used to provide fuel source as a preventive measure to many ecological problems. Briquetting is a high-pressure process which can be done at elevated temperature (Zhanbin, 2003) or at ambient temperature (Mohammad, 2005) depending on the technology one wants to employ.

During this process, fine material is compacted into regular shape and size which does not separate during transportation, storage or combustion. In some briquetting techniques, the materials are simply compressed without addition of adhesive (binderless briquettes) (Mangena and Cann, 2007) while in some, adhesive material is added to assist in holding the particles of the

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