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Al-Bahir Journal for Engineering and Pure Sciences

Abstract

Improving biofuel production in countries like Nigeria is important to the development and sustainability of the energy sector in the country. With the growing population in the country, the demand for energy will increase, and conversely, the threat to climate and ecosystems will increase. To cushion this effect, attention needs to be shifted to farm wastes as a sustainable option for energy production. Briquette production has been at the focal point of researchers for many years. This study explores 12 different wood species commonly found around Nigeria with starch and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as binding agents. Briquettes from these wood species were made with PVA and starch separately using same amount of mass for analysis. The results obtained from this study showed that briquettes from Ayo and Wawa sawdust produced the best calorific values of 31760 J/g and 31763 J/g, respectively, when polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is used as a binder. While Afzelia sawdust briquette produced the lowest percentage moisture content (PMC) of 1.67% but a higher ash content of 3.73% with polyvinyl alcohol, which could be due to affinity for water molecules, hence the high percentage ash contents. In general, the thermo-physical properties of all the wood samples examined in this study showed that polyvinyl alcohol improved these properties when compared with common binders like starch.

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