TIMOR-LESTE: High hopes for bio-briquettes (HTML)

IRIN

Bio-briquettes, a cheap and environmentally friendly fuel, could have the twin benefit of mitigating unemployment and deforestation in Timor-Leste - two significant problems in one of Asia's poorest nations.

November 3, 2009

Inventory of Innovative Indoor Air Pollution Alleviating Technologies in Nepal (PDF, 1.9 MB)

Practical Action

This illustrated report is a compilation of information on innovative Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) alleviating technologies that are being promoted in Nepal - a range of cooking stoves, briquetting technology, smokehoods, biogas technology, solar & electric cooking technology. It ends with conclusions & recommendations, plus annexes of further contacts.

2009

Briquettes article (HTML)

Engineering for Developing Communities website

Short presentation of biomass briquettes, with interesting links towards additional information.

2009

Extensive document (28 pages) summarizing IDS-Nepal's experience with bio-briquettes. Include recommendations for efficient training and standardization, technology transfer follow-up, monitoring financial support, development of private companies, promotion and diversification of alternative energy sources.

China's National Climate Change Program (II) (HTML)

Bejiing Review

… China will vigorously promote biomass energy development and utilization by attaching significant importance to bio-energy based power generation, marsh gas, biomass briquette and biomass liquid fuel.

June 26, 2008

A project to make economic use of elephant dung (HTML)

Express News Services

Students of biotechnology engineering of Sahrdaya College of Engineering and Technology, Kodakara in the district, have come out with a novel project to convert elephant dung into useful bio-products such as paper, briquette, biogas etc. The project can made use to dispose the huge quantity of elephant dung generated at the Anakotta of Guruvayur Devaswom.

June 8, 2008

Energy Technology Options (PDF, 162.88 KB)

Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Rural Industrialization

Introduction to bio-briquettes, biogas, animal driven prime mover and biodiesel.

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Making fuel briquettes
from everyday waste (PDF, 307.87 KB)

The Pace Project

This Action Sheet is about one way to take advantage of the waste that is produced in the city
everyday. Making fuel briquettes out of rubbish takes the waste from the city and turns it into a
source of energy. Fuel briquettes can be made and sold by entrepreneurial community groups and
business people.

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Charcoal Fire – Different uses of bio- briquettes (HTML)

Biofuel Supplier

Biofuel Supplier is concerned with environmental and social impacts, thus carefully sources its supply from organized small producers linked to community forests. Biofuel Supplier is working together with ANSAB (Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources) to ensure that the products marketed by Bio-fuel Supplier are manufactured sourcing forest products sustainably from community forests and people involved in the production process are paid fairly. ANSAB is established in 1992.
We are sourcing products from FECOFUN and other community forest users groups too.

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Asian Institute of Technology

Briquetting of biomass appears to have a tremendous potential in the developing countries in upgrading agricultural residues into a more convenient and consistent form of fuel. However, certain technical difficulties, particularly wear of the screw and high electricity consumption, limit their large-scale adoption in Asia. Also, utilizing briquettes as household fuel requires stoves which are slightly different in design than the wood stoves, as the combustion properties of briquettes are not the same as that for wood. The objectives of research on biomass briquetting were therefore to eliminate or reduce these technical and operational problems, and also to develop biomass stoves that can be used with briquettes.

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Biomass Briquettes: An Economic Alternate Briquetting in Bangladesh for Fuelwood (PDF, 160 KB)

Asian Institute of Technology

Bangladesh is improving upon its screw press technologies for rice husk briquettes to increase its efficiency and use in the country.   Technological improvements to the energy consumption and screw life span of the screw press has helped to increase the use of the technology amongst local entrepreneurs as well as within the commercial briquette production.

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Jay Khodiyar Machine Tools (HTML)
RONAK Engineering (HTML)
Hi Tech Agro
(HTML)

Jay Khodiyar

Ronak

High Tech

There are many large companies throughout India that specialize in the manufacturing of biomass briquetting plants.  These machines are capable of converting raw materials such as  agricultural, forest, and industrial wastes into large quantities of high density biomass briquettes to be used as an efficient energy alternative to coal and other fossil fuels in a variety of sectors including, paper mills, textile plants, food processing units, sugarcane mills, leather industries, etc.

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Building Sustainable Business Alliance, a Strategy for Scaling up Briquette Utilization (PDF, 1.19MB)

 
Hiswana Migas & Yayasan Bina Usaha Lingkungan

As fuel prices increase in Indonesia, the need for alternative energy sources is imminent.  Since 2005, briquetting has been promoted in the country and was announced as a national program by the government.  The main initiative to promoting the production of bio-briquettes in the country is through business investment and franchise development of bio-briquette plants.

2005

Kenya Briquette Industry Study (PDF, 3.13MB)

GVEP International

This study into the Kenya Briquette Industry is a component of the Developing Energy
Enterprises Project – East Africa (DEEP-EA) led by GVEP-International (GVEP-I).
Building and documenting knowledge of the industry, it aims to enhance the support DEEP-EA
is offering to start-up and existing briquette enterprises.
Biomass accounts for over 80% of energy use in Kenya. Briquettes can provide an alternative
and, in some cases more sustainable, form of biomass energy. A survey across the briquette
industry including producers, consumers and suppliers was undertaken with two objectives:
1. Identify the supply and demand conditions affecting the success of briquette
producers.
2. Understand the current and potential impact of micro-scale briquette
producers on rural and peri-urban energy access.

February 2010

Read more about the Tibetan Stove (HTML)

Netherlands Development Organisation

The Tibetan briquette stove is very popular because it produces a hotter and longer duration fires. Wind cooling is minimal and it allows for easy transportation.

March 11, 2003

Learn more about the Legacy Foundation (HTML)

Legacy Foundation

Located in Oregon, U.S., but operating in many different countries, the Legacy Foundation provides training, technology and media services for biomass fuel briquette production, environmental conservation and income generation throughout the world.

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Learn more about Appropriate Rural Technology Institute’s technologies (HTML)

Appropriate Rural Technology Institute

Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI) is a registered scientific society that is committed to developing and transferring sustainable technologies to rural communities as a means of income generation and an improvement to quality of life.  With the support of Shell Foundation, U.K., the society is addressing the issue of Indoor Air Pollution through the development of improved biomass fuels and cooking devices.  The project will establish a business chain whereby rural entrepreneurs, Self Help Groups (SHGs) and NGOs will be active participants in a partnership to supply and promote the alternative energy products to rural communities.

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Learn more about the Everest Biodiesel Company (HTML)

Everest Biodiesel Company

The Everest Biodiesel Company Pvt Ltd is committed to the development of Jatropha as an alternative, renewable and sustainable energy in Nepal. It is established through joint efforts of Nepali entrepreneurs and experiences professionals in the field energy. The company has a headquarter in Kathmandu and it has processing factory, Jatropha research and breeding center in Kurintar near Manakamana Cable Car station close to Prithvi Highway. The company will primarily focus on Jatropha curcas for biodiesel production as its seeds produce 30-48 % oil content so it is commonly called as biodiesel plant.

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Sustainable Energy in Nepal, Solar cookers, briquette oven, pasteurizers, dryers

Foundation for Sustainable Technologies (FoST)

March 1, 2010

Bio-Briquettes Video Collection

Approvideo

This website hosts 13 videos related to all aspects of bio-briquettes. A must see!

January 2010

Bio-briquette keep Nepal clean

CNN

A U.N. program has introduced 'bio briquettes' as an environmentally-friendly fuel used for cooking in Nepal. (3:01) 

25 December, 2008

BBC World - "The World Challenge 2007" - FoST Nepal

Foundation for Sustainable Technologies (FoST)

FoST was among the 12 finalists among over 940 applications in the World Challenge 2007 for their work with bio-briquettes. This global competition was set up three years ago by the BBC World, Newsweek and Shell to recognize the innovators of this world. The popular programme was shown on BBC World and featured in Newsweek in October 2007.

2007

Indoor air pollution from biomass fuels is considered as a potential environmental risk factor in developing countries of the world. Exposure to these fuels have been associated to many respiratory and other ailments such as acute lower respiratory infection, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, lung cancer, cataract, adverse pregnancy outcomes, etc. The use of biomass fuels is found to be nearly zero in the developed countries but widespread in the developing countries including Nepal. Women and children are the most vulnerable group since they spend a lot of time inside smoky kitchens with biomass fuel burning, inefficient stove and poor ventilation particularly in rural households of Nepal. Measurements of indoor air pollution through monitoring equipment such as high volume sampler, laser dust monitor, etc are expensive, thus not affordable and practicable to use them frequently. In this context, it becomes imperative to use statistical models instead for predicting air pollution concentrations in household kitchens. The present paper has attempted to contribute in this regard by developing some statistical models specifically categorical regression models with optimal scaling for predicting indoor particulate air pollution and carbon monoxide concentrations based upon a cross-sectional survey data of Nepalese households. The common factors found significant for prediction are fuel type, ventilation situation and house types. The highest estimated levels are found to be for those using solid biomass fuels with poor ventilation and Kachhi houses. The estimated PM10 and CO levels are found to be 3024 μg/m3 and 24115 μg/m3 inside kitchen at cooking time which are 5.2 and 40.40 times higher than the lowest predicted values for those using LPG / biogas and living in Pakki houses with improved ventilation, respectively.

Biobriquettes-an Alternative Fuel for Sustainable Development (PDF, 397 KO)

Nepal Journal of Science and Technology

Raw coal is still burnt as fuel in many developing countries. These also have a lot of waste biomass, which finds limited use or used inefficiently. Besides pollution from coal and biomass combustion, they always face problems during transportation and storage because they are susceptible to moisture. Biobriquettes are composite fuel prepared from a mixture of biomass and coal in a roller press briquetting machine. They consist of different proportions of biomass (up to 30%) and coal or lignite (up to 70%). Introduction of lime based desulfurizing agents (DSA) such as CaCO3 and Ca (OH)2 into the briquettes can reduce the SO2 emissions by 80-90%, thus minimizing the pollution coming from coal combustion. Some fuel and combustion properties of these briquettes were studied. The briquette fuels have better physico-mechanical properties and combustion properties in comparison to coal/lignite. The ignition temperatures of biobriquettes are lower than coal or lignite, whereas the calorific values are greater than biomass. Hence, the biobriquettes can be used as an alternative fuel to fuel wood, coal and lignite in the kilns, boilers, combustors and for cooking as well.

2009

Biomass energy for cooking in Nepal (PDF,390 KB)

Tribhuvan University

Ample and reliable accessibility of usable energy sources is one of the prerequisites for social and economic development of a country. Nepal is facing a big challenge to provide the energy to meet the basic needs of people due to poor infrastructure development and lack of fund for investment in the generation and management of energy sources. The majority of people are still dependent on inefficient use of biomass energy sources.

2009

Abatement of indoor air pollution achieved with coal–biomass household briquettes

PAID CONTENT

Atmospheric Environment

We investigated the abatement of indoor pollution achieved when two types of coal–biomass briquettes (L-BBs and H-BBs) were used in place of honeycombed coal briquettes (H-coal) in household stoves in rural Chongqing, China. Indoor concentrations of sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and gaseous fluoride were measured. Additionally, we evaluated the factors that affected indoor concentrations of these gases, including the amount of fuel used as well as its sulfur content, the sulfur-emission ratio determined from the amount of sulfur retained in the combustion ash, and the combustion temperature in the stoves. The average 8-h and 24-h SO2 concentrations for L-BBs were nearly equal to or less than the World Health Organization's 40 ppb guideline, whereas those for H-coal and H-BBs exceeded the guideline. The average 8-h SO2concentrations for L-BBs were from 63 to 89% lower than those for H-coal, even though the 8-h average weight of fuel and its sulfur content for L-BBs were equal to those of H-coal. A chemical analysis of combustion ash indicated that the sulfur-emission ratio was from 26 to 48% for L-BBs, as compared with 86% for H-coal, and this difference resulted in reduction of indoor SO2 concentrations for L-BBs as compared with H-coal. Most of the 8-h average concentrations of CO and gaseous fluoride for all fuels were lower than the WHO guidelines. We concluded that BBs are a useful domestic fuel for the abatement of indoor air pollution.

November 2008

PAID CONTENT

Developments in Chemical Engineering and Mineral Processing

To control pollutant emissions from the combustion of both domestic stoves and small-capacity industrial boilers, a new artificial solid fuel called biobriquette with self-denitrification and self-desulphurization has been developed. It is manufactured from a mixture of coal, biomass (agricultural wastes, cornstalk, etc.), desulphurizer and denitrificator such as limestone, seashell and pulp black liquid (industrial wastes) under a high compression pressure. In this study, the experiments of briquetting, pyrolysis and combustion were performed in order to reveal its characteristics of briquetting, self-denitrification and self-desulphurization.

May 15, 2008

Bio-energy in the black (PDF, 488.40 KB)

The Ecological Society of America

At best, common renewable energy strategies can only offset fossil fuel emissions of CO2 – they cannot
reverse climate change. One promising approach to lowering CO2 in the atmosphere while producing
energy is biochar bio-energy, based on low-temperature pyrolysis. This technology relies on capturing the
off-gases from thermal decomposition of wood or grasses to produce heat, electricity, or biofuels. Biochar is
a major by-product of this pyrolysis, and has remarkable environmental properties. In soil, biochar was
shown to persist longer and to retain cations better than other forms of soil organic matter. The precise halflife
of biochar is still disputed, however, and this will have important implications for the value of the technology,
particularly in carbon trading. Furthermore, the cation retention of fresh biochar is relatively low
compared to aged biochar in soil, and it is not clear under what conditions, and over what period of time,
biochar develops its adsorbing properties. Research is still needed to maximize the favorable attributes of
biochar and to fully evaluate environmental risks, but this technology has the potential to provide an
important carbon sink and to reduce environmental pollution by fertilizers.

2007

Household Air Pollution from Coal and Biomass Fuels in China: Measurements, Health Impacts, and Interventions

(HTML)

Nearly all China’s rural residents and a shrinking fraction of urban residents use solid fuels (biomass and coal) for household cooking and/or heating. Consequently, global meta-analyses of epidemiologic studies indicate that indoor air pollution from solid fuel use in China is responsible for approximately 420,000 premature deaths annually, more than the approximately 300,000 attributed to urban outdoor air pollution in the country. Our objective in this review was to help elucidate the extent of this indoor air pollution health hazard.Data sources
We reviewed approximately 200 publications in both Chinese- and English-language journals that reported health effects, exposure characteristics, and fuel/stove intervention options.Conclusions
Observed health effects include respiratory illnesses, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, weakening of the immune system, and reduction in lung function. Arsenic poisoning and fluorosis resulting from the use of “poisonous” coal have been observed in certain regions of China. Although attempts have been made in a few studies to identify specific coal smoke constituents responsible for specific adverse health effects, the majority of indoor air measurements include those of only particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and/or nitrogen dioxide. These measurements indicate that pollution levels in households using solid fuel generally exceed China’s indoor air quality standards. Intervention technologies ranging from simply adding a chimney to the more complex modernized bioenergy program are available, but they can be viable only with coordinated support from the government and the commercial sector.

Inventory of innovative indoor smoke alleviating technologies in Nepal

Practical Action Nepal

The specific objectives of this study were to:
• Analyze the pros and cons of each innovative smoke alleviating technologies.
• Analyze the efficiency of each technology with respect to acceptability, pollution
reduction, fuel saving and time saving.
• Identify appropriate smoke alleviating technologies for different socio-cultural settings,
weather, geography, fuel types and cooking behavior.

March 2007

Beehive Briquette – A Reliable Alternative Fuel (PDF, 1.5 MB)

Dr. Krishna Raj Shrestha, Centre for Energy and Environment

Biomass has been the prime source of fuel for people from time
immemorial. About 85 percent of all energy consumed in Nepal at present is supplied by biomass. With the present crisis of fuelwood shortages, the rural population is depending more and more on the burning of loose agro-residues and cow dung for domestic cooking and other purposes. This is a highly polluting practice associated with increased health hazards inside the home. To solve the problem of fuel wood supply and associated deforestation, these agro-residues should be upgraded to convenient and smokeless fuels. In the present study a simple technology is developed for the production of beehive briquettes by the carbonization of the agro-forestry residues and mixing of the char with binders followed by briquetting. It provides smokeless domestic fuel easily ignitable with sustained uniform combustion. The test results and the tentative financial analysis are presented.

February 2007

Sulphur analysis of household briquettes using MS and GC> MSdetection systems after reductive pyrolysis (PDF, 602 Ko)

Journal of Fuel Chemistry and Technology

The aim of the present study is to obtain more information concerning organic sulphur pollutants produced bysome commercial briquettes based on coal and biomass. Reductive pyrolysis technique（AP-TPR），coupled“on-line”with mass spectrometer（MS）and“off-line”with GC1 MS was used for qualitative and quantitative study of sulphurcompounds emitted from household briquettes. By AP-TPR-GC1 MS and inner standard application，prominent sulphurcontaining compounds were quantitatively determined. For different briquettes some peculiarities were observed. Name-ly，only for biobriquette low presence of dialkyl sulphides and aliphatic thiols was registered. The highest variety of or-ganic sulphur forms was detected for lignite briquette. Oxidized sulphur compounds were not registered for the highercoal rank briquettes but the presence of different thiophenes was typical for them.

June 2006

A majority of people in Nepal live in rural areas and are poor. Though energy is vital for economic development and integral in domestic purposes, due to their poor economic condition, rural people consume less energy and rely on traditional energy sources. In order to reduce rural poverty, it is necessary to intensify agricultural productivity and promote more non-farm livelihood activities by increasing small and medium scale enterprise including household-based activities and micro-industries, which require modern for of energy. Similarly, linking energy development with other sectors such as irrigation, agriculture, forestry, transportation, water and sanitation, etc. is mandatory for the holistic development of the country.

Report on workshop on biomass briquette (PDF, 1.30 MB)

Centre for Renewable Energy (CRE)

There is common coconscious that Biomass briquette (BMB) business can still flourish. There is still huge untapped potential of BMB market, which needs to be addressed properly. Policies on investments and technological aspects have to be scrutinized properly. Conducive atmosphere for BMB
proliferation have to be created.
The outcome of this workshop and its recommendations will add impetus to growth in BMB production with steady and continuous flow of qualitative and quantitative briquettes to ensure its
overwhelming use in our community.

June 2004

Emission control for precursors causing acid rain (V): Improvement of acid soil with the bio-briquette combustion ash

PAID CONTENT

Dong XH, Sakamoto K, Wang W, Gao SD, and Isobe Y. 2004, J. Environ. Sci. (China). 16(5): 705-11

The bio-briquette technique which mixes coal, biomass and sulfur fixation agent and bio-briquettes under 3-5 t/cm2 line pressure has aroused people's attention in view of controlling the air pollution and the acid rain. In this paper, the physicochemical properties of bio-briquette and its ash were investigated. (…) On the basis of the evaluation indices, it is concluded that the best mixture ratio is to add 2.5%-8% of the bio-briquette combustion ash to the tested soil.

2004

The Beehive Charcoal Briquette Stove in the Khumbu Region, Nepal
(PDF, 345 KO)

Article by the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV)

In Nepal biomass (such as firewood and agricultural by-products) is used almost exclusively for cooking and space heating in the rural areas. Indoor air pollution from open fires causes eye irritation and lung diseases, predominantly for women and children. This is especially so for high altitude areas where open fires are also used for space heating. Processing forest waste and agro-biomass (byproducts) first into charcoal and then compacting the charcoal into briquettes allows these to be used
inside the house for cooking and heating purposes. The smoke emission from the beehive briquettes is far less as compared to an open fire. An additional benefit is that the beehive briquette stove can be easily moved around the house and used on trekking expeditions. The paper reviews the current practice of locally making the charcoal briquettes using a charring drum and compacting mould. Some suggestions are presented to improve the fabrication and marketing of these charcoal briquettes.

March 11, 2003

Experimental Study on Combustion and Pollutant Control of Biobriquette
View in PDF (PDF,1.9 MB)
View in HTML

PAID CONTENT

Energy Fuels, 2000, 14 (6), pp 1133–1138

To control pollutant emissions from the combustion of both domestic stoves and small-capacity industrial boilers, an artificial solid fuel called biobriquette has been developed. It is manufactured from a mixture of coal, biomass (sawdust), and desulfurizer under a high compression pressure. In this study, the combustion experiments were performed to elucidate the ignition and combustion characteristics of biobriquette. Comparisons were made between coal briquettes and biobriquettes for their combustion efficiencies and pollutant emissions in existing domestic stoves. Byproduct in the gas welding industry was used as a new desulfurizer in the biobriquette, and its desulfurization characteristics were studied. The experimental result shows that the biobriquette has a lower ignition temperature and a higher combustion efficiency than the coal briquette. The new desulfurizer was found to be more effective in desulfurization than the other two desulfurizers, limestone and scallop shell. It is also found that the biobriquette combustion in domestic stoves gives lower CO2 emission than the normal coal briquette. The developed biobriquette provides a simple, economical, and efficient way for coal utilization and pollutant control in some developing countries.

September 13, 2000

The Partial Carboniza-tion of Peat to Make Domestic Fuel

International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

A procedure has been developed to transform untreated peat into an acceptable fuel for small industries and household use. Peat coking (total carbonization) is a costly process that requires sophisticated equipment and is appropriate for industrial use only. By contrast, partial carbonization is considerably less expensive and produces fuel acceptable for domestic use, because sufficient volatile compounds are retained in the peat so that it ignites easily. The volatiles that are removed render the peat smokeless, odourless, and non-noxious, well-suited for household, commercial, or small-scale industrial settings.

1998

Biomass and Bioenergy

1999

Biobriquettes - a competitive fuel for cooking (PDF, 253KB)

Ramesh Man Singh, Boiling point:
Household Energy: The Urban Dimension (ITDG, 1998, 44p.)

A very good short introduction to bio-briquettes in Nepal

1998

Proceedings of the International Workshop on Biomass Briquetting (PDF, 781 KB)

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

An International Workshop on Biomass Briquetting Technologies was organised during April 3-6,
1995 by the Biomass Group of the Chemical Engineering Department of IIT, Delhi, under the
sponsorship of the University of Twente, The Netherlands, and the co-sponsorship of the Indian
Renewable Energy Development Agency. The workshop was attended by 25 participants from
overseas and 76 from India. It was inaugurated by Mr. B.R. Prabhakara, Secretary, Ministry of
Non-conventional Energy Sources, Government of India and presided over by Prof. V.S. Raju,
Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. This Workshop was an opportunity to discuss the
outcome of the Project on Biomass Densification Research funded by the Dutch Government's
Directorate General for International Cooperation and contracted to the University of Twente, The
Netherlands in 1989.

April 1997

Proceedings of the International Workshop on Biomass Briquetting (PDF, 781 KB)

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

The International Workshop on Biomass Briquetting at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, April 1995, attracted more than a hundred participants from India and other countries. (...) Briquettes provide a relevant option for fuel substitution, but the option should not be advocated indiscriminately. The viability of this option depends on site- specific conditions (...) In the
past, quite a number of naive approaches leading to disappointments (...) With the knowledge and experience currently available, it should be possible to avoid
further disappointments and make good use of the viable briquetting potentials which are present in many member countries. (...) The Biomass Densification Research Project, the main results of which were presented at the International Workshop, is an example of successful technical cooperation (...) It is expected that the publication of the Proceedings, with conclusions and recommendations, will stimulate and guide further, appropriate applications of briquetting technology in Asia and beyond.

April 1996

Research on Promotion of Community Managed Fire Briquette Production Unit (Padampo-khari VDC, Makwanpur)

HARD COPY AVAILABLE – CONTACT US IF NEEDED

IDS Nepal

Coming Soon

Coming Soon

Utilization of Biomass for Homeostasis Engineering
(Binding and Desulfurization Characteris-tics of Pulp Black Liquor in Biocoal-briquettes) (Temporarily Unavailable)

Heejoon Kim, Department of Ecological Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, Tempaku-cho, Toyohashi,
441-8580, Japan

Many South Asia people use high sulfur containing coal as the major fuel. The combustion of these coals lead to serious environmental pollution and health problems. There is a lot of biomass in these areas. The SO2 emissions from the combustion of coal can be captured by adding lime based desulfurizing agents (DSA) to the coal briquettes and combustion characteristic can be improved by combining biomass and coal. Use of Calcium carbonate and Calcium hydroxide as DSA in coal briquettes could be an efficient and economical way to control the pollution from the use of high sulfur containing coals used in brick industries in Nepal and South Asia.

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Biodiversity Sector Programme for Siwaliks and Terai (BISEPST)

The overall objective of the study was to conduct the value chain analysis, explore the
bottlenecks and provide intervention for upgrading of Kurilo, Lemongrass and Bio-briquette. To
accomplish the assignment both qualitative and quantitative data/information related to the
biophysical, social-cultural and economic aspects were collected through secondary sources and
also by using various Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools such as Focus Group Discussion
(FGD), Key Informant Survey, field observation, transect walk, and value chain mapping.
Stakeholders of all level from collectors to district line agencies were also consulted.

National Institute for Environmental Studies

In order to spread bio-briquette technology with the actual result of the rationalization research to China through a wide area until now, it is necessary to study how the economical loss by damage to
residents' health and corrosion of buildings or materials etc. is improved, and how the wastes
after use of bio-briquette can be used effectively, and to aim at promotion of bio-briquette
use. In addition, a new type diesel fuel made from vegetable oil was studied. From a point of
view of the prevention of global warming, the use of biomass for getting energy is one of the
most promising fields of technology.

FoST, Shanti Sewa Griha, Kathmandu District

"(...) One organization is solving the problem with
fuel briquettes made from organic waste. The
Nepal-based Foundation for Sustainable
Technologies is training people to make the
briquettes, empowering them to make a product
they can sell and, for the first time, create their
own fuel.(...) 600-800 people living and
working at the Shanti Sewa Griha have learned
to make and use the FoST briquettes. Originally
a clinic and home for people with leprosy, the
griha now provides a range of free services from
health care to vocational training to anyone in
An Efficient Alternative Energy Source for Nepal www.bgrcnn.net Page 6
need. Using the briquettes has saved the center
about $750 per month in fuel costs (...)"

Bio-Briquette on Community for Forest Conservation and sustainable livelihood, Chiuridanda VDC, Khotang District (HTML)

Ruffords Small Grants

“Khotang is one of the remote hill districts of eastern Nepal. Rapid deforestation for the fuel wood is the root problem of the proposed Chiuridanda VDC of Khotang district. On the other hand, Eupatorium adenophorum, the shrubby perennial, is known as Banmara “the forest killer” in Nepali due to its notorious action in preventing other seedlings to grow. This shrub is found gregariously in the proposed and often nuisance to the villagers. The “Bio-Briquette on Community for Forest conservation and sustainable livelihood in Chiuridanda VDC in Khotang district” /Nepal project has aimed to harvest this shrub not only to make briquette from the shrub but also to restore the forest. The cleaning of Banmara from the forest will be simultaneously carried out making rooms for other species to regenerate. The project will initiate to manufacture briquette involving community people and also explore market in the district headquarter. This initiative will also discourage the use of cow-dung cake in cooking, which has greater soil fertility value. Instead, the farmers will use briquette as the source of fuel wood and additional income. (...) Many other women have been attracted to the noble industry as their product has a good demand in the market. Many of them
have also been financially independent after being involved in the job. (...) 'I go to the local community forest with my other
early in the morning to collect raw material,' Dhamala said. 'I have started contributing to the family budget and pay my college fees on my own.'
A member of Jagriti Women Entrepreneurs' Group,
she earns more than Rs 100 daily.' (...) Community forest users' group bought them a machine for the purpose. Laxmi Bhattarai (50) is equally involved in forming coal, beating it into dust and making briquettes out of it. The Rs 150,000 machine has provided employment opportunity for
more than a dozen of local women."

March 3, 2010

"With the support from different
NGOs, the District Development Committee (DDC)
Gulmi initiated a campaign to distribute free Bio-
Briquette to pregnant women going to hospital for
delivery. The objective is to protect newly born
children from cold temperature. According to the
programme officer Shankar Gautam, the DDC will
buy stoves and briquettes for 100 000 rupees this
year. 'One stove and one bio-briquette per day for
eleven days will be given to woman after delivery',
Gautam said."

The Himalayan Times

"Twenty-year old Anju Dhamala of Itahari-2, Shantinagar, is hardly ever free these days. A BBS student in Rastriya Janasahayog Higher Secondary School in Hansposa-2, she manages to attend her classes besides spending a considerable amount of time making briquettes."

"Production of briquettes has
started in the Rasuwa district to help minimize the
effects of climate change by preserving natural
diversity. Banmara and Titepati plants, which are
found in abundance in the district, are used to
produce the briquettes. One briquette easily suffice
to cook food for a family of 10 members and is
therefore cheaper than cooking gas. A nongovernmental organization named Kasitash has
taken the initiative for briquette production. 'In the
first phase, the production has begun at Gatlang,
Goljung, Safru and Bhridim VDCs,' said field
executive Sukra Tamang, adding that around 200
pieces of briquettes have already been produced.
'On the one hand villagers are getting employment
and, on the other, briquettes ensure a smoke-free
environment in the kitchen,' said a farmer of Sanu
Bharku, Kamisitar Lama. He also said that 34
women are currently into briquette production.
Meanwhile, the Langtang National Park and the
World Wildlife Fund have assured that they will
extend their support to this new initiative.

Briquette Manufacturing, Ilam

Republica

“Samiksha Nepal of Nayabazaar-9 in Ilam sTopped cooking food in the traditional firewood stove two years ago. Now, she uses locally made briquette stove for cooking purposes.
“The traditional stove produces a lot of smoke and there is also a need to constantly fetch firewood,” said Nepal. “And food can be cooked faster on a briquette stove,” added Nepal.
The briquette stove whose production started in Sulubung-5 of Ilam two years ago has now gained popularity in the main markets of Ilam, apart from all other districts in the eastern region. Women are switching in increasing numbers to briquette stoves as they are healthier than the traditional firewood stoves. Locals also say that briquette is also useful as a source of heat for women in postpartum, the sick, the elderly and children. (…)

Each briquette has a life-span of 90 minutes. Apart from being environmentally friendly, the briquette also does not carry the risk of setting off fire. (…) The briquette stove lasts for many years, and all that the locals needs to run it is the briquette coal that is locally made. Briquette is produced in the district by processing plant leaves, grass and branches of trees. (…)
He added that promoting the use of briquettes not only allows farmers to earn a living, but also saves a lot of foreign currency that the country spends in importing kerosene. (…) According to Khatiwada, the briquette firm directly employs 50 people. Additionally, 500 farmers are benefiting by providing raw materials for producing briquettes.”

November 25, 2009

International Center for Integrated Mountain Development, Godavari

Dawn Media

“The scientists at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) have also come up with various ways to improve cooking methods in the mountains — since foraging for fuel wood is a constant problem. They have introduced solar cookers and improved bio-gas plants. What fascinated me were the bio-briquettes which are now being used quite widely in Nepal. Beehive Briquetting Technology (BBT) converts unwanted bio-mass (weeds, paper, trash, etc) into charcoal in a charring drum. A mould (the only real cost involved) is used to turn it into solid fuel bio-briquettes which can be ignited quite easily and produce smokeless burning thanks to the air flow through the holes in the briquette!”

September 20, 2009

Namsaling Community Development Centre, Kanchenjunga Singalila Complex, Ilam District

Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund

Many people in the project area rely on forest resources to supplement meager incomes from agriculture, but the scale of harvesting has depleted their natural wealth. The result: forest fragmentation and loss that threatens both biological diversity and the communities’ well-being.
With CEPF support, NCDC’s approach is to enable changes that offer the communities improved lifestyles while decreasing natural resource consumption and degradation. (…)
They conducted an analysis to help residents identify ways to market promising new products. Workshops have helped participants identify skill gaps for alternative livelihoods, and training was offered in the making of bio briquettes, a sustainable fuel that can be used for home heating and other purposes.”

March 31, 2009

Kampala Jellitone Suppliers, Uganda

Ashden Sustainable Award

“Kampala Jellitone Suppliers is Uganda’s first producer of briquettes made from agricultural waste. Made mainly from dried and compressed sawdust, peanut husks and coffee waste, the fuel replaces wood and charcoal helping protect the rich biodiversity of the area. Schools, hospitals and factories across the country are buying 130 tonnes a month of briquettes, along with efficient stoves for heating and cooking. The business is set to double over the next two years and hoping to expand to other African markets.”

2009 

Nyakabanda and Kimisagara, Rwanda

United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP)

Focus Media (Kigali)

When you cook, you create garbage. Now an association in Nyakabanda has found a way to use garbage for cooking. "At first, it was a bit hard to convince people to pay us for collecting their garbage, but as soon as they saw that it kept the neighborhood clean, they easily agreed." Beata Uwimpuhwe is the president of the Association pour la Conservation de l'Enviroment (Association for environmental conservation, ACEN), which in 2002 took the bold step to ask money from the residents of Nyakabanda and Kimisagara to collect their waste, something which was until then taken care of by the districts. Yet ACEN does more than just keeping the neighborhood clean; it also contributes to the protection of the environment. Indeed, instead of the garbage being deposited at the dump, it is being transformed into cylindrical fuel blocks (briquettes) that are cheaper, and more environment-friendly, than charcoal. The association, which has received support from UNDP and German Agro Action funds, started out as a women's association, but today it groups 90 women and 43 men. They collect garbage twice a week. "We charge between Frw 500 and 20,000 depending on the quantity of the garbage," Beata Uwimpuhwe says, adding that the money is used to pay the garbage collectors. When the garbage arrives, it is sorted with decomposing garbage such as banana and potato peels being dried and other organic material used to make compost. Non-recyclable waste is transported to Nyanza dumping site in Kicukiro. The dried garbage is mixed with water and put in a special machine that solidifies the mixture thus forming the briquette. The fuel blocks are three times cheaper than charcoal, being sold at Frw 80 per kilo. "2 kilograms of briquette can cook food that would require charcoal worth Frw 500," the ACEN president says. According to Uwimpuhwe, association members currently earn between Frw 30,000 and Frw 50,000 per month. Moreover, the fuel blocks do not only keep neighborhoods clean, they are also good for the environment. Being a viable alternative to charcoal, their use will result in a reduction in tree-cutting. What is more, the smoke produced by the briquettes does not affect the environment either, Beata Uwimpuhwe explains. "We have received a certificate from IRST, which confirms that briquettes are not hazardous to the environment."

May 2008

Sidomulyo village, Bambangli-puro district, Bantul, Indonesia

Jakarta Post

Widiarti is no longer bothered by the soaring price of kerosene, nor does she have to queue for the increasingly scarce commodity after turning to organic waste-based briquettes as alternative fuel. "We housewives don't need to line up or hunt for kerosene anymore now that we use organic waste briquettes," said Widiarti, a mother of three.
Aside from benefiting from an alternative fuel source amid the country's kerosene shortage, she told The Jakarta Post, briquettes also proved to be more economical. One kilogram of briquettes -- at Rp 1,500 per kg -- is enough to keep her kitchen fired for at last three days to cook for her family of five.
Widiarti is only one of the dozens of housewives in Sidomulyo village, Bambanglipuro district, Bantul, who have abandoned kerosene and turned to bio-coal briquettes for cooking purposes.
This alternative fuel is the creative product of Basriyanto, a student currently studying for his master's degree at Gadjah Mada University's School of Technology. (…)
Cooperating with the Sidomulyo village administration, Basriyanto conducted training workshops in briquette making. Some of the local residents who joined the workshops have begun producing the fuel for nearby communities. (…)
"We have abundant fuel sources in the form of garbage, which often poses a problem to the environment. Briquette making will help create a junk-free environment," he added.
Bio-coal briquette maker Gunarto, 36, said the process of production was very simple. Nutshells are pulverized by grinding or pounding, then the fine powder produced is mixed with tapioca, which works as an adhesive, before being burned. (…)
Gunarto said there were difficulties involved in marketing the new product as it was still somewhat unfamiliar to the villagers. However, he said, a number of families were currently using the new fuel. In an effort to introduce bio-coal briquettes to the local community, Gunarto said he had distributed the briquettes to relatives for trial. (…)
Bio-coal briquettes leave no soot when touched, are easy to light and emit almost no smoke. They produce a reddish-blue flame and the fine ash left after burning can be used as scouring material for washing dishes and kitchen utensils.
"Boiling 1.5 liters of water takes less than 10 minutes," said Basriyanto, comparing the use of bio-coal briquettes to the longer time taken when using kerosene. Economically, he said, bio-coal briquettes had very bright prospects.
"Some industries in East Java are even prepared to use as much of this fuel as possible," said Edy Murdjito.
"But we still need to focus on the use of bio-coal briquettes by village communities and their distribution to the masses first," Basriyanto added.”

March 18, 2008 

Before UNDP's Marketing Assistance to Nepal for Sustainable Tourism Products (MAST-Nepal), the tourism complex The Last Resort imported thevast majority of its vegetables and cooking fuel from Kathmandu, which isapproximately 100 km southwest of their location. Unfortunately, there was not a large enough supply available in the local area to completely meet the resort's needs.To better serve clients with a constant supply of fresh produce, save money on transporting food supplies, and support local women in the community, The Last Resort launched the Local Women's Organic Farming Initiative.

To launch the project, the women leased the plot of land from a local farmer with funding from the resort (cost 55 Euros). The resort further invested 200 Euros to hire a local farming expert to train the women in organic farming methods. To start the project, the resort also invested approximately 140 Euros in vegetable seeds and farming equipment.

The local women have been operating the project for two growing seasons. While the resort purchases produce from women farmers, they also encourage the group to sell their produce to the local community. It is hoped that this will help establish the group's financial independence from the resort and impart a sense of project ownership among the female farming participants. These elements are essential for the women's farming project to be sustainable.

A second micro finance project was started with the same group of women in November 2007. The group received a two day briquette making training at the ICIMOD training centre in Godawari (cost 330 Euros plus food and accommodation) and the women began making charcoal briquettes in December 2007 to sell to the resort, Kathmandu and to use themselves.

There are many positive economic impacts resulting from this project. From a business perspective, the resort has improved their services to clients by providing a secure source of fresh, organic produce as well as an ecological source of fuel to prepare meals. Furthermore, they have reduced the amount of money and time devoted to transporting produce from Kathmandu. The initiative has also bolstered the lives of women in the local community by providing them with training and establishing new sources of income. The project has improved the social status of women in the community and made them less reliant on their male counterparts. There are currently 22 women in the Mahila Jana Jagaran Samuha which have directly benefited from the farming initiative. To date, the resort has purchased around 100 Euros worth of produce and briquettes from the women farming group.

Community Forest User Group, Kabure District

TV Padma

“An offshoot of community forestry in Nepal is that women are trained for income-generating activities, such as briquette-making. "It is now mandatory to reserve half of any CFUG committee for women," says Shanta Neupane, vice-chairperson of the Federation of Community Forest Users, Nepal, in the Kabure district.
Training courses on small-scale technologies for compacting briquettes, oil extraction from seeds and paper-making are being introduced. There is increasing demand for new technical knowledge to help improve livelihood options, says Balram Ghimire.”
Community forestry in Nepal has survived during the past decade of political conflict between the monarchy, democrats and armed Maoist rebels. Even as the conflict paralysed Nepal's development, CFUGs provided drinking water, built roads and introduced irrigation and education in their areas.(…)
Nepal's community forests are one of the world's little-known success stories, so now is the time to turn the spotlight on them.”

August 16, 2007

Nepal Australia Community Resource Management and Livelihoods Project, Sindhupalchok district

Nepali Times

“Across Nepal's midhills, the spread of community forestry has dramatically returned forests to once-denuded hillsides. But few know that the seeds of that success were planted here in Sindhupalchok and Kabhre in 1976 by an Australian forestry project that pioneered the concept of letting villagers manage the commons. (…)
In the 1970s and 1980s, the forestry project focused on land-use planning, establishing 100 community-run seedling nurseries for example. But by 2000 the project was renamed the Nepal Australia Community Resource Management and Livelihoods Project (NACRMLP), signalling a renewed focus on poverty reduction. The project was finally closed on 30 June. (…)
"The project contributed to a fundamental paradigm shift for forestry academics around the world," Percy Stanley, AusAid's South Asia director told a function in Kathmandu last week to mark the project's end. "Locally appropriate adaptations for ensuring community involvement in natural resource management are now found in many countries of Africa, Central and South America." (…)
In its last phase, the project worked closely with 20 community forest user groups in the two districts to develop Forest Operation Plans that emphasise good governance, business development and sustainable management of forests. Some of the groups started enterprises that make goods such as bio briquettes and sal leaf plates, which provide 230 jobs to locals. “

July 2006

People of Dumarwana VDC, Bara district (HTML)

UNDP

“People of Dumarwana VDC, Bara district have been producing and using briquettes for cooking as it greatly helps in reducing indoor pollution. Briquettes are used as substitute for firewood and kerosene and it hugely reduces carbondioxide emission.

The production of bio-briquettes has added a new dimension to the lives of women as it has also become a source of income for them. The women earn up to Rs. 6000 per month by producing briquettes. One group (3-4 women) produces around 1000 briquettes per day. “There is intensive labour involved in the production as everything is done manually but it is good to have something than nothing,” say the women. The income helps them to pay their children’s school fees and run the household.

In order to increase income and expand business, these enterprising women are still looking for further opportunities as the production of briquettes is seasonal only. The project is supported by UNDP/ GEF Small Grants Programme.”

June 20, 2006

Tripeni and Chhapakharka

FM radio 102.4 MHz

“Unwanted biomass, in this case from the forest weed 'banmara' (Eupatorium adenophorum), is converted into charcoal in a charring drum and then turned into solid fuel bio-briquettes. The charcoal powder is mixed with bentonite clay at a ratio of 1:3, pressed into honeycomb-shaped moulds, and sun-dried. The bio-briquettes can be used for cooking or heating. They can be ignited easily from below using waste paper or dried leaves and twigs. Once the lower portion catches fire, the flames start coming up through the nineteen holes in the briquette; the airflow ensures smokeless burning - a pollution free and environmentally friendly source of energy.”

October 29, 2004 

Bhimeshowar Bio-Briquette Enterprises, Bhimeshowar Temple, Dolakha (WORD, 289 KB)

Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation

“Bhimeshowar Bio-Briquette Enterprises is one of the community based enterprises with the involvement of six CFUGs around Bhimeshowar temple in Dolakha. Particularly, there is potential use of bio-briquette  in maternity hospitals, nursing homes, heating in the houses and cooking for the homeuse. This enterprise has a made production of 30,000 pieces of bio-briquette and sold with Rs 300,000 (Pers. com. Ishowar Upadhaya, NSCFP). This enterprise has given an opportunity for employment to identified poor and disadvantage groups within the CFUGs.”

N/A

Forestry Nepal

Forestry Nepal

This website aims to facilitate online networking among Nepalese foresters, to provide a platform to share news and information on forestry sector of Nepal and to promote forest science among general public. This website complements the email listserv Foresters Yahoo Group. It contains a blog, a forum, a wiki, a list of foresters working in Nepal as well as links to the latest publications (bibliography, online thesis, books, gray literatures, research articles, journals) in the sector.

2010

Forest Action

Forest Action

Established in 2000, ForestAction is a policy think tank and action research organization in the field of natural resource management, governance and livelihoods. Its resource center It has a good collection of multidisciplinary reading materials, with approximately 2100 books, reports and journals related to natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, gender, advocacy, livelihoods and social sciences. Several documents are also available online.

2010

Nepal Foresters’ Association Publications

Nepal Foresters’ Association (NFA)

Nepal Foresters' Association (NFA) is one of the leading professional associations in Nepal . It is a forum where foresters can bring their collective thoughts and efforts for enhancing the prestige of their profession. Its website contains several publications of interest, notably the Nepal Journal of Forestry.

2010

HEDON Household Energy Network

Household Energy Network

HEDON is a website where practitioners, policy-makers, funders, and business-owners actively pursuing a cleaner, affordable and more efficient household energy sector unite to share their experiences, learn from one another, and create new knowledge. The website wiki offers several how to guides, as well as a list of donors and organizations profiles.

2010

BioEnergy Lists

T.R. Miles, Technical Consultants

This site contains topics and information discussed on the Biomass Cooking Stoves email list to help develop better stoves for cooking with biomass fuels in developing regions. It contains about 700 articles covering every aspect related to biomass cookstoves (design, construction, emissions, safety, fuel, etc.), including 45 on charcoal production.

2010

Kirk R. Smith (MPH, PhD) Website

University of California, Berkeley

Professor Smith has contributed to more than 100 scientific articles related to air pollution and health in developing countries, all available for free online. He has notably extensively studied the negative health effects of inadequate indoor biomass cooking.

2010

WHO Air Pollution Publications

World Health Organization (WHO)

This page provides links to descriptions of activities, reports, news and events, as well as contacts and cooperating partners in the various WHO programmes and offices working on the topic of air pollution. Also shown are links to related web sites and topics.

2010

RocketStove

Aprovecho Research Center

RocketStove.org is an online volunteer community for the promotion of fuel efficient biomass technologies for cooking, heating and drying in the developing world. The website contains cookstoves design plans that can be used by commercial producers who wish to build 1000 stoves or by individuals who only want a single stove.

2010

ICS Network

Centre for Rural Technology, Nepal

The ICS Network regroups implementers and stakeholders of improved cookstoves programs in Nepal. Its info/resource center contains many documents that might be of interest to bio-briquette practitioners. Documents available are listed on the Network's website.

2009

ANSAB

Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources (ANSAB)

ANSAB has published more than 65 publications in the areas of sustainable harvesting of NTFPs, biodiversity conservation and forest based enterprises development. ANSAB publications are useful resources for development planners, field based pratcioners, and researchers/academia involved in the field of rural development, natural resource management and forest based enterprise development. Publications are available online or through ANSAB Resource Center.

2008

FECOFUN

Federation of Community Forest User (FECOFUN)

FECOFUN publishes different kinds of publication materials related to natural resources in general and community forestry in particular. These materials include books, diaries, calendars, and posters, regular and final reports of different programs, as well as national and district instances proceedings. Publications are available online of through FECOFUN Resource Center.

2008

Publications from the Asia Regional Cookstove Program

Asia Regional Cookstove Program (ARECOP)

The Asia Regional Cookstove Program (ARECOP) was initiated in 1991 as a network that facilitates the development of effective improved cookstove and biomass energy programs at the household and small industry levels. It focuses its activities on the traditional wood/biomass energy using population, the millions upon millions of people who depend upon wood and other biomass as their main source of energy for their daily livelihood. The ARECOP website list several cookstove related publications that can be of interest to Nepali practionners involved in bio-briquettes production and marketing.

2005 to 2008

Publications from the Renewable Energy Technologies in Asia Research & Dissemina-tion Programme

Asian Institute of Technology

Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) in Asia was a regional research and dissemination programme sponsored by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and coordinated by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). The programme lasted from 1997 to 2004 and published several scientific studies on biomass briquetting and briquette-fired stoves that are still relevant and available online.

1997 to 2004

Physical testing of fuel briquettes

PAID CONTENT

Fuel Processing Technology

Four physical properties have been identified as being of greatest value when developing or evaluating fuel briquette formulations or processes. They are resistances to crushing, impact, abrasion and water penetration. Arbitrary tests for these properties have evolved in this laboratory during a decade of investigations of binders and formulations for briquetting coal fines and the like. The simple test methods are described and some typical results are given.

Tests of several types of commercial and pilot process fuel briquettes have been used to set realistic target values for these four physical properties. In the process development stages, it is suggested that the tests should relate to the briquette material, rather than the briquette as an entity, and that this can be achieved by transforming the raw data into various indices. These would allow intra-laboratory or inter-laboratory comparisons of briquette formulations. This approach is illustrated by presenting results for compressive strength, impact resistance and abrasion resistance. The same could apply to water resistance and some suggestions are discussed.

The needs of research and development and of production in respect of briquette testing are seen as different, but complementary. It is hoped that the paper will stimulate researchers and producers alike to work towards the adoption of codes of standard practice in briquette testing.

September 1989