Potential Production and Characterization of Charcoal-Based Bio-Briquettes From Ulin Wood Waste as an Alternative Sustainable Energy Resource

A biomass of Ulin wood waste in tropical countries has significant potential as the raw material used for an alternative sustainable energy resource. This is due to its high technical and economic value and environmental friendliness. This study aims to develop Ulin wood briquettes using tar extracted from Acacia bark as a binder to form solid cylindrical briquettes. The methodology includes the variation of the burning temperature (300-500°C), the burning time (3-5 hours) and the composition of the binder relative to the total mass of the briquettes (91-95%). The briquettes were analyzed in terms of yield, moisture content, ash content, volatile matter, fixed carbon, optimum conditions, and surface morphology. The briquettes were also tested for their suitability according to International standardincluding calorific value, relaxation density, drop test, and combustion rate. The results show that the best quality briquettes based on the mixture of Ulin charcoal and Ulin sawdust with tar binder were found with a variation of 91% Ulin charcoal and a burning time of 5 hours. The best quality variation of Ulin wood charcoal briquettes produced a calorific value of 7161.26 cal/g, a moisture content of 2.17%, an ash content of 2.46%, a volatile matter content of 15.19% and a fixed carbon content of 81.11%. The briquettes produced comply with the quality standards of the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) standard D2395-2007a and SNI (Indonesia National Standard) 01-6235-2000.