A briquette (or briquet) is a block of flammable matter used as fuel to start and maintain a fire. Common types of briquettes are charcoal briquettes and biomass briquettes.

Biomass briquettes are a biofuel substitute to coal and charcoal. They are used to heat industrial boilers in order to produce electricity from steam. The most common use of the briquettes are in the developing world, where energy sources are not as widely available. There has been a move to the use of briquettes in the developed world through the use of cofiring, when the briquettes are combined with coal in order to create the heat supplied to the boiler. This reduces carbon dioxide emissions by partially replacing coal used in power plants with materials that are already contained in the carbon cycle. Manufacturers mainly use three types of ways to create the briquettes, each depending on the way the biomass is dried out. Although biomass briquettes are usually manufactured, biomass has been used throughout history all over the world from simply starting campfires to the mass generation of electricity.

Biomass briquettes are mostly made of green waste and other organic materials. They are commonly used for electricity generation, for heat and as cooking fuel. These compressed compounds contain various sorts of organic materials, including rice husk, bagasse, ground nut shells, municipal solid waste, agricultural waste, or anything that contains a high nitrogen content. The actual composition of the briquettes varies by area due to the availability of raw materials. The raw materials are gathered and compressed into briquette in order to burn longer and make transportation of the goods easier. These briquettes are very different from charcoal because they do not have large concentrations of carbonaceous substances and added materials. Compared to fossil fuels, the briquettes produce low greenhouse gas emissions because the material used is already a part of the carbon cycle.

One of the most common variables of the biomass briquette production process is the way the biomass is dried out. Manufacturers can use torrefaction, carbonization, or varying degrees of pyrolysis. Researchers concluded that torrefaction and carbonization are the most efficient forms of drying out biomass, but the use of the briquette determines which method should be used.

The use of biomass briquettes has been steadily increasing as industries realize the benefits of decreasing pollution through the use of biomass briquettes. Briquettes provide higher calorific value per dollar than coal when used for firing industrial boilers. Along with higher calorific value, biomass briquettes on average saved 30-40% of boiler fuel cost. But other sources suggest that cofiring is more expensive due to the widespread availability of coal and its low cost. However, in the long run, briquettes can only limit the use of coal to a small extent, but it is increasingly being pursued by industries and factories all over the world. Both raw materials can be produced or mined domestically in the United States, creating a fuel source that is free from foreign dependence and less polluting than raw fossil fuel incineration.

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomass_briquettes

Source: Wikipedia (All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.)