Technical and economic viability for the briquettes manufacture

This work aimed to evaluate the production briquettes cost, using two samples of forest residues from paper and pulp companies. The samples approached in this study were chips of Eucalyptus spp. and bark of Pinus taeda. The conditions to produce the briquettes were: pressure of 100 bar, temperature of 393 K (± 5 K), pressing time of 3 minutes and cooling time of 5 minutes. While the conditions previously used for this work were: 150 bar pressure, 393 K (± 5 K) temperature, 5 minute pressing time and 6 minute cooling time. The compaction levels remained the same and no cracking was observed. Quality parameters of the briquettes were also evaluated and were analyzed the costs of briquetting process in different stages. The most energy consuming stage was the briquetting process for both samples, this stage dominates the briquettes producing cost. The briquettes production cost was 415.70 and 508.96 R$/ton, Eucalyptus spp. and Pinus taeda, respectively, while using the previously technique would cost 603.22 and 817.06 R$/ton. The total briquetting costs obtained in this study are higher than the literature, because the manufacturing process was not performed in an industrial scale. © 2017 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland