Characteristics of Charcoal Briquettes from Rice Husk Waste with Compaction Pressure Variations as an Alternative Fuel

The availability of increasingly scarce fossil fuels causes high fuel prices, so alternative fuels are needed to reduce the use of fossil energy. Briquettes are an alternative energy that can be made from biomass, one of which is rice husk. The quality of the briquettes wasdetermined by the material, the type of adhesive, and the strength of the briquette pressure. The briquette pressure will affect the mechanical properties of the briquettes such as density, stability and durability of the briquettes. This study aimedto determine the features of rice husk charcoal briquettes with variations in compacting pressure as an alternative fuel. The compaction pressure used in this study was 3 tons, 5 tons, and 7 tons. In general, the briquettes produced from this study can be used as an alternative energy source in terms of the resulting combustion temperature which ranges from more than 300-500 degrees C.The combus-tion rate obtained shows that the briquettes with a compaction pressure of 3 tons have a high combustion rate value of 0.553 g/minute, while the briquettes with a compaction pressure of 5 tons and 7 tons have a low combustion rate value of 4.20 g/min and 0.418 g/minute respectively. Therefore, the best quality briquettes from this study were the briquettes with a compaction pressure of 5 tons and 7 tons, so that they could be considered as alternative energy for wood and fossil fuels for energy needs in the domestic industry.