Utilization of grape waste with different moisture content as fuel briquettes

In 2020, world fresh grape production increased to 78.03 million metric tons from 77.00 million metric tons in 2019. Approximately 80% of the grapes produced in the world are consumed as wine and fruit juice. In such a large industry, a huge amount of waste is generated after processing. This waste is generally used as fertilizer and burned inefficiently. In this study, the quality and strength parameters of the briquettes obtained were determined in order to investigate the possibility of using grape wastes as fuel briquettes by compressing them under constant pressure (120 MPa) at three different moisture content levels (6.8%, 9.4%, 12.1%) instead of using them as fertilizer or burning them inefficiently. As a result of the study, it was determined that the compression force, compression stress, specific compression force, and quality parameters such as density, water resistance, tumbler, and shatter index of the briquettes obtained from the briquettes with 6.8% raw material moisture content were in accordance with the international standard, ISO 17225-3.