Synthesis of coal-biomass blended fuel through coal-wet briquetting technology

Recent years have seen a substantial increase in interest in using biomass as a renewable energy source due to concerns about sustainability and energy security. However, using biomass alone as a fuel source has its own drawbacks such as lower bulk density, low heating values, high moisture, and ash content. Therefore, a promising solution is the co-firing of biomass with coal in the form of briquettes which improves these properties. This study assesses the effectiveness of making coal-biomass briquettes using Shahrigh coal obtained from Balochistan, Pakistan, sugarcane bagasse as the biomass component, clay as the binder, and slake lime as the desulfurizing agent. Proximate analysis along with ignition efficiency, water boiling test, emission analysis, and sulfur determination was carried out on the samples following different American Standard of Testing Materials (ASTM) procedures. The results showed that briquettes have an average moisture content of 4.36%, ash content of 33.92%, volatile matter of 29.77%, and fixed carbon of 31.95%. The calorific value of the briquettes was measured to be 18.215 MJ/kg, while the emission analysis revealed nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO) values to be 7 ppm and 518 ppm respectively. The sulfur content was found to be between 4.9 and 5.2%, while the ignition time and water boiling time were 309 s and 18.32 min respectively. The coal–sugarcane bagasse briquettes exhibited promising characteristics in terms of their physiochemical properties, indicating their potential as an alternative fuel source. This research improves understanding of sugarcane bagasse utilization in coal-biomass briquettes for renewable energy production.