2012

TechnoServe Guatemala
Boston Nyer
-----------------University of Colorado
Engineering for Developing
Communities Program

[FUEL BRIQUETTE MATERIALS

ASSESSSMENT ]
This document details the procedures and findings from the spring 2012 trip of Boston Nyer, from the
University of Colorado, to Guatemala in collaboration with TechnoServe. The objective of the trip was
to determine the feasibility of fuel briquettes from various agricultural waste streams in the Chiquimula
department of Guatemala.

FUEL BRIQUETTE MATERIALS ASSESSSMENT

March 25, 2012

Contents
Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction to Briquettes ............................................................................................................................. 4
Supply of Material ......................................................................................................................................... 5
Physical Integrity Test ................................................................................................................................... 8
Burn Test ....................................................................................................................................................... 9
Business Opportunities with Waste Materials ............................................................................................ 13
References ................................................................................................................................................... 14
Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................... 15

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Executive Summary
Biomass briquettes can be used as a fuel to displace firewood, charcoal, or other solid fuels. In the
proper context fuel briquettes can: save time, save money, decrease local deforestation rates, and
provide and income generating opportunity.
The goal of this investigation is to determine the feasibility of briquettes from a variety of raw materials,
primarily coffee wastes and sawdust which were identified by TechnoServe Guatemala in the
Preliminary Market Study of Organic Fertilizer and Firewood (Charcoal). Other materials evaluated are:
paper, cardboard, cow dung, banana peels, corn husks and charcoal fines. Paper, banana peels and
charcoal fines are ruled out for supply limitations.
Each binding material was tested with each filler to determine combinations that could physically make
a briquette (Physical Integrity Test). Successful permutations progressed to the burn test to determine if
they could be combusted in, and make tortillas on, locally available stoves. Although all briquettes were
able to burn in a simple partial gasifier stove, only one briquette permutation burned in a locally
available stove, paper and sawdust. It is suspected that cardboard and sawdust can behave similarly,
although results different in this investigation.
Basic market research tells us that 200-300lbs. of cardboard is available each month for $0.18 per
100lbs. at the dump. Roughly 1,545lbs. of sawdust is available each month for $0.017 per lb. This
presents a niche market for fuel briquettes.
Looking beyond fuel briquettes, coffee pulps are the most interesting waste material assessed. At one
of 26 coffee processing facilities in Chiquimula, there are 10 12 small dump trucks of waste produced
daily. The waste stream is completely unutilized and is an environmental and public health hazard. The
material should be strongly considered for organic fertilizer, power generation, or other productive
outlets.

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March 25, 2012

Introduction to Briquettes
Fuel briquettes are a compressed block of organic waste materials used for cooking and/or heating.
They are often used as a development intervention to replace firewood, charcoal, or other solid fuels. In
the proper context fuel briquettes can save time, save money, decrease local deforestation rates, and
provide and income generating opportunity.
Several fuel briquetting programs have been successfully
demonstrated around the world. In theory, fuel briquettes can be
made of any organic material, and because of this, most fuel
briquetting programs use distinct composition recipes for their
briquettes. Because of both the technologys young age and the
wide variety of recipes used, there is no formula to determine a
viable fuel briquette recipe. Therefore each new program must
conduct comprehensive tests to find the appropriate recipe for the Figure 1: Squeeze Test
situation.
Briquettes are held together by a binding agent or binder. This
binding material can be any fibrous organic material. The material
must be processed in order to hold the briquette together often
through partial decomposition. The binder can either be used by
itself or mixed with a filler. The filler should be locally available,
widely available, and improve the combusting performance of the
Figure 2: Expansion Test
briquette. For example in an urban setting, if decomposed corn
husks are used as a binder then saw dust could be used as a filler to
produce a more combustible briquette.
A set of three tests are used to determine if a briquette has
sufficient structural integrity to hold together (The Legacy
Foundation 2003): The Squeeze Test, Expansion Test, and Shake
Test.
Figure 3: Shake Test

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Supply of Material
The majority of materials assessed were identified ahead of the trip based on market data collected by
TechnoServe Guatemala and other research. Other materials were added as appropriate. The materials
that were analyzed were split into two groups, binders and fillers. The binders were: paper, cardboard,
dung, corn husk and banana peels. The fillers were: sawdust, coffee husks and charcoal fines.

Identification of appropriate waste materials is fundamental for the success of a fuel

briquetting program. Cost to the end-user is a driver of the feasibility of the product. The
waste materials need to be reliably and cheaply available throughout the year in large
quantities. It is imperative to understand the full lifecycle of a material before it is used in a
fuel briquetting program. All of the uses, locations, quantities, stakeholders, and values must
be thoroughly understood. Each material is described in more detail below Table 1.
Table 1 provides an overview of the materials assessed through this project.

The last column

identifies whether the waste material will be considered in this initial study (Y), will not considered
at all (N), or should be considered in the future (F). Each material is described in more detail below
Table 1.

Fillers

Binders

Table 1: Overview of waste materials available in Chiquimula District

Raw Waste
Material

Quantity
Available
[H/M/L]

Frequency of
Availability

Location

Other
Uses

Feasible supply
[Y/N/F]

Paper
Cardboard
Cow Dung

L
M
H

Variable
Continuous
Continuous

Disperse
Dump
Disperse

Multiple
Recycled
Fertilizer

N
Y
Y

Banana Peel

Continuous

None

N, other regions

Corn Husk

Continuous

Disperse in
Chiquimula.
Concentrated
in other
regions.
Ubiquitous

Coffee Pulps

Continuous

Feed for
animals
None,
waste

Coffee Husk

October
March

Coffee
nurseries

Wood Shavings
& Saw Dust

Continuous

Various,
sold

Charcoal fines

Continuous

Sold for
fuel

Coffee
processing
facilities
Coffee
processing
facilities
Wood mills
Charcoal
vendors

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Paper
Waste paper is not available in any meaningful quantity in the Chiquimula Department of Guatemala.
This material was used as a benchmark for analysis as paper is extremely common in fuel briquetting
initiatives globally.
Cardboard
At the dump in Chiquimula, cardboard is collected to be sold into the recycling business. 200 -300lbs. of
cardboard are recovered each month and sold for $0.18 per 100lbs.
Cow dung
Cow dung is ubiquitous and can be used as a binder for briquettes. The material is often used as
fertilizer for farms or unutilized. It can be sourced for the cost of collection.
Corn Husk
Corn husks are ubiquitous and can be used as a binder or filler for briquettes. Although the material has
other uses, such as animal feed, the vast majority is unutilized. Therefore, the material can be sourced
for the cost of collection.
Banana Peels
Banana peels contain many fibers ideal for binding a briquette together. Fuel briquettes from banana
peels can be a value add to the Technoserve Guatemala organic banana program. Although the
material should not be considered for use in Chiquimula, it may add value to a banana program in
other regions of the country.

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Sawdust
Sawdust is created at the 3-4 sawmills in the department of Chiquimula (Palacios, 2011). The largest
sawmill produces 120lbs. of sawdust and 1,120lbs. of woodchips per week. Each 40lb. sack of sawdust
is sold for Q5 and Q3 for woodchips (approximately $0.017 & 0.01/lb).
Coffee Husks
Although coffee is grown in several high altitude communities in Chiquimula, such as Tachoche, the
husks are only available at coffee processing sites. There are approximately 26 coffee mills in the
Chiquimula department based upon the Market Analysis conducted by TechnoServe Guatemala
(Palacios, 2011). These facilities sell a combination of green coffee and beans with the husk still on the
bean. One facility surveyed produced approximately 10-12 40lb sacks per week for Q15 each
(approximately $2.00). The husks are used in coffee nurseries and for other purposes. The coffee husk
waste stream exists, but much smaller than coffee pulps.
Coffee pulps
10 small dump trucks or approximately 60 tons of coffee pulps are produced daily at one of the 26
coffee production facilities in the department of Chiquimula. The material is dumped on the periphery
of the facility and unused and is toxic to the local environment, particularly the ground water. The
material is available for the cost of transportation.
Charcoal fines
Charcoal fines and dust are inherently created from the handling of charcoal. Approximately 2,000
45lb. sacks of fines are sold in the market each week for Q40 each (approximately $5.30). The high
cost demands a strong value add for the material to be considered for incorporation into the product.

FUEL BRIQUETTE MATERIALS ASSESSSMENT

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Physical Integrity Test

Organic waste materials available in Tachoche and low-production screw briquette press from CU
Boulder were used to create various permutations of briquettes. Each binder and filler was combined
with and without the addition of charcoal fines (in attempts to assist in combustion). Table 2 provides
an overview of the successful and unsuccessful combinations of materials. These permutations are
shown by ratio of volumes and weights per liter are shown in the Appendix. The success is determined
by the squeeze test, expansion test, and a shake test as defined by The Legacy Foundation (see
Introduction to Briquettes). Failure (X) was determined if the briquette could not pass the three tests
at a minimum ratio of 1:1 of filler to binder. Additionally, the procedure for processing each material is
shown in the Appendix.
Table 2: Permutations of physical integrity testing of briquettes

Binders
Material

Paper

Cardboard

Dung

Corn Husks

Banana Peel

(volume : volume)

(volume : volume)

(volume : volume)

(volume : volume)

(volume : volume)

3:1
(S:P)

3:1
(S:Ca)

3:1
(S:B)

16:8:9
(S:Ch:P)

16:8:9
(S:Ch:Ca)

16:8:9
(S:Ch:B)

(volume : volume)

3:1
(C:P)

1:1
(C:Ca)

Coffee Husks
+ Charcoal

2:1:1
(C:Ch:P)

2:1:1
(C:Ch:Ca)

Sawdust
(volume : volume)

Fillers

Sawdust +
Charcoal
(volume : volume)

Coffee Husks

(volume : volume)
Misc. permutation

2Cofee:1Banana:1Corn

As shown in Table 2, paper, cardboard and banana peels were the most successful binders. The addition
of charcoal fines generally detracted from the physical ability of the briquette to hold together. Corn
husks and cow dung were not successful as a binder during this field campaign.
It should be stressed that cow dung and corn husks can be successful binding materials, but were not
with the present materials and processing techniques (see the Appendix for details). Empirical evidence
shows that corn husks are most successful when partially decomposed, however the material has a slow
decomposition process. This decomposition period drastically increases the production Takt time, which
requires increased resources (cash, space, labor, etc.). During this project, the corn husks were charred
in attempt to release the fibers, but this ruined the structural integrity of the material.
Unfortunately, coffee pulps were not evaluated as a filler due to a lack of processing options for the
material. There are various material processing options that exist in practice, such as a hammer mill or
the Easy BioGrind from Engineers Without Borders Cincinnati Professional Chapter.

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Burn Test
Stoves
Core burn tests were completed on an ONIL improved stove (Figure 4) and a comal conventional stove
(Figure 4). The comal conventional stove is essentially an open fire with a round ceramic cooking
surface placed on top of supports of rock, blocks or concrete. The ONIL stove represents the highest
performing biomass stove currently available in Guatemala. The stove uses rocket stove principles along
with a plancha and chimney.
Lastly, every briquette was tested in a partial gasifier stove for validation purposes (Figure 6). The
partial gasifier is made from two 1 gallon paint cans. The bottom can has 11 holes in the bottom for
primary air. The can was raised 1 off the ground. Secondary air was supplied to the fire through 12
holes surrounding the circumference of the top can sitting directly on top of the first.

Figure 4: El Comal Conventional

Figure 5: ONIL Improved Stove

Figure 6: Partial Gasifier Stove

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Lighting and Loading

5 to 6 briquettes were used in each trial. In the comal, the briquettes were piled together with the firestarter in the middle (Figure 7). In the ONIL, 4 or 5 briquettes were piled vertically in the combustion
chamber and one was placed vertically in the feed chamber similarly to the Rok Briquette Stove (Figure
9 & Figure 8). As per local customs, Jocote, or sap impregnated wood, was used for starting the fire.
Approximately 5 pieces of 5 grams of fire-starter were used during lighting.

Figure 7: Fuel Briquettes in Comal

Figure 9: Vertically Oriented Briquettes in ONIL with Jocote

Figure 8: Fuel Briquette in Feed Chamber of ONIL Stove

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Results
The results of the burn tests are outlined in Table 3. No briquettes were able to sustain a fire within the
comal conventional stove. Each permutation run in the comal filled the kitchen with smoke.
None of the briquettes with a banana binder were able to combust in either the comal or ONIL. The
briquettes with coffee husks as a filler were also unable to perform in either available stove.
The paper+sawdust briquette was the only permutation that was able to complete a representative
cooking event cook tortillas to the satisfaction of the cook. Interestingly, the paper+sawdust+
charcoal briquette was not able to cook tortillas properly. Moreover, the moisture content of the
paper+sawdust was almost double that of the paper+sawdust+charcoal at 22.2% as compared to 11.5%
(Table 5 in the Appendix). However, it should be noted that the paper+sawdust started with 6
briquettes compared to 5.
Table 3: Results of Burn Tests in Comal and ONIL

Binders

Fillers

Material

Paper

Cardboard

Dung

Corn Husks

Banana Peel

(# of briq.)

(# of briq.)

(# of briq.)

(# of briq.)

(# of briq.)

Sawdust

ONIL (6): Lit

immediately;
made tortillas
quickly; family
satisfied

ONIL (5): Slow to

light, cooked
tortillas but too
slowly

ONIL (6): burned;

not enough power
to make tortillas

Sawdust +
Charcoal

ONIL (5): Lit

slowly; made
tortillas slowly

N/A

ONIL (6): charred;

smoldered; could
not make tortillas

Coffee Husks

Comal (5):
smoldered and
went out; lots of
smoke

N/A

Coffee Husks
+ Charcoal

Comal (5):
smoldered and
went out; lots of
smoke

ONIL (5):
smoldered,
charred and went
out

Misc. permutation

Cofee:Banana:Corn ONIL: Could not light

Each permutation of briquettes was placed into the partial gasifier to determine if they could combust in
a tailored environment. Every briquette burned with ease in this stove.

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Briquettes and Stoves

It has been demonstrated that an appropriate combustion environment is fundamental for

briquettes to be burned successfully. Without an optimized combustion environment
briquettes will not function properly. The briquettes able to ignite and sustain a flame are likely
to produce an overwhelming amount of smoke, similar to how wood responds to a 3-stone fire
environment. Stoves and fuels must be addressed together. The smoke in Figure 10 and clean
burning in Figure 11 demonstrate this lesson. Further evidence was provided as smoke was
generated when the top paint can was removed from the partial gasifier. The smoke
immediately turned into a flame when the top can was replaced.

Figure 10: Smokey Fire in a Comal

Figure 11: No Smoke in Partial Gasifier

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Business Opportunities with Waste Materials

1. Of the materials that are viable from a supply perspective, there are only two that are viable
from a technical standpoint (passed the Physical Integrity and Burn Tests): cardboard and
sawdust. Both of these materials are cheaply and consistently available at substantial quantities
around Chiquimula. Furthermore these two materials are among the easiest and fastest to
procure and process. However, this is a niche market only with a ceiling of approximately
1200lbs. per month.
Note: the glue must be removed from cardboard before combustion for health purposes.
2. Fuel briquettes aside, coffee pulps are the most interesting waste stream in Chiquimula. This
represents the largest, centrally located waste stream in the department and it is currently
unutilized. Furthermore it is an environmental and public health hazard as of present. There
are two opportunities that have been identified with this waste material: organic fertilizers and
power generation. Both options should be deeply considered.

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References
Palacios, M. (2011). Preliminary Market Study of Organic Fertilizer and Firewood (Charcoal) in
Guatemala; with Emphasis on the Region of Chiquimula. Guatemala City, Guatemala:
TechnoServe Guatemala.
The Legacy Foundation. (2003). Fuel Briquette Making: A User's Manual. Oregon.

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Appendix
Weights per liter of each wet processed material
Table 4: Wet weight processed materials

Material

Wet weight per liter

(kg)

Paper

1.21

Cardboard

1.36

Banana

1.37

Dung

1.185

Corn husk

0.46

Sawdust

0.2

Coffee husk

0.33

Charcoal fines

0.63

Material Processing
Paper & Cardboard: Paper and cardboard were both soaked in water until it was turned into a pulp.
Cow dung: Cow dung was put through a hand molino grinder yielding fine grinds that were soaked in
water for one day.
Corn Husk: Partially decomposed corn husks were found on local farms in the Chiquimula department.
The husks were sorted to only accept the most decomposed potion, which was then torn and soaked in
water for three days.
Banana Peels: Banana peels were put through the hand molino and the un-processed chunks were
removed. The end result was a slop.
Sawdust: N/A
Coffee Husks: The coffee husks were sifted to remove any pulps or twigs. Only the fine husks
remained. Some husks were dampened for four days, however this had a counterproductive response
during Integrity Testing.
Charcoal fines: Charcoal fines were sorted to remove larger chunks. Dust and small particles remained.
Coffee pulps: N/A

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Moisture Contents and Volumes of Briquettes

A sample size of 2 briquettes was evaluated for each permutation to determine the moisture content
and density. The weight of each permutation was measured with an Edlund SR-1000c 1000g/5g analog
scale. The moisture content was determined by weighing the briquette after air drying and then at
approximately 0% moisture content. The briquettes were dried in a Sharp 1000W/R-21LV microwave
for 3:00 or until the weight stopped reducing with increased time. A sample of the
cardboard+sawdust+charcoal briquettes was not recorded through human error.
Table 5: Moisture Content and Density of Briquettes

Composition

Weight

Dry Weight

(g)

(g)

Moisture
Content

Volume

Dry Density

(cc)

(g/cc)

(%)

Paper+ Sawdust

180

140

22.2%

311

0.225

Paper+ Sawdust+
Charcoal

260

230

11.5%

389

0.296

Paper+
Coffee Husks

240

195

18.75%

369

0.264

Paper+
Coffee Husks+
Charcoal

305

240

21.3%

428

0.281

Cardboard+
Sawdust

137

83

39.4%

389

0.213

Cardboard+
Sawdust+
Charcoal

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Cardboard+
Coffee Husks

690

570

17.4%

467

0.204

Cardboard+
Coffee Husks+
Charcoal

152

120

21.1%

389

0.154

Banana+
Sawdust

265

175

33.9%

350

0.250

Banana+
Sawdust+
Charcoal

310

220

29%

369

0.298