Comparing energy demand of densified briquettes of ground and unground hazelnut husks under compression loading

Abstract

The study compared the energy consumption (J) of briquettes produced from the ground and unground hazelnut husks using a universal compacting machine and a pressing chamber of 60 mm diameter with a plunger. Other parameters evaluated were deformation (mm), thickness (mm) and hardness (kN/mm). The analysis of variance results proved that the applied force, material type and interaction had a significant effect (P< 0.05 or F-ratio >F-critical) on energy requirement of briquettes compaction from the ground and unground hazelnut husks. Ground hazelnut husks briquettes consumed more energy compared to unground hazelnut husks briquettes. The study is still ongoing where the varying effects of moisture content and particles size on energy demand and other biomass densification properties are under consideration. Therefore, the results presented here are preliminary.