The effects of briquetting pressure on banana-peel briquette and the banana waste in northern Thailand

Abstract

Banana is considered as one of the most important agricultural products of Northern Thailand. A large amount of banana peel has been left as garbage after industrial processes. The raw material is plentiful and has low economic value. Therefore, the characteristics of banana-peel briquettes including banana peel properties were investigated. The briquettes were produced with pressures ranging from 3 to 11 MPa. Molasses was used as the binder. According to some standard tests, it was found that briquettes produced with compaction pressure over 7 MPa passed both impact resistance and compressive strength tests. The density-pressure relationship and strength-pressure relationship over studied range were also developed and validated. © 2009 Science Publications.