The Development of Sustainable Energy Briquettes Using Coconut Dregs Charcoal and Tapioca Flour as Adhesives

Abstract

The growing human population results in an increase in energy needs and consumption. Energy is one of the basic needs of human life. An example of this case is the increase in the need for fuel. Biomass is an alternative energy source that is processed from solid waste and used as a fuel source. In this study, researchers used coconut dregs charcoal and tapioca flour as materials and went through several processes. The first was the drying process of raw materials (coconut dregs). The second was the carbonization process of coconut dregs which took about 1 hour until the dregs turned into black like charcoal. The third was the process of grinding and filtering. The fourth was the process of mixing adhesive materials and molding briquettes. The fifth was the drying process using an oven with a temperature of 100°C. The sixth was the drying process and determining the quality of briquettes based on moisture content, ash content, and density. The percentage composition between coconut dregs charcoal and tapioca flour as adhesives was set into several formulas starting from formula 1 to formula 6. In the measurement of moisture content with the ASTM D-3173-03 standard, the researchers obtained the lowest moisture content value of 4.459 and a highest moisture content value of 13.216. Meanwhile, in the measurement of ash content with the ASTM D-3174-04 standard, the researchers obtained the lowest value of 4.459 and the highest value of 10.113. Furthermore, in the measurement of the density, the researchers obtained the lowest value of 0.521237 and the highest value of 0.970579.