Effect of Adhesive Type on the Quality of Coconut Shell Charcoal Briquettes Prepared by the Screw Extruder Machine

Abstract

Indonesia is one of the largest coconut-producing countries in the world. The utilization of coconut shell waste into briquettes will increase the selling value and become a great export opportunity. However, the effect of adhesives on the quality of coconut shell charcoal briquettes made using screw extruder machine has not been widely studied. This study aims to determine the effect of adhesive type on the quality of coconut shell charcoal bri-quettes. The process of fabricating briquettes in this study included crushing, mixing, blending, pressing, and dry-ing. In the mixing process, 3 types of adhesives were used, namely tapioca flour (Briquette_1), cassava flour (Briquette_2), and modified cassava flour (Briquette_3) with a concentration of 5% of the weight of coconut shell charcoal powders. The quality of the resulting briquettes and commercial briquettes will be evaluated by moisture content, ash content, volatile matter, fixed carbon, calorific value, density, compressive, and drop test testing. The results of this research showed that the type of adhesive had a significant effect on the quality of the briquettes produced. Specimen Briquette_1 had better quality than commercial briquettes (Briquette_4) and other briquette specimens. The test results showed that Briquette_1 produced briquettes with better compressive strength and friability than the other specimens, at 6.95 N/mm2 and 4.44%, respectively. The moisture content, ash content, fixed carbon, and calorific value of Briquette_1 have met the requirements set by the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) number 01-6235-2000. Meanwhile, the volatile matter content and density of Briquette_1 are by the standards of Japan and the United States America (USA).