Characteristics of bio pellets from spent coffee grounds and pinewood charcoal based on composition and grinding method

Abstract

One type of biomass that has promising potential for bio pellet production is spent coffee grounds (SCGs). However, previous studies have shown that SCGs in bio pellets cause a lot of smoke. Therefore, they need to be mixed with a material that has a higher calorific value to produce better quality pellets. One material that can be used is pine wood because it has a natural resin content that can increase the calorific value. The aim of this study was to examine the quality of bio pellets produced with SCGs and pine wood charcoal at different particle sizes. The charcoal was ground using either a hammer mill (HM) or a ball mill (BM). Pine wood charcoal was mixed with SCGs at ratios of SCGs to pine wood charcoal of 4:6 and 6:4 by weight, respectively, and the adhesive used a tapioca with a composition ratio 5% of the raw material. The bio pellets were produced using a manual pellet press. The quality of the bio pellets was assessed based on Indonesian National Standard (SNI) 8021-2014, and the physical observations include flame length, burning rate, and compressive strength. The average water content, ash content, and calorific value of the bio pellets were in accordance with SNI 8021-2014, but the density and ash content values were below the standard values. The BM variation of bio pellets had a higher compressive strength than the HM variation, and the 4:6 BM variation had the longest burning time compared with 4:6 HM.

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