Briquetting of charcoal from residue of pyrolyzed palm kernel shells

Pyrolysis of palm kernel shells results a by-product of charcoal, which can then be used as raw material to make briquettes. This research aimed to identify the influence of binder varieties and pyrolysis temperature on the quality of the resulting briquettes. The binders used were tapioca starch and poly(vinyl alcohol) at ratios of 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9% and 10%. The parameters tested to identify the quality of the resulting briquettes were compressive strength, water resistance and calorific value. The results showed that with poly(vinyl alcohol) binder, the highest compressive strength obtained was 106 kgf/cm 2 at 9%, whereas the highest compressive strength value for tapioca starch binder was 91 kgf/cm 2 at 10%. The highest water resistance was obtained at 10% for both binders: 70 seconds for poly(vinyl alcohol) and 288 seconds for tapioca starch. The highest calorific value was obtained at 10% for both types of binders: 5541.47 cal/g with poly(vinyl alcohol) and 5494.76 cal/g with tapioca starch.