Optimization of fuel briquette production from cassava peels, plantain peels and corn cobs

Mechanical properties enable to handle storage and transport of fuel briquette. Binder is key element of these mechanical properties. Biobinder is more and more used to avoid pollution and improve heating value. The goal of this study is to determine the best mixture from corn cobs, cassava and plantain peels using simplex centroid mixture design. The result reveals that the proportion of cassava peels influences positively the strength, negatively the low heating value (LHV) and the degradation rate of briquette (DRB). The proportion of plantain peels has negligible effect on the strength and the LHV and influences slightly the DRB. The proportion of corn cobs influences positively the LHV, the DRB and the strength. The superposition of the iso responses curves shows that the 20, 20, 60 for defined as the best mixture. The index resistance impact (IRI) of 1000 illustrates that the briquettes obtained from the best mixture can be handled without breaking. Values of 35% for thermal efficiency and 3.5 KW for fire power reveal that these briquettes are suitable for domestic and industrial application.