Open Access

ARTICLE

Charcoal Briquette Manufactured from Indonesian Sugar Palm Bunches (Arenga longipes Mogea) as Biomass-Based New Renewable Energy

Luthfi Hakim^1,*, Apri Heri Iswanto^1,*, Yunida Syafriani Lubis², Adam Jagwani Wirawan¹, Ridwanti Batubara¹, Nam Hum Kim³, Petar Antov⁴, Tomasz Rogoziński⁵, Lee Seng Hua⁶, Lum Wei Chen⁷, Rangabhashiyam Selvasembian⁸, Jayusman², Jajang Sutiawan⁹

1 Laboratory of Forest Product Technology, Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Deli Serdang, 20353, Indonesia
2 Research Center for Applied Botany, National Research and Innovation Agency, Cibinong, 16911, Indonesia
3 Department of Forest Biomaterials Engineering, College of Forest and Environmental Sciences, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, 24341, Republic of Korea
4 Faculty of Forest Industry, University of Forestry, Sofia, 1797, Bulgaria
5 Department of Furniture Design, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poznan, 60627, Poland
6 Department of Wood Industry, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Cawangan Pahang Kampus Jengka, Kuantan, 26400, Malaysia
7 Department of Bio and Natural Resource, Faculty of Bioengineering and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Jeli, 17600, Malaysia
8 Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, School of Engineering and Sciences, SRM University-AP, Amaravati, 522240, India
9 Research Center for Biomass and Bioproduct, National Research and Innovation Agency, Cibinong, 16911, Indonesia

* Corresponding Authors: Luthfi Hakim. Email: ; Apri Heri Iswanto. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Recent Advances on Renewable Materials)

Journal of Renewable Materials 2025, 13(3), 637-650. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2025.056365

Received 21 July 2024; Accepted 17 January 2025; Issue published 20 March 2025

Abstract

The utilisation of sugar palm bunches-charcoal briquettes (SPB-CB) represents a significant advancement in biomass energy. This study aimed to analyse the properties of charcoal briquettes produced from SPB (Arenga longipes). The experiment involved categorising the dimensions of charcoal powder into three specific particle sizes: 20–40 mesh, 40–60 mesh, and particles that could pass through a 60-mesh screen. The charcoal powder will be combined with tapioca as a binding agent at three specific concentrations: 11%, 13%, and 15%. The research findings indicate that the samples underwent 60 mesh passes achieved the maximum briquette density, with an average value of 0.58 g/cm³. The highest attainable compressive strength sample value was 27.52 kgf/cm², which was attained by employing 60 mesh size and 15% adhesive concentration. The calorimetric investigation showed that SPB-charcoal had the highest calorific value of 25.88 MJ/kg, while the SPB-CB had a little lower caloric value of 24.64 MJ/kg. The ash content and volatile matter values showed that the briquettes with the lowest ash content had values of 10.49% and 32.65%, respectively. Furthermore, the carbon fixation values varied between 16.65% and 52.36%. Thermogravimetric analysis indicates that charcoal derived from SPB exhibits superior thermal characteristics compared to charcoal briquettes. However, thermal properties of SPB charcoal do not show significant differences when compared to charcoal briquettes that have been processed with a mesh size of 20–40 and include 11% adhesive. According to this research, it may be inferred that charcoal briquettes made from sugar palm bunches meet the requirements specified in SNI 01-6235-2000.

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