Abundant agricultural waste is produced in millions of tonnes from vast agricultural areas but they are disposed inefficiently causing extensive pollution to the environment. Apart from the problems of transportation, storage, and handling, the direct burning of these agro residues (loose biomass) in conventional grates is associated with very low thermal efficiency and widespread air pollution.The conversion efficiencies are as low as 40%. Most of this biomass goes to waste by being dumped into landfills and even burned, which causes air pollution. We can use biomass to create energy and fuel, as well as feed and other agricultural necessities.

This project puts forward a Briquette making machine of simple design which could be manufactured locally and can be run purely mechanically.

With increasing fuel prices, Briquettes are a very good alternative for eco-friendly and efficient power generation. Briquettes are immeasurably cleaner than the other fuel alternatives. Briquettes can be produced in a variety of sizes and have a long shelf-life. Agro residue volumes can be reduced by up to 90%.This creates a significant savings on transportation/handling/storage costs/more convenient disposal.

The machine is compartmentalised into three stages. (Design is done using Pro-E software).
Stage 1 (Top compartment): All the raw materials, binder material (manure) are dumped in proportions. They are cut into small pieces by the bladed shaft. The varying cross-sectional hopper allows the material to stay in the compartment and properly mixed.
Stage 2 (Middle compartment): the mixture moves amongst two rollers which squeeze the mixture.
Stage 3 (Bottom compartment): A tapered screw will thoroughly mix, compress & squeeze the Biomass out of a die( at the end of the shaft) in the form of hollow cylindrical briquettes. A perforated plate is placed next to the die to squeeze of any liquid present. A cutter cuts the briquettes in definite sizes. Hollow briquettes allow the passage of air through it more profusely and hence more combustible.

The shaft is rotated by pedalling, which in turn rotates the bladed shaft in the first compartment, rollers in the second and the conical screw in the third compartment.

Domestic usage, Briquettes are widely used in all thermal applications, Gasifier System applications, Refractory Industries, Chemical Industries, Vegetable Plants, Leather Industries, Brick making units, Ceramic Industries.

Market Scope:
In addition to this commercial aspect, the importance of this technology lies in the employment of farmers and rural people who can earn money from selling their own agro waste. They can make Briquettes on their own for their domestic usage as a substitute for wood and also these finished products can be easily marketed.