Coal Briquettes

Coal Briquettes

Coal briquettes are hard and compressed block of coal dust or various biomass materials which are combustible, such as wood chips, paper, charcoal, sawdust and peat. Widely used as fuel in various domestic and commercial sectors, coal briquettes can also be made from slack coal powder which are bonded together by binders such as bentonite, sodium silicate, starch, white cement etc. Coal briquettes have a superior calorific value than mineral coal and are also comparatively less of an environment pollutant. Furthermore, these briquettes can also be made from low grade coal, thus enabling optimum utilization of coal reserves.

Raw coal that is widely used today suffers from many drawbacks such as high composition of moisture, sulfur along with incomplete and spontaneous combustion etc. The process of coal briquet-ting allows to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks related to raw coal, thus enhancing overall efficiency and also safety(both in the short term and also long term). It is because of this that there is a growing realization amongst people about the need to replace raw mineral coal by coal briquettes.

Coal Briquettes as a Substitute

Since coal is perhaps the cheapest fuel available, the briquettes are ideal to be used as a substitute

for other costly solid fuels like :

Coke briquettes

Charcoal

Firewood

Wood briquettes

After Manufacture, Coal Briquettes are Tested for Quality on :

Proximate analysis

Moisture test

Calorific value test

Sulfur test

Application Areas of Coal Briquettes

Boilers

Kilns

Gasifiers

Blast furnaces

Domestic heating

Space heating

Features of Coal Briquettes

These are resistant to weathering and also impacts.

The have optimal tolerance to rough handling.

These give a comparatively higher heat output than charcoal and raw coal.

The have a higher compressive strength and water resistance than biomass briquettes.

Coal briquettes have high specific density and also bulk density, thus allowing these to burn for a longer time than firewood, charcoal etc.