Processing Wood Twig Waste into Biomass Pellets Using Cassava-Peel-Based Natural Binders
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1
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan 20155, Indonesia
2
Energy and Advanced Material Manufacturing Research Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan 20155, Indonesia
Corresponding author
Zaid Perdana Nasution
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan 20155, Indonesia
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ABSTRACT
Wood branch waste and cassava peel waste are types of organic waste whose quantities continue to increase, but their utilization remains suboptimal, leading to accumulation, aesthetic degradation, and odor. Wood waste has a high calorific value of approximately 4,300 cal/gram, making it suitable as a fuel source, while cassava peel waste has a high starch content (93.46%), which acts as an adhesive for biomass pellets production. Utilizing these wastes as biomass pellets helps minimize the accumulation of biomass in the environment and provides an alternative way to add their economic value. This study examines the quality of optimal biomass pellets produced from wood twig waste using a binder made from cassava peel waste, in accordance with SNI 8675-2018. The experimental methodology employed a Completely Randomized Design (CRD), which included chopping, mixing, compacting, sun drying, and oven drying at 105°C. The variations tested were the wood binder mixtures (95%:5% and 90%:10%), along with oven drying times of 2 hours and 4 hours, each repeated twice. The findings indicated that Sample 4 (90%:10% with 4 hours of drying) was the best pellet, attaining the highest calorific value (4,024 cal/g), bound carbon content (11.83%), density (409 kg/m³), water content (8.35%), ash content (4.3%), volatile matter content (75.6%), and combustion rate (0.241 g/minute). Overall, the pellet characteristics met the standards for water and ash content but failed to meet the standards for density, volatile matter, bound carbon, and calorific value