Clean Technology in TARA’s Product Basket

Suvankar Bose                  suvo_bose1@rediffmail.com

 

In the beginning of the year 2002, TARA launched the Briquetting Technology package (both manual and electrically operated systems) for the production of Briquettes - an energy efficient clean fuel.

Clean Technology

 

The Briquettes are produced from the pyrolysed biomass char; as Biomass is one of the renewable energy sources whose potential has so far not been tapped. The most commonly available biomass types are woody (like ipomea, lantana, corn cobs), straws (all kinds of weeds) and residues (like groundnut shells).

TARA Manual briquetting

 

Char obtained from pyrolysis is fed in to the manually operated grinding machine. One person is required to operate the machine. The ground char is then used for the preparation of mix with fine clay, cow dung and water. A proportionate mix is made by adding and properly mixing 70 % fine charcoal powder, 25 % fine clay, 5 % cow dung and approximately 30 to 40 % water by the help of different volumetric containers. This homogeneous mixture is fed into the die box of the manual briquetting machine. The mix is pressed downwards under high pressure with a lever, to produce briquettes in a cylindrical shape.

These briquettes are wet, so they have to be placed in a sunny area for complete drying. The manual production system has been designed to get an output of 75kg. per day of briquettes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TARA manual briquetting machine

 

  Electrical Briquetting Workstation

     Equipment Cost - Rs. 1,25,000/-

    Production Capacity - 650 kg per day

    Persons required - 8 nos.

 

  Manual Briquetting Workstation

    Equipment Cost - Rs. 66,000/-

    Production Capacity - 90 kg per day

    Persons required - 6 nos.

 

Electrical production system

 

Char obtained from pyrolysis is ground in the electrically operated grinding machine. The ground char is then used for the preparation of mix with fine clay, cow dung and water. The homogeneous mixture is then fed into the hopper of the briquetting machine. The mix is pushed forward under high pressure through a taper nozzle to produce briquettes in cylindrical shape. The extruded briquettes are cut into equal pieces with a manually operated cutter. These briquettes are then rolled onto a tray. These briquettes are wet, so they have to put in sunny area for complete drying. The electrical production system has been designed to get an output of 100 Kg of briquettes per hour.

Product

 

TARA charcoal briquettes are the products of this technology. They are solid or hollow cylindrical shaped of 35 mm diameter with a height of 50 mm. The briquettes are easy to ignite and emit very little smoke. The product can be customised to give different flavours with addition of pine needles, wood shavings or even cow dung. The cost of production of briquettes is limited to Rs. 2 per Kg. and the sale price is upto Rs.5 per Kg. q

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TARA electrical briquetting machine

Biomass harvesting

 
 

Biomass firing using TARA charring drums

 
 

TARA pyrolysis drums

 
 

Grinding of charcoal

 

 

 

TARA electrical grinder

TARA manual grinder

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