H S Singh, the managing director of GSFDC, said, “Biomass briquettes are made from tonnes of agricultural waste that is compressed through a machine and is then converted into high-density and energy-concentrated fuel.”
Mostly, agricultural waste such as Prosopis Julliflora is either not used or burnt inefficiently causing air pollution. “By compressing the agricultural waste, the material gets converted into log wood of high density. Biomass briquettes are a ready substitute of coal and cheaper than that too. Furthermore, it does not produce any poisonous gas such as sulphur dioxide and the combustion is more uniform compared to coal,” said Singh, who recently visited Rajkot, which is considered to be a hub sof biomass briquettes.
Singh said, “We will buy some machines from Rajkot costing around Rs 15 lakh so that we can convert a huge chunk of agricultural waste into briquettes for use in industries.” It maye be mentioned that while the calorific value of lignite is 3,400 calories and of coal is 4,500 calories, that of agricultural briquettes is higher. The calorific value of castor stick is 4,300, of saw dust and groundnut shell is 4,500, and of straw is 4,400 calories.
Mukesh Rawal, the general manager of Rajkot-based Radhe Engineering Company, said: “We have been developing biomass briquettes machinery for the last 15 years and have exported it to South Africa, Turkey, Pakistan, Uganda and Tanzania.The state forest officials have also approached us to buy machinery from us.”
