Thermal and physical characterization of briquettes produced from wood, charcoal fines, and plastic packaging waste

Abstract

Briquettes represent a sustainable and viable approach for the reutilization of solid urban and industrial waste. Their incorporation into wood‐based briquettes aims to generate thermal energy through combustion, enabling application in industrial thermal systems already equipped with flue‐gas emission control. In this study, briquette compositions were developed using a mixture of three waste materials: wood, charcoal fines, and plastic packaging. The thermal and physical properties of the resulting briquettes were subsequently analyzed. The results indicate that the inclusion of charcoal fines impairs briquette compaction due to the absence of binding agents. In contrast, the addition of plastic packaging waste, which melts at the processing temperature, promotes the formation of heterogeneous agglomerates within the briquette structure. Thermal analysis revealed that both charcoal and plastic residues exhibit lower ash content compared to wood. The calculated activation energy ranged from 200.6 to 216.0 kJ/mol for wood, 136.5 to 174.7 kJ/mol for charcoal, and 338.9 to 356.7 kJ/mol for plastic. Among the samples analyzed, the briquette composed of 80% wood, 10% charcoal, and 10% plastic showed the highest calorific value. The incorporation of charcoal and plastic waste significantly enhanced the energy content of the briquettes, demonstrating the potential of this composite formulation for efficient energy recovery.