Bio Briquette

History of Bio Briquetting

People have been using traditional animal dung briquettes for cooking in rural Nepal since time immemorial. These low-pressure traditional briquettes made from animal dung and biomass (rice straw, jute sticks, etc) is of different shapes, sizes and composition.

The first biomass briquetting plant Nepal Bio-Extruder Industry in Nepal was established in 1982 in Thapathali Kathmandu with the annual production capacity of 900 metric tons. It used the pyrolyzing technology based on rice husk. Another factory with annual production capacity of 1200 tons of briquettes was established in Butwal (1984) and a third one followed in Dharan (1984) with annual production of 600 tons.

One of the first engineers of Nepal, Mr. Mohan Dhoj Basnet was involved in research work on briquetting of charred rice husk using molasses as binder under the sponsorship of (RO)NAST during 1984-86 in Teha Bahal, Kathmandu. The charred rice husk was manually pressed into small oval shaped briquettes.

The screw extrusion technology to produce rice husk briquettes was demonstrated in 1986 in Khumaltar by a Japanese private company supported by Japanese Embassy. This event seemed to have fostered the promotion of rice husk briquetting industries in Nepal. In 1987/88 four extrusion type briquetting machinery were imported from Sun Chain Company of Taiwan and briquetting factories were established in Simara, Hetauda, Chitwan and Parwanipur. These briquetting industries were in operation till 1995. Later, these briquetting industries closed down due various reasons and only one “Mhaipi Briquette Udyog Pvt Ltd of Nawalparasi” is in operation at present.

Traditional animal dung briquettes

During 1992-95 (RO)NAST and JICA first introduced and tested coal beehive (honeycomb) briquettes along with stoves, but could not be promoted because Nepalese coal was of low grade. Later, this low-grade coal/lignite with desulfurising additives was blended with biomass to get biobriquettes. For the first time Banmara was identified as a potential biomass raw material for biobriquetting in Janakpur, Sagarnath Forestry project in 1993.

In 2000, King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC) and Institute for Himalayan Conservation (IHC) of Japan introduced a roller press briquetting machine for production of such biobriquettes. In the meantime, (RO)NAST/AIT introduced a simplified rice husk briquetting machine from Bangladesh similar to the Taiwanese briquetting machine.

In 2002/03 Beehive (honeycomb) briquettes from charcoal and clay was introduced from India and promoted by Dr Krishan Raj Shrestha through Center for Energy and Environment with some adaptive research. Later, his work was recognized by (RO)NAST in 2005 and awarded the Mohan Dhoj Basnet Renewable Energy Award, which brought this technology in the limelight. Since then these biobriquettes have been gaining popularity in rural Nepal.

In May of 2007, FECOFUN and IDS Nepal with the support of UNDP-GEF/SGP organized one seminar entitled the “National Seminar on Community Based Bio-Briquettes”.  Many other organizations contributed invaluable support through the presentation of papers including Practical Action, Nepal Academy of Science & Technology (NAST), Kathmandu University – Department of Mechanical Engineering, SEED and RRAFDC. The seminar’s main objectives were to interact and enhance research and development in the field of bio-briquette, promote briquettes as a low cost, efficient and environmentally friendly source and lesson learning for further improvements of briquettes through feedback.  The seminar was a great success and it is anticipated that future seminars will be conducted to further improve the promotion and utilization of the bio-briquette.

The research and experiments conducted by the aforementioned professionals has provided the stepping-stones necessary for other organizations to promote the bio-briquette technology into the future.  Presently in Nepal, communities are producing bio-briquettes with the support of many organizations including FECOFUN, IDS Nepal, ICIMOD and NAST.  With the continued collaboration, partnerships and networking amongst these and other organizations, the bio-briquette will become a sustainable energy source for rural and urban areas in Nepal as well as globally.

Information and expertise regarding the history of the bio-briquette graciously provided by Dr. Ramesh Man Singh, Biomass Laboratory, Faculty of Technology, NAST 2008