Investigation of the Mechanical and Combustion Characteristics of Cocoa Pod and Coconut Husk Composite Briquette

The majority of Ghana's population uses wood biomass as a source of energy, but as energy demand rises, the forest cover will no longer be able to provide the need. As a result, there is a pressing need to look for sustainable alternative energy sources. The project is focused on the mechanical and combustion characteristics of coconut husk and cocoa pod composite briquette. Dry coconut husk and cocoa pod were collected, carbonized at a temperature of 450ºC and hammer milled. They were then mixed into various mixture ratios at the required particle sizes and bonded together with the help of starch before manually compacting them into the desired shape. The resulting composite briquette were dried for a week before determining their mechanical and combustion characteristics. CNH: CCP 20:80 was the best mix ratio, with the highest calorific value (25.83 MJ/kg), good moisture and ash content, as well as good density and durability index. The density of the briquettes increased from 389 Kg/m3 to 608 Kg/m3 at 100:0, 80:20, 60:40, 50:50, 40:60, 20:80, 0:100 (CNH: CCP); the durability index increased from 97.36% to 99.96% when the cocoa pod was increased. Moisture content, ash content, as the cocoa pod mix ratios were decreased from 6.43%, 5.14%, and 10.12% to 4.53%, and calorific value increased from 17.73MJ/kg to 25.83 MJ/kg respectively. The analysis of the production cost of briquettes revealed that 1 kg of briquettes should be sold at Gh¢3.11 in order to make a 10% profit. The resulting briquettes may be used as an alternative energy source since they exhibited mechanical and combustion properties that were comparable to those of wood and charcoal.