Fuel briquettes from sawdust: how to make a press for making euro firewood
- Eurowood production process
- Homemade fixture
Sawdust briquettes are an alternative to conventional firewood. They are distinguished by low ash content, have compact dimensions, are convenient for transportation, storage, and are characterized by high heat output (5 kW per 1 kg). The only downside is the price.
You can make fuel briquettes yourself from inexpensive raw materials.
Eurowood production process
First of all, it is necessary to understand industrial technology in order to follow its principles in the future.
First, sawdust, shavings, larger wood waste are crushed. Then the raw material is thoroughly dried until the moisture level is reduced by 90%. In addition to wood, briquettes for heating may include waste from the agricultural industry: husks of grain crops, husks of seeds. If the briquetted sample consists of coal dust, it is better not to use it in everyday life.
After crushing and drying, the main stage of production is carried out - pressing sawdust. For this, a briquetting press or an extruder is used, depending on the chosen fuel molding method. Extrusion and pressing - enhanced squeezing of the feedstock in order to obtain a binder of lignin (a natural component released from wood). It replaces adhesives, preserves the ecological cleanliness of the fuel. With the first method of squeezing, the hydraulic briquetting press develops a force of about 500 bar. Because of this, spontaneous heating of the raw material occurs, sawdust is knocked down into a dense rectangular brick.
Extrusion production technology is similar to the work of a meat grinder. The raw material enters the loading hopper and is pushed into a narrowed conical channel with the help of an auger. The screw press for the production of fuel briquettes produces a force of 800–1000 bar. It turns out a hexagonal briquette, additionally processed at high temperatures, cut into segments of equal caliber. The drawing shows the design of the screw assembly in section.
Briquetting at home
It is not entirely reasonable to buy a press for the production of fuel briquettes even if there are raw materials at hand: the purchase is unlikely to pay off, unless the sale of the finished product is established. Without a professional unit, it is impossible to maintain industrial technology, to obtain lignin, which serves as a connecting element. But there is a way to use wood production waste by introducing various binder ingredients into the sawdust composition:
- wallpaper glue,
- clay,
- paper.
In order not to purchase professional equipment for drying and pressing chips, more affordable technology is used. Wood waste is soaked in water, combined with clay in a ratio of 1:10. Instead of clay, soaked cardboard or wallpaper paste is added.
After mixing, the resulting mass is put into the form of a home-made machine for the production of briquettes, tightly squeezed by hand. Bricks are taken out, sent to dry.
Homemade fixture
The design of the sawdust press includes a mechanical screw drive. The perforated container, installed on the briquette, after filling with the prepared mixture, is placed under the frame. The screw is tightened by hand, pressure is created. It is not difficult to make a fixture, you do not need a diagram or drawings, just look at the picture.
The screw device has low productivity. Working with it requires a lot of time to load the form, tighten the screw. It is not very convenient to remove the briquette from the mold. An alternative is a home-made press, which provides a lever element and a special ejector for extracting the finished material. To optimize the production process, the bed is often equipped with not one, but two forms.
There is also a more advanced type of mechanized equipment. A home mini-press can be equipped not with a manual, but with a hydraulic jack, which can significantly increase fuel production. This briquette machine requires certain skills to assemble. But you should not count on providing the pressure necessary for squeezing lignin. It will not be possible to do without additional binding components.
Homemade fuel: pros and cons
Ordinary uncompressed chips are rarely used for heating: they burn out quickly, do not produce much heat, and not all boilers can operate on fine waste.
Mine boilers, equipment with an upper combustion method are suitable for burning sawdust. These are complex, expensive devices. It is easier to create a press for the production of briquettes yourself. But this is not very profitable either.
In the case of buying a press, ready-made eurofirewood will cost less. When working with a home-made press, the quality of the briquettes will be lower, and the process will take more time.
The production of fuel briquettes from sawdust should not be introduced only for profit. You will have to spend a lot of time on the workflow, equip places for drying blanks, storing fuel, and probably buying sawdust. But if there is a lot of time, there is excess waste, you can try to make fuel briquettes yourself. A more detailed description of the production process in the video.