Engineers Without Borders
Biomass Fuel Briquette Designs
Press, Molds, Chopper, Grinder and Composter

Parts List, Notes and Drawings
Most designs are in English and metric.


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Micro Compound Lever Briquette Press

MICRO COMPOUND LEVER PRESS FOR BIOMASS FUEL BRIQUETTES

How To Build A Micro Compound Lever Briquette Press Manual
North American lumber standard 1.5 inch x 3.5 inch(38 mm x 89 mm)
{Includes English and Metric Dimensions}, 2 MB, PDF

This small press works well for single-family use, classroom demonstrations, or a small village.
It features a small footprint and is easy to build using hand tools. There are two versions, Brace version or Notch version.

↓Translated to the following languages↓

Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, French, German Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, SwahiliUrdu, Vietnamese

  Video describing biomass briquette press.

  Video about building the biomass press by: Ms. Firtle in Greece

Micro Compound Lever Press 40mm X 100mm Lumber size

How To Build A Micro Compound Lever Briquette Press using 40mm x 100mm Lumber (Brace version) Manual 1.3 MB, PDF,

Metric Only

Biomass Molds

How to build Biomass Molds Compendium

How To Build Biomass Molds

Molds for shaping biomass into round, square, sticks, cubes and chunks.
Drilled, slotted, and split PVC molds along with slotted wood as an alternate to PVC.
Two caulking gun presses, split plunger pistons and more.

{English and Metric Dimensions}, PDF, 6 MB

↓Translated to the following languages↓

Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, French, German Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili Urdu, Vietnamese

Briquetting requires a biomass mold of one type or another, whether it is a small village, single family, or classroom operation. Here you have choices and there are no wrong or right, best or worst, good or bad molds for making biomass briquettes.

A variety of molds will work equally well and one type may be best suited for you depending on the availability of construction materials, tools, cost, skill level, and briquetting requirements. This document provides choices to consider when selecting a biomass mold design.

See Video for Split-Mold testing.

Biomass Fuel Formulations

Biomass Fuel Briquette Formulations + Caloric Values

 Biomass Fuel Briquette Formulations (English)

↓Translated to the following languages↓

Bengali, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, SwahiliUrdu, Vietnamese

Courtesy Richard Stanley at the Legacy Foundation

Caulking Gun Briquette Press

HOW TO BUILD A CAULKING GUN BRIQUETTE PRESS BY DR. ZAN SMITH

Caulking Gun Briquette Experiment  by: Dr. Zan Smith
Good for classroom demonstrations, formulation testing or small production runs.

See the updated version for this press in: How To Build Biomass Molds.

Caulking Gun Press by Joshua Guinto (See How To Build Biomass Molds for details)

Biomass Grinder

Dry Biomass Grinder Thrasher

How To Build A Dry Biomass Grinder/Thrasher Manual 2.5 MB PDF

Video describing the Dry Biomass Grinder Thrasher

The grinder was designed to grind a wide variety of dry biomasses, be low-cost and easy to build using mostly hand tools, easy to operate, easy to maintain and require no welding.

The grinding process is accomplished by rotating a concrete grinding head with its aggregate exposed against a matching concrete grinding cup with its aggregate exposed, and introducing biomass in between the two surfaces. The grinding cup is supported with two degrees of freedom in order to absorb the movement from an out-of-round grinding head or the accidental introduction of small stones or stick into the grinding space. The grinding head is easily rotated using a hand crank at a slow speed (under 90 rpm). The unit can be powered from a bicycle, a foot powered treadle, a gasoline motor or an electric motor. Grinding pressure is easily adjusted by the weight of a few rocks in a pail.  See the Engineering For Change page E4C.

Biomass Chopper Thrasher

 Portable Thrasher-Masher-Chopper
By the
Legacy Foundation

I recommend you consider this new design by Richard Stanley from the Legacy Foundation. Preparing biomass for briquette production remains a crucial step in the briquetting process. Richard has developed a very successful idea as described in his new construction manual. The chopper was fine tuned and tested in rural Guatemala and Nicaragua for three years)

Designing a low cost grinder featuring ease of use, and easy to build, has been a challenge for both Richard an me. We often work closely together in a effort to bring you the best ideas possible. You can contact Richard HERE.

Biomass Chopper Cutter

How To Build A Wet/Dry Biomass Chopper-Cutter

How To Build A Biomass Copper-Cutter Manual 600K PDF

Spanish Manual Version Here

Video describing the Wet-Dry Biomass Chopper Cutter

See Biomass Chopper by Joshua Guinto

Video test cutting prairie grass for a biogas project at the Cincinnati Zoo

The chopper/cutter was designed to cut both wet and dry biomass. The chopper is easy to build using mostly hand tools, easy to operate, easy to maintain and requires no welding. The unit runs efficiently at a low crank speed and can be easily operated by women or children. See the Engineering For Change page E4

 

Virginia Tech has modified the original design to satisfy their needs: Read Details Here

 

Biomass Composter

How To Build A Biomass Composter

How To Build A Biomass Composter – Rotatable and Portable 2.6 MB, PDF

Spanish Manual Version

Using either a plastic or steel drum you can easily fabricate a barrel composter for the aeration of biomass that is both rotatable and portable.

Large Compound-Lever Biomass Briquette Press

HOW TO BUILD A LARGE COMPOUND LEVER PRESS FOR BIOMASS FUEL BRIQUETTES

How To Build A Large Compound-Lever Biomass Briquette Press  340K, PDF  

This is the traditional large compound lever press used all over the world, and works with molds diameters from 3 inch to 6 inch. 

Mold designs have greatly improved since the original design of this press and we suggest downloading the How To Build Biomass Molds. 
See the compendium for a variety of biomass mold suggestions.

Small Biomass Briquette Press

HOW TO BUILD A SMALL SINGLE LEVER PRESS FOR SQUARE BIOMASS FUEL BRIQUETTES

How To Build A Small Single-Lever Square Biomass Briquette Press Manual  570K, PDF
If PVC is not available or expensive in your area then the 3 inch square wood mold could be an alternate.

Mold designs have greatly improved since the original design of this press and we suggest downloading:
How To Build Biomass Molds for a variety of biomass mold suggestions. We now have a better method for making a square briquette using a wood mold.

HOW TO BUILD A SMALL SINGLE LEVER PRESS FOR ROUND BIOMASS FUEL BRIQUETTES

How To Build A Small Biomass Briquette Press 
English,
880K, PDF

How To Build A Small Biomass Briquette Press 
French,
600K, PDF

Suggested for use as a classroom demonstration briquetting  press or where construction resources are limited.

Mold designs have greatly improved since the original design of this press and we suggest downloading:
How To Build Biomass Molds. See the compendium for a variety of biomass mold suggestions.

The Legacy Foundation

Briquetting Video by The Legacy Foundation    

Briquette Ratchet Press by The Legacy Foundation

If you have not read the briquetting instructions available at the Legacy foundation, I highly recommend reading them thoroughly prior to starting a briquetting operation.
They also have several biomass briquette presses made from metal.  See them
HERE

The Legacy Foundation provides training, technology and media services for biomass fuel briquette production, environmental conservation and income generation throughout the world.
They have a number of excellent manuals on briquetting. Visit them HERE  

Engineers Without Borders UK Sugar Cane Waste Briquettes

Producing Fuel Briquettes from Sugarcane Waste 600K, PDF
By: Chesta Tiwari, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Sheffield

Rice Husk Briquettes

 Development of Rice Husk Briquettes for Use as a Fuel  80K, PDF
By: D.B. Yahaya and T.G. Lbrahim

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bayero University, Kano

Cheese Press

Homemade Cheese Press using the Micro Compound Lever Press Homemade Cheese Press using the Micro Compound Lever Press

Adaptable as a Cheese Press as described by this thread on the CheeseForum.org
Cheese Press at the CheeseForum.org

Compressed Earth Press

CEB Compressed Earth Block/Brick Press on Permies.Com  Permies.com

Adaptable as a Compressed Earth Block/Brick Press (CEB) as described by Amedean Messan in this thread on Permies.com

Additional organizations have built the press:
Joshua (Jed) Guinto from Philippines    Pix-1Pix 2,    

Video for Jed Guinto and Coastal Core Sorsogon; Instructables,     Permies.com

Fuel Briquettes from Banana Plant Waste

Feasibility of Biomass Fuel Briquettes from Banana Plant Waste  by: Lee Hite & Dr. Zan Smith Feasibility of Biomass Fuel Briquettes from Banana Plant Waste  by: Lee Hite & Dr. Zan Smith

Feasibility of Biomass Fuel Briquettes from Banana Plant Waste 2.7 MB, PDF

Spanish Version Here

By Lee Hite and Dr. Zan Smith

 

Biomass Briquette Stoves

See the Stack-fed, Heat Exchanger, Biomass Briquette Stove
by: Harold Westerich, Redwood City, CA

 ALSO, see Norman Desrosiers, and what he has done to heat his home. download his PowerPoint, 4 MB, pptx

Norm has done a lot of experimenting and developed meaningful enhancements to the process.

 

Keeping Elephants at Bay using Chilli Briquettes

Burning chilli will keep elephants at bay, new study finds

 

Simple and Easy Briquettes Without a Press

How to Make Fuel Briquettes Without a Press

How to Make Fuel Briquettes Without a Press
By: Joyce Lockard rj.lockard@frontier.com

Fuel Briquette Team, Beaverton Rotary Club in OR, USA, 2 MB, PDF

Briquetting Resources

Additional Fuel Briquetting Info

The Briquetting of Agricultural Waste for Fuel   515K, PDF

 Biomass Briquettes Turning Waste Into Energy  235K, PDF

Briquetting and Stoves Groups
Fuel Briquetting Group    Biomass Stoves Group

TChar Technology for Cookstoves
By: Paul Anderson, Christa Roth and
Robert Fairchild

 

Calculators and Converters
Calculator Edge
Convert World
Good Calculators
Engineering Toolbox
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Materials and Conversion
Metric-Conversions.org  (Multilingual)
Unit Converter

 

Caloric Value Of Raw Materials

 

Caloric Value Of Fuel Materials

Raw Materials KCal / Kg   Raw Materials KCal / Kg
Bagasse (sugar Cane) 4,200   Arhar Stalk 4,000
Bamboo Dust 3,700   White Coal Briquette 4,000
Bark (wood) 3,900   Char Coal 6,000
Castor Seed Shell 4,000   Coal Grade 'B' 5,000
Coffee Husk 4,200   Coal Grade 'C' 4,000
Coir Pitch 4,000   Diesel 9,400
Cotton Stalk 3,800   Fire Wood 3,300
Ground Nut Shell 4,000   Heavy Furnace Oil 9,900
Jute Waste 4,500   Kerosene 8,900
Maize Stalks 3,800   Lpg 9,400
Mustard Husk 4,500   Saw Dust 4,000
Pine Needles 4,000   Sugar Cane Trash 3,500
Rice Husk 3,500   Sugar Mill Waste 3,300
Rice Straw 3,500   Wheat Straw 3,700
Sar Khanda Grass 3,700      

Source www.biomassbriquetting.com/briquetting-plant-india.php

We provide designs on this web site as "open source" but we do ask that credit and a link be provided back to this site. Thank you.

About me: I am a retired electronics engineer with a passion for investigating technical issues, occasionally surrounded with mystery and  often bridging several fields of technology.

 

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