DIY Biomass Designs (Compound Lever Press, Biomass Molds, Biomass Grinder, Chopper & Composter)

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Biomass Fuel Briquette Press, Molds, Chopper, Grinder, Composter and more . . . Parts List, Notes and Drawings Most designs are in English and metric.

	These designs support our efforts at Engineers Without Borders Website Greater Cincinnati Professionals Facebook Who We Are and What We Do Video Part 1 Part 2

	How To Build A Micro Compound Lever Briquette Press North American lumber standard 1.5 inch x 3.5 inch(38 mm x 89 mm) {Has English and Metric Dimensions}, 2 MB, PDF, Spanish Version Here This small press is suggested for single-family use, classroom demonstrations, or a small village where a small footprint and easy to build press using hand tools are required. There are two versions, Brace or Notch. Video describing biomass briquette presses. Video about building the biomass press by: Ms. Firtle in Greece.
	How To Build A Micro Compound Lever Briquette Press using 40mm x 100mm Lumber Here are dimensions for a special metric lumber size of 40 mm x 100 mm for the brace version. 1.3 MB, PDF, Metric Only
	How To Build Biomass Molds {English and Metric Dimensions}, PDF, 6 MB Spanish Version Here This document is about choices. Briquetting for any operation requires a biomass mold of one type or another, whether it is a small village, single family, or classroom operation. 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. 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. See Video for Split-Mold testing.
	Adaptable as a Cheese Press as described by this thread on the CheeseForum.org
	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-1, Pix 2, Video for Jed Guinto and Coastal Core Sorsogon; Instructables, Permies.com
	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)
	How To Build A Dry Biomass Grinder/Thrasher 2.5 MB PDF Video describing the Dry Biomass Grinder Thrasher University of Nottingham uses the press and grinder for Kenya project; See https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/etc/news-SIFEKenya.php 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
	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 (fine tuned and tested in rural Guatemala and Nicaragua over the past three years) a very successful idea as described in his new construction manual. Designing a low cost grinder featuring ease of use, and easy to build, has been a challenge for both of us. We often work closely together in a effort to bring you the best ideas possible. You can contact Richard HERE
	How To Build A Biomass Copper-Cutter 600K PDF Spanish Version Here Video describing the Easy BioChop 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 E4C
	Virginia Tech has modified the original design to satisfy their needs: Read Details Here
	How To Build A Biomass Composer – Rotatable and Portable 2.6 MB, PDF Spanish 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.
	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.
	How To Build A Small Single-Lever Square Biomass Briquette Press 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 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.
	How To Build A Large Single-Lever Biomass Briquette Press English, 400K, PDF If the large compound lever press is inappropriate for your needs then a large single lever press might work in your area. Includes removal jig. 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.
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

	Biomass Fuel Briquette Formulations Courtesy Richard Stanley at the Legacy Foundation
	Producing Fuel Briquettes from Sugarcane Waste 600K, PDF By: Chesta Tiwari Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Sheffield
	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


	Feasibility of Biomass Fuel Briquettes from Banana Plant Waste 2.7 MB, PDF Spanish Version Here By Lee Hite and Dr. Zan Smith
	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.

	Burning chilli will keep elephants at bay, new study finds
	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
	Additional Fuel Briquetting Info The Briquetting of Agricultural Waste for Fuel 515K, PDF Biomass Briquettes Turning Waste Into Energy 235K, PDF Biomass Briquetting Technology and Practices FAQ 225K, 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 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.