Charcoal briquettes are a charcoal looking form of fuel that can be used for cooking and heating. They are made from carbonized dry waste which is then mixed with an organic binder. The mixture is mechanically pressed at high pressure thus a charcoal briquette is born.
Charcoal briquettes burn in an average stove for about 3-4 hours, are cheaper and give off less smoke than charcoal
Briquettes are an alternative fuel source that is currently gaining popularity in Uganda. Briquettes are composed of commonly found organic household waste, such as peanut shells, banana peels, corn husks, sawdust and are compressed either by hand or by briquette machine into small dense products that can be used instead of charcoal and excess amounts of wood harvested from nearby forests.
Biomass briquettes are a form of solid fuel that can be burned for energy. They are created by compacting loose biomass residues into solid blocks that can replace fossil fuels, charcoal and natural firewood for domestic and institutional cooking and industrial heating processes. Briquettes have the potential to be a source of renewable energy if they are made from sustainably harvested biomass or waste agricultural residues.
Crops grown in Uganda such as maize, cereals, roots, cane sugar and coffee all produce residues that are suitable for briquetting as does dried organic municipal solid waste (MSW). Data provided by the Ugandan government indicates that 1.2 million tonnes of agricultural wastes are available each year and an additional 1,500 tonnes of MSW are estimated to be produced in the capital city Kampala daily. These two sources combined provide a theoretical limit which indicates that at most 6% of the country’s total wood consumption and up to 50% of the charcoal trade could be replaced by briquettes from waste.
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