COIMBATORE: Many of the briquetting industries are dependent on saw dust, which has led to the increase in price of saw dust pushing up the manufacturing cost of briquettes. Hence, it is imperative to develop new machinery for producing more briquettes at low cost, P. Murugesa Boopathi, Vice-Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), said here recently.

Waste

Inaugurating a workshop on “Briquetting of Agro-residues” at the university, he said 300 million tonnes of agro-residues were generated in India, of which 70 million tonnes were wasted even after they had been used for various purposes.

Some of the uses were for cattle feed, making cowsheds, roofing for houses, and for burning stoves. Residues were burnt and disposed prior to the next tilling of the land. Such burning polluted the air, land, and the environment on the whole. Burning of 1 kg of agro-residues generated 3,600 to 4,400 kilo calories, the Vice-Chancellor added.

“In such a scenario, collection of these wasted agro-residues and using them in briquette form will prevent pollution and provide high value energy. Besides, it will help enhance the farmers' income,” Mr. Boopathi said.

Briquette manufacturing was not to the expected level in India, the Vice-Chancellor said adding tha tbriquette manufacturing should be planned after assessing the local regions for feed stock availability and its year round supply.

Anil Kumar Dubey, Principal Scientist, Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal, spoke.

Courtesy - Hindu