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Research scientists worldwide are continuously driving innovations toward achieving a safe and healthy environment across the entire ecosystem. An integral component of this pursuit, as captured in SDG-7, is ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. The discovery of the vastness of bioresources embedded in agricultural and forestry residues mirrors hope and presents an array of challenges. Over the decades, biomass densification has been implemented to upgrade and consolidate the energy value of loose biomass for industrial and domestic applications. This is projected to mitigate the overreliance on fossil fuels as energy sources. However, the combustion and energy performance of biomass have not sufficiently met the energy mix requirements for extensive renewable energy use. The performance of the compacted material is dependent on the type of binder used in the manufacturing process, among other factors. This study explored the details of the available binders and biomass compositions investigated in previous studies. The authors also reported their performance, primarily regarding energy value and combustible behavior. Limitations such as low yield and low energy content, among other performance-related issues in biomass briquettes, can be highly enhanced with the appropriate selection of biomass and compatible binders. Hence, various research attempts, approaches, and methodologies have been conducted to develop solid fuel, and the binder’s influence on the energy content, density, combustion behavior, and other physical attributes of fuel briquettes has been reported.

Biomass briquettes are still important to communities in developing nations because they are cheap, sustainable, and generated from solid waste that can be utilized to produce energy. However, the low quality of the briquettes when compared to traditional cooking fuels hampers their widespread adoption; yet, there is an opportunity for expanding the briquette market due to the rise in charcoal prices, increasing scarcity of forest resources, and more environmental awareness among consumers. The main objective of this study was to develop a bio-based briquette with improved combustion characteristics through the use of an innovative binder. A novel nanocomposite briquette (biochar/cellulose nanocrystals (CNC)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was produced using the solution casting method, with CNC/PVA nanocomposite as a binder. A total of five (5) nanocomposite briquettes having biochar-to-binder ratios of; 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, and 50:50 and designated as BCP (9/1) , BCP (8/2) , BCP (7/3) , BCP (6/4) and BCP (5/5) , respectively were developed. The nanocomposite briquette samples were characterized for thermal stability, mechanical properties, elemental composition, surface morphology, proximate composition, and combustion characteristics using established methods. The produced briquettes had a very low ash content of less than 2% and a low average moisture content of 8%. The surface morphology of the briquettes revealed a rough and porous structure that can enhance combustion. The BCP (9/1) briquette had the highest calorific value of 27 MJ/kg, followed by BCP (8/2) and BCP (7/3) which had a calorific value of 26 MJ/kg. The BCP (7/3) nanocomposite briquette was the most thermally stable, with the lowest onset degradation temperature (220 °C), highest peak temperature (514 °C), least char residue, and the most compressive strength of 11 MPa. The BCP (9/1) , BCP (8/2) , and BCP (7/3) nanocomposite briquettes also satisfied the combustion indices criteria, demonstrating their potential to replace coal in industrial applications. The thermal degradation and kinetics of the nanocomposites were studied using TGA-DTG techniques at three different heating rates; 5 °C/min, 10 °C/min, 20 °C/min in an oxygen environment. The kinetic parameters, that is, the activation energy and pre-exponential factor were calculated using the Coats-Redfern method. The combustion of the briquettes happened in three distinct phases with a higher activation energy required at higher heating rates to initiate the first stage of combustion. Also, up to 40% of the binder can be added without affecting the ignition, combustion, and burn-out properties of the briquette. This study, therefore, demonstrates that Biochar-PVA-CNC nanocomposite briquettes are a potential biofuel for industrial and household applications.

Using of agricultural residues for briquette production attracts the attention of many researchers to overcome the problems related to the usage of fossil fuels as an energy source. This study focused on the production of briquettes from sesame stalks as an alternative fuel in Cement industries. The briquettes were produced from carbonized sesame stalks using paper waste, cow dung, and a mixture of cow dung and paper waste binders. The data analysis of the charcoal briquettes was carried out using two-way ANOVA without replication using Microsoft Excel. The binder ratio and binder types have a significant effect on the density and shatter resistance. Briquettes made using carbonized sesame stalks have the highest density of 1.133 g/cm 3 at 5% of cow dung binder. The highest shatter resistance having a value of 91.00% was found in carbonized briquette prepared using 25% cow dung binder. Six briquettes were selected for proximate and calorific value analysis. The highest heating value of the produced briquettes was 4794.38 kcal/kg at 5% of cow dung binder, which has moisture, ash, fixed carbon, and volatile matter of 6.54, 14, 30.7, and 48.76% respectively. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur contents of a briquette, which has the highest heating value, were recorded at 46.34, 2.50, 50.89, 0.27, and 0.00% respectively. Production of a briquette from carbonized sesame stalks using 5% cow dung binder is suitable from economic and environmental points of view.

Since Ethiopia relies on biomass resources for about 90% of its energy sources, problems such as deforestation and soil degradation have been intensified more than ever. To mitigate these problems, a possibility of using excess aquatic biomass such as water hyacinth as alternative energy is being investigated. In this study, fuel characteristics of biochar briquettes made from combination of water hyacinth biochars, different binders, and organic matter used in Ethiopia were evaluated. Water hyacinth was dried and pyrolyzed at 400 and 800°C (WHB400 and WHB800, respectively). Water hyacinth biochar was mixed with different binders (molasses and Ethiopian soil) at a ratio of [6:4:0] without organic matter, or at a ratio of [6:3:1] with organic matter ([water hyacinth biochar:binder:organic matter]). The experimental results showed that WHB400 with molasses as binder without organic matter [6:4:0] was the best mixing ratio as biochar briquette with the highest higher heating value and the greatest compressive strength among all other biochar briquettes. Therefore, this study showed water hyacinth biochar could be a great potential as an alternative fuel to conventional acacia charcoal.

The utilization of wood waste for the production of solid biofuels is an important route toward sustainable energy and waste valorization. In this work, a modified phenol–formaldehyde resin (MPFR), synthesized by polycondensation of phenol and formaldehyde with an alkyl-aromatic fraction of catalytic cracking gas oil in the presence of an ionic liquid catalyst, was investigated as an efficient binder for biomass-based fuel briquettes. Beech and pine sawdust were used as fillers, and briquettes were produced by hot pressing at pressures of 50–150 MPa and temperatures of 50 - 100 °C with binder contents of 0.5–1.0 wt.%. The influence of binder content and biomass particle size on density, compressive strength, ignition behavior, combustion duration, calorific value, and ash content was systematically studied. The obtained briquettes exhibited densities of 1.4–2.0 g/cm³, compressive strength of 2.2–3.5 MPa, calorific values of 9300–11000 kcal/kg, and combustion times of 16.3–26 min. Increasing the MPFR content and optimizing sawdust particle size significantly improved mechanical integrity and combustion performance compared with binder-free briquettes. Moisture uptake tests over three months showed less than 1% mass increase, indicating good storage stability. The results demonstrate that modified phenolic resin is an effective binder for producing high-performance biomass fuel briquettes from wood waste and offers a promising route for waste-to-energy applications.

This study investigates the production of biomass briquettes using waste coconut shell charcoal and cinnamon sawdust, bound by eco-friendly, non-edible binders: cassava peel starch, giant taro starch, and pine resin. The production process involved carbonization of coconut shells, followed by crushing, blending with sawdust, pressing, and a 12-day sun-drying period. The briquettes were tested for calorific value, density, compressive strength, and shatter resistance. The calorific values ranged from 26.07–31.60 MJ/kg, meeting the industrial standards, while densities varied between 0.83 g/cm3 and 1.14 g/cm3, ensuring compactness and efficient combustion. Among the binders, cassava peel starch provided the best bonding strength, resulting in high-density briquettes with superior durability and energy release, showing a calorific value and compressive strength of 2.11 MPa. Giant taro starch also improved durability, though with slightly lower calorific values but better bonding than pine resin. Pine resin, while contributing to high calorific values, reduced compressive strength with increased resin content, making it less suitable for high mechanical strength applications. Proximate analysis revealed that cassava peel starch-based briquettes had moisture content from 6.5% to 8.6%, volatile matter from 15.2% to 23.5%, ash content from 2.1% to 3.2%, and fixed carbon between 69% and 76.2%. Giant taro starch-based briquettes exhibited 63.2% to 75% fixed carbon, while pine resin-based briquettes had the highest fixed carbon content (66.4% to 78.3%), demonstrating the potential of non-edible adhesives for sustainable, high-performance fuel production.

Energy is a vital input to the economic growth and development of any economic sector. One of the best-known and longest-used sources of renewable energy is biomass. Generating energy from forest resources opens the opportunity for  woodlands and other tree areas that can offer natural, environmentally-friendly energy to meet the needs of distant regions that would help protect  forest resources. On the other hand, the increases in wastewater for brewery treatment plants could result in a large amount of brewery wastewater sludge (BWWS) generation, which requires proper management before disposal. This research aimed to characterize and produce briquette fuel from the combination of sawdust and BWWS brewery using molasses as a binder. The Composite Briquitte was produced by varying the mixing ratio of sawdust to BWWS 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, and 60:40, using 0 to 10% molasses as a binding agent. The proximate, ultimate and calorific value analyses of all composite briquettes were performed according to the American Society Testing of Material standard. It was observed that moisture content increased from 6.2% to 10.2%, fixed carbon decreased from 64.5% to 50.9%, and the caloric value decreased from 24.8 MJ/kg to 14.8 MJ/kg as the proportion of BWWS mixture in composite briquette increased. The binder ratio, hold time, and pressure effects and their interaction on the density and durability index of briquettes were investigated. The findings showed that the optimum density and durability indexes were 1019.99 kg/m 3 and 97.274%, respectively, for the binder of 10%, hold time of 4.126 min and pressure of 6.076 MPa. It was concluded that the composite briquettes produced from 10%–20% BWWS proportion sawdust and the sawdust alone have high calorific values ranging from 20.9 MJ/kg to 24.8 MJ/kg, fixed carbon is from 61.18% to 64.5%, ash content is from 4.65% to 10.1%, volatile matter is from 20% to 24.85%, and moisture content is from 6.2% to 8.32%, which is guaranteed to be used  for household cooking.

Rice straw as solid residues are biomass residue materials that are not optimally used by farmers in Punjab and potentially become environmental pollutant. A large amount of rice straw (17 million tons) is generated and left as much in combine harvested rice fields in Punjab, India. It is very difficult to manage such huge amount of rice straw thus, farmers resort to burning it which leads to greenhouse gas emissions like CO2 due to open field burning and loss of rich organic matter present in the soil. Further due to imposition of restrictions by the state government, the practice of burning rice straw has now become an offense. So farmers are looking for alternatives which are economically viable. Rice straw can be effectively used as bio energy as it has about the same heating value (15 kJ kg−1) as that of wood, half that of good quality coal and one third of oil. The operational conditions required to produce high-quality chopped rice straw briquettes have not been determined and this study determined the optimal moisture content, particle size, and binder ratio required to produce rice straw briquettes. The optimized conditions resulted in formation of high-density (1030.38–1159.22 kg m−3) briquettes with durability ranging from 71.9 to 92.3% with minimum power requirement for briquetting (36.60 kW), maximum calorific value of 15.61 MJ kg−1, and minimum ash content (16.34%).Total cost of making chopped rice straw briquettes was 0.041 USD per kg and 0.00281 USD per mega joule of energy. Cost of briquetting from chopped rice straw with 10 and 20% cotton stalks was 0.050 and 0.051 USD per kg, respectively, and 0.0033 USD per mega joule of energy. Also, the briquettes prepared from chopped rice straw with and without cotton stalk as a binder were economically viable.

Charcoal and firewood are the most common cooking fuels, despite the fact that they represent a variety of social and economic environmental difficulties in many affluent countries. Apart from the environmental implications of deforestation and resource loss, indoor air pollution caused by cooking with solid fuels causes 2 million fatalities each year. Biobriquettes are then utilized as a substitute for oils. Briquettes are also employed as carbon sources for cooking in various industries such as power plants, brick factories, and bakeries. Five specific binding materials were tested in this study for manual densification of cabbage waste, including beef tallow oil, starch, cassava binder, sodium silicate, and vinyl ester resin. The briquettes are made from a combination of 80% densified biological waste and 20% binder material. The sample density ranges from 545.564 to 591.278 kg/m3. The samples with the highest calorific value were beef tallow oil and vinyl ester resin, which had 5,357.26 and 5,800.79 kcal/kg respectively. The content of the samples were ashes, fixed carbon content, volatile material, and total humidity is 6.47% ± 1.13%, 18.43% ± 6%, 70.68% ± 6%, and 4.42% ± 4%, respectively. The sample with the most calorific value and densification is the one with the inorganic binder mixture.

Eichhornia crassipes has a high cellulose and hemicellulose content, which are easily converted to simple sugars, thus making the plant suitable for the production of biofuel briquettes. The main purpose of this proposed work, therefore, was to investigate the production of bio briquettes from E. crassipes . The plant was harvested from a wastewater effluent management system, chopped, sun-dried and pulverized to a particle size of < 5 mm and mixed with various binders ( Eucalyptus globulus leaves powder, molasses and phytoplankton scum). The binders were appropriately prepared and added to E. crassipes at the ratios of 10%, 20% and 30%. The quality of biofuel briquettes was evaluated using compressed density, relaxed density, water resistance, durability and calorific values (CV) parameters and compared to those of charcoal briquettes already on the market. The results showed a water resistance capacity of 45%, relaxation ratios of between 1.08 and 1.33, CV of 1148.35 kJ/kg for 20% molasses-based briquettes, CV of 1090.43 kJ/kg for 20% E. globulus leaf-based briquettes and CV of 1422.97 kJ/kg for charcoal-based briquettes. In conclusion, therefore, E. crassipes may become a viable raw material for producing quality biofuel briquettes that are durable with the desired calorific value and may be able to withstand mechanical handling and be useful for household and cottage industries locally.