Pengaruh Variasi Ukuran Partikel Arang Terhadap Laju Pembakaran Dan Stabilitas Nyala Briket Biomassa Pohon Pinang

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the effect of mesh size variation in areca palm stem charcoal briquette mixtures to determine the optimal formulation for briquette production. The production process began with carbonization of areca palm stems at 550°C, followed by grinding the resulting charcoal and sieving it using mesh sizes 60 and 80. The charcoal was then mixed with tapioca starch as a binder at a composition of 80% charcoal and 20% tapioca, with the addition of 800 ml of hot water, before being molded and pressed into cube-shaped briquettes. The molded briquettes were dried beforehand to reduce moisture content prior to moisture content and burning rate testing. The research was conducted through laboratory experiments comparing two particle size variations, namely Mesh 60 and Mesh 80, using a material composition consisting of 800 grams of areca palm stem charcoal and 200 grams of tapioca starch, mixed with 800 ml of water under a compression pressure of 100 kgf/cm². Mesh size was treated as the independent variable, while burning rate (represented through thermal conduction heat transfer) served as the dependent variable, with compression pressure and briquette dimensions (3 cm cube) controlled as constant variables. The results showed that the Mesh 80 briquette exhibited the best combustion performance, marked by a maximum ignition temperature of 660.1°C and a burning duration of 2 hours, 40 minutes, and 48 seconds.