2.3. Briquetting pilot rig
Briquetting system consists of briquetting machine and hammer
mill. The hammer mill (7.5kWcapacity)was used for grinding dried
VMWwith 5mmsieving screen.Commerciallyavailable pistoneram
press (punch and die) type briquetting machine of output capacity
500 kg h1 (Hi-Tech Agro Project Pvt. Ltd., India), was used for producing
briquettes of 50 mm diameter. The same machine was used
earlier for conducting experimental studies on binderless briquetting
of different types of crop residues [42]. The machinewas run bya
22 kW, three phase electric motor. During operation of the briquetting
machine, initially some quantity of the powdered material
thoroughly mixed with little quantity of waste oil was fed for few
minutes through the feeder box for the initial lubrication of the die,
to prevent any choking of the feed material and for proper heating of
the die. Once the diewas heated and oil mixedVMWstarted forming
into proper briquettes, fresh quantity of VMW powder without
mixing with oil was fed into the feeding hopper which was carried
into the feeder box with the help of screw conveyor.