The briquetting process, in this study, consists of drying,cutting, and compacting operations. All raw materilas were firstly sun dried for 24 hours and cut into a length of approximately 1
cm. Thereafter, two pairs of biomass species (rice husk : water hyacinth and rice straw : bagasse) were mixed at the mixing ratios of 20:80, 40:60, 60:40, and 80:20 (weight basis). The
blends of rice husk-water hyacinth and rice straw-bagasse, with different mixing ratios, were then mixed with hot water and cassava starch as binding agent. The proportions between
biomass and binding agent are shown in Table 2. The agitating process was done in a mixer until it reached the required condition to make moulds. The blends were then briquetted at ambient temperature in a manually operated cylindrical press,designed for the purpose. Mould was made of PVC pipe with an inner diameter of 45 mm and a height of 100 mm. The densified fuels obtained were sun dried and finally dried in an air oven(Mammert, Model UNE 500) at 105oC for 24 hr. Final moisture contents of the fuels were 0.09-0.18% d.b.