International Journal of Civil, Mechanical and Energy Science (IJCMES) [Vol-2, Issue-4, July-Aug, 2016] Infogain Publication (Infogainpublication.com ) ISSN: 2455-5304 www.ijcmes.com Page | 42 Sawdust as an Alternative Energy Source for Small Scale Cottage Industries in Nigeria Hussaini A. Abdulkareem 1 ,Bitrus Auta 2 , Hassan A. Abdulkareem 3 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Industrial Engineering, Kaduna Polytechnic, Nigeria 2 Appied Science Department, College of Science and Technical Education, Kaduna Polytechnic, Nigeria 3 Deplartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria Abstract— The sawdust briquette and pallet were produce and the calorific values were obtained from an experiment performed on bomb calorimeter machine that gives the energy released by the fuel. Sample A (Afara) produce 16,197.4 J/g while sample B (Abora tree) gives 15,646.6J/g as the average energy realised which is a little more than the calorific value of wood (16,000J/g).Therefore, the briquette can be used as solid fuel in boiler, room heater, oven and furnaces as an alternative energy source. This can also lead to minimizing waste disposal in the sawmill industries. Keywords— Abora, Afara, briquette, energy, sawdust. I. INTRODUCTION Energy is essential in our everyday activities, there are different types of energy source, and sawdust is one of such, by using it as a solid fuel to produce heat during burning. Afara tree is a large West Africa forest tree ranging in height from 15 to 46meters, the bowl is very straight with small buttresses and is sometimes also fluted. It can be branchless for up to 30 meters with diameter from 2 to 4.75 meters. Mature trees are very flat topped with a wide horizontal canopy of evenly distributed foliage arising from the apex of the strength bole where Abora tree is of tropical west Africa from which a soft pale wood is obtain that is used for light construction, the height of the tree attains 30 to 40 meters with a diameter of 1.0 to 1.2 metres at maturity stage. Afara and Abora tree are used in the wood industries. The disposal of the waste is a big challenge for the industries, sawdust as alternative source of energy will solve the problem of waste from wood industries. Waste to energy is the process of generating energy in the form of electric heat from the incineration of waste. It is a form of energy recovering from waste product (sawdust), this process produce heat through the combustion of the waste. With the high growth in populations, there is increased use of sawmill and with a lot of wood waste which can be converted to energy resources for cooking, heating, mechanical power and lighting which are basic requirement of life . Traditionally wood in a form of fuel, twigs and charcoal has been the major source of renewable energy in Nigeria. The decreasing availability of fuel wood, coupled with the ever rising prices of kerosene and cooking gas in Nigeria, draw attention to the need to consider alternative sources of energy for domestic and cottage industrial in the country, such energy sources should be renewable and be accessible to the rural communities. An energy source that meets such sustainability requirements is fuel briquette. The main idea is to get sawdust briquette out of wood waste which can be used in industries as solid fuel and for domestic use for cooking and heating. II. BRIQUETTING PROCESS A briquette is a block of compressed sawdust, coal, biomass or charcoal dust that is used as fuel to start and maintain fire (Grainger et al, 1981). Biomass is an organic material available on renewable bans, which are produced directly or indirectly from living organisms or efficient biomass include forest and mill residue, agricultural crops and wastes, wood and wood wastes, animal waste, livestock operation residue, aquatic plants fast growing trees and plants municipal and industrial waste. Biomass power, also called bio-power, is electricity produced from biomass fuels;itconsists of plant materials and animal products which include residue from food production and processing, trees and grasses grown specifically as energy crops, and gaseous fuels produced from solid biomass and waste (Brain, et al 1998). Briquetting is a mechanical compaction process for increasing the density of bulky materials. This process is used for forming fine particles into a designed shape. It can be regarded as a waste control measure of production from agricultural waste. However, depending on the material of