Biomass briquetting and its perspectives in Brazil Felix Fonseca Felfli a , Juan M. Mesa P a , Jose ´ Dilcio Rocha b , Daniele Filippetto c , Carlos A. Luengo c , Walfrido Alonso Pippo c, * a BIOWARE Ltda., Caixa Postal 6086, 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil b EMBRAPA-Agroenergia, Brası´lia, DF, Brazil c Grupo Combustı´veis Alternativos/Departamento de Fı´sica Aplicada/IFGW/UNICAMP, Caixa Postal 6165, Bara ˜o Geraldo 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil article info Article history: Received 6 April 2009 Received in revised form 14 July 2010 Accepted 4 August 2010 Available online 24 August 2010 Keywords: Briquetting Biomass residues Sawdust Rice husk Coffee husk abstract A study of the status of biomass briquetting and its perspectives in Brazil was conducted including determination of the availability and characteristics of the agro-residues for briquetting. Wood residues, rice husk and coffee husk were characterized and identified as the more promising agro-residues for briquetting in the short-term in Brazil. A survey was carried out in order to determine the number of briquetting factories in Brazil, and also to determine: used briquetting technologies, briquettes production, briquettes sale prices, the status of biomass briquetting market and its future perspectives. ª 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In Brazil, since the mid 1970s several governments have implemented energy policies to increase the use of biofuels. The Brazilian Fuel Ethanol Program (ProAlcool ) was a success- ful example to stimulate the use of ethanol as automotive fuel, and nowadays it attracts the attention of the world [1]. Another example of these policies is the recent National Program of Production and Use of Biodiesel (PNPB), which intends to substitute 2% of diesel in omnibus and trucks [2]. However, the use of biomass residues as energy source has not had the same success, partly for the lack of an adequate program and also because of the inherent difficulties in the use of these residues. Brazil is eminently an agricultural country. Each year about 330 millions of metrics ton (Mg) of biomass residues are generated in the country. These residues frequently are not used as energy source, because they have poor energy characteristics (low density, low heating value, and high moisture content), causing high costs during transportation, handling, and storage. Some of these drawbacks could be overcome if biomass residues were densified into briquettes, in order to provide more energy per unit of volume, to improve transportation and storage [3,4]. Biomass briquettes are not widely produced in Brazil yet. The expansion of this sector depends basically on three factors: residue availability for briquetting, adequate technologies and the market for briquettes. 2. Residues availability and their characteristics in Brazil The amount of biomass residues can be estimated by the agricultural production and the respective residues coefficient * Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ00 55 19 35215261. E-mail address: pippo177@yahoo.com (W.A. Pippo). Available at www.sciencedirect.com http://www.elsevier.com/locate/biombioe biomass and bioenergy 35 (2011) 236 e242 0961-9534/$ e see front matter ª 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2010.08.011