The impacts of producing bio briquettes made from organic waste as an alternative source of fuel

This work investigates the potential benefits of using bio briquettes made from organic waste as an alternative source of fuel in sub-Saharan Africa. Over 80 million tons of organic waste is generated in Sub-Saharan Africa per annum, and this waste has potential to be valorized to other bioproducts. Currently, unmanaged organic waste poses serious landfilling challenges, causes health problems, and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, which are harmful to the environment. This organic waste can be converted to bio briquettes through the process of carbonization and then briquetting to form bio briquettes that have the same heating value as coal. In addition to these bio briquettes providing an eco-friendly opportunity to reduce the amount of sulfur contaminants that are generated by coal during heating, they also have the potential to reduce the effects of climate change by reducing methane and carbon dioxide emissions through waste valorization. A sustainable and renewable source of energy which has the same burning effect as coal can also be obtained from these bio briquettes, since waste is generated daily by communities, agriculture processes, industries, wastewater treatment plants, and businesses. In addition, the usage of bio briquettes as an alternative source of fuel will help to prevent problems such as deforestation that are negatively impacting the African environment.