Biomass Briquette Maker

Aprovecho is committed to the use of biomass briquettes. These briquettes are a processed fuel that can be burned as an alternative to wood or charcoal in cooking stoves. Gram for gram, biomass briquettes are equivalent to wood. Readily available raw materials can be used such as crop wastes, dung, waste paper, and selected garbage. As a result, use of wood and concurrent deforestation can be reduced by as much as 80%. Also, the positive impact on the lives of women is significant- reducing the time spent collecting wood, which often puts their personal safety at risk.

In development is a manual "low pressure" system briquette fabricator to be used in conjunction with the 60 Liter Stove.  Pictured is a prototype design.  We anticipate having a finalized design in production in 2012.

The machine features an innovative "cam" lever press that produces an extremely high density briquette. It is low cost, easy to use, and designed for many years of intensive, no maintenance, high production use. We estimate that two people working the press can produce over 50 briquettes per hour. It takes 8 to 10 briquettes to cook 30 liters of food. Water used in the process will be easily collected and recycled.

1. Hopper loaded with biomass mixture	2. Biomass pressed into high density briquette	3. Briquette is removed from beneath hopper	4. Briquette is pushed from form with wood block onto drying rack