Development of fuel briquette made from rice straw by using natural rubber as a binder of biomass energy source

This work aims to develop a biomass energy source made from the rice straw (RS) by using natural rubber (NR) as a binder. The optimal loading of NR inside the composites is characterized in order to increase the flexibility and heating value of RS/NR for fuel briquette applications. The tensile properties by means of tensile strength and modulus together with the thermal stability of the RS/NR of NR loadings at 20, 30, 40 and 50 parts per hundred rubber (phr) were represented and examined. Also, the CHNS/O analyzer and bomb calorimeter were characterized for elucidating the elements quantity analysis and heating value of fuel briquette, respectively. The result revealed that flexibility of RS/NR increased with increasing NR content, resulting in elongation at break increment. The addition of NR not only increased the percentage of carbon elements in the composites, but also highly increased the heating values of RS/NR composites. In addition, the minimum content of NR which meets the standard heating value of briquette at 5,000 kcal/kg was 20 phr in the RS/NR composite, producing almost 5,105 kcal/kg. Thus, the addition of 20 phr NR in RS/NR composite exhibited the proper properties to be potentially applied as the biomass energy source for fuel briquette