Analisis Briket Limbah Tempurung Kelapa dan Ampas Tebu Sebagai Bahan Bakar Alternatif

Abstract

The increasing dependence on fossil fuels highlights the urgent need to develop environmentally friendly and sustainable alternative energy sources. One promising approach is the utilization of biomass waste, such as coconut shells and sugarcane bagasse, for the production of briquettes as an alternative fuel. This study aimed to evaluate the characteristics of briquettes produced from different mixing ratios of coconut shell and sugarcane bagasse by analyzing their moisture content, ash content, calorific value, combustion duration, and combustion temperature. An experimental design was employed using three mixture ratios of coconut shell to bagasse (30:70, 50:50, and 70:30), with each treatment performed in triplicate. The briquettes were prepared through carbonization, crushing, sieving, mixing with corn starch as a binder, molding, drying, followed by characterization. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by Tukey's post hoc test at a significance level of 5%. Increasing the proportion of coconut shell significantly improved the briquette characteristics. The 70:30 treatment produced the lowest moisture content (5.67%), the lowest ash content (5.87%), the highest calorific value (6,711.33 cal/g), the longest combustion duration (189 minutes), and the highest combustion temperature (617.57°C). Differences in the mixture ratio significantly affected all observed parameters (p < 0.05). All briquette formulations met the SNI 01-6235-2000 standards for moisture content and calorific value, while the ash content complied with the standard only in the 50:50 and 70:30 treatments. Therefore, a coconut shell-to-bagasse ratio of 70:30 was identified as the optimal formulation for producing briquettes with superior combustion characteristics and strong potential as a sustainable alternative fuel.