COMBINATION OF ENERGY AND BIOCHAR PRODUCTION FROM AGRICULTURAL RESIDUES

Abstract

Cashew nut shell and coffee husk, abundantly available in most developing
countries, They could become a potential feedstock for the production of energy at
small and medium scales using gasification. This technology, however, has been
hindered due to the low conversion efficiency, generating important amounts of
solid waste after the process. This study investigated the properties of cashew nut
shell and coffee husk, as well as their suitability for use as feedstock for combination
of energy and biochar production using gasification. The results indicated that
while the coffee husk was more suitable for energy production, cashew nut shell
would be prominent for production of both energy and biochar at the same time.
The textural properties of the residue after gasification of cashew nut shell on a
semi-industrial scale indicated that the residue still contained a high carbon
content and a high porosity that meets the range of commercial biochar. This result
shows that it is possible to build a cashew nut processing process without any
waste to the environment, which is the basis for research on other agricultural
products and also an idea of systems “zero waste” agricultural processing systems.