Cogon grass (Imperata Cylindrica) is a perennial grass that is widespread and readily available in the Philippines; with its lignocellulosic property making it ideal for the production of biomass charcoal. This study aims to explore the effectiveness of the Cogon grass (CG) with Cassava (Manihot esculenta) starch as a binder through testing the ignition time and burning rate, proximate analysis and calorific value. Three ratios of carbonized CG to binder was explored in the setup: CG1(1:2.1), CG2(1:1.75), and CG3(1:1.87), alongside comparatively assessing the results with a control group of water hyacinth (WH) charcoal briquettes. The researchers used Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) to  evaluate the significant group differences, between the CG briquettes with different CG-binder ratios and the control group of WH briquettes, across the multiple characteristics. Cogon grass briquettes produced a lesser ash content compared to the water hyacinth briquettes resulting in a higher calorific value. Furthermore, altering the ratio of CG to binder affected the characteristics of the briquette. The increase of binder, increased the residual moisture content resulting in a lower calorific value. The CG(1:1.75) ratio yielded the highest calorific value with a longer ignition time and a low burning rate. Thus, the researchers successfully rejected the null hypothesis, implying that briquettes made with Cogon grass and Cassava starch binder is effective.

 

Key Words: biomass briquette, Cogon grass, Cassava starch binder, alternative materials, briquette characteristics