From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A briquette (or briquet) is a block of flammable matter, such as escaillage, which can be used to start a fire.

Some briquettes are compressed and dried brown coal (lignite) extruded into hard blocks. This is a common technique for low rank coals. They are typically dried to 12-18% moisture, and are primarily used in household and industry.

In Ireland, peat briquettes are a common type of solid fuel after coal. Although often used as the sole fuel for a fire, they are also used to begin a coal fire quickly without hassle. A fire burning peat briquettes is, similarly to a turf fire, slow burning. Peat briquettes can be used as an acceptable substitute for charcoal in barbecues for this reason.

Biomass briquettes are made from agricutural waste and are a replacement for fossil fuels such as oil or coal, and can be used to heat boilers in manufacturing plants, and also have applications in developing countries. Biomass briquettes are a renewable source of energy and help reduce the carbon content in the atmosphere.

The Legacy Foundation has developed a simple briquette maker, a compound lever manual press[1], which can be easily made from wood, bolts and water pipe. The biomass is allowed to decompose in water for a few days, and then the slurry is compressed into a briquette and allowed to dry. The partial decomposition helps the organic matter to stick together. These briquettes tend to be low density (about 0.3 - 0.4 specific gravity), and can be made with a hole in the middle ("holey briquette"), and are claimed to burn efficiently. A gassifier stove is being developed which makes use of these briquettes.[2]

• Smokeless and wood conserving stoves
• Charcoal

Wikisource has an original article from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica about:

Briquette

• How charcoal briquettes are made.
• Information about wood briquettes
• Legacy Foundation - created an appropriate technology briquette maker.
• Holey Briquette Gassifier Stove Development, Richard Stanley, Kobus Venter 14 August 2003 on BioEnergy Lists.
• Briquetting: An Answer to Desertification, Health Problems, Unemployment and Reforestation in Developing Communities - summary of 2003 seminar.