Briquetter
Purpose
Briquetting waste materials reduces volume. In some cases, volumes are reduced by up to 90%. This results in a considerable savings of disposal, transport, and handling costs. Additional advantages include the reduction of fine dust, improved storage space, and a possible revenue stream in applications where briquettes can be sold as a fuel source when burned.
Application
Various material such as cellulose with SAP and tissue dust can be turn into small compressed briquettes with the appearance of a hockey puck. Machines can be designed for different briquette sizes and shapes depending on the application.
Operation
Typically, a cyclone with a rotary airlock feeds material into an agitated feed hopper. A stir arm in the hopper rotates periodically to level out the material in the hopper. When the high-level switch in the hopper is reached, the feed screw runs for a predetermined amount of time to deliver material from the hopper to the loading chamber. Once this feed cycle is complete, the feed screw stops, and the compression cycle begins. During the compression cycle, the vertical fill cylinder extends to compress the material in the feed chamber. The horizontal press cylinder then extends to compact the material against the discharge clamp. As the horizontal press cylinder extends, a pressure sensor monitors the hydraulic back pressure of the cylinder. When the preset pressure is reached, the discharge clamp opens as the press cylinder finishes its stroke, completing the compression cycle. The briquettes are discharged from the machine as the clamp opens. They are collected at the exit of the briquette transport pipe.
A sensor wheel at the exit of the machine monitors the length of discharged briquettes and adjusts the feed cycle timing if necessary to obtain the target briquette length on future cycles. The feed cylinder and the fill cylinder retract to their home position, and the feed/compression cycles repeat until the hopper is emptied. The control system will shut off the system if any alarms are detected from the cylinder position switches or hydraulic pressure sensor. The machine is designed to run in automatic mode. The unit only operates when material is detected in the hopper. This feature ensures efficiency and safety.