Increasing the feasibility and storage property of cellulose-based biomass by forming shape-stabilized briquette with hydrophobic compound

Wastepaper is a potential biomass source that can be processed into solid fuel (briquette). The present work proposes a novel method to improve the storage property of briquettes for large-scale production. Improvement is made by adding a hydrophobic compound (paraffin wax) to form a shape-stabilized paper briquette (SSPB). Three different storage scenarios are performed for 720 hours. The moisture content of the paper briquette increases significantly up to 35.44% with a relaxed index of 1.19. SSPB shows unsubstantial moisture increment (5.1%) with a relaxed index of 1.05. The SSPB has better mechanical durability (97%) than paper briquette (82%). Thus, the shape-stabilized method can be used to maintain the briquette quality during the storage period.