Multivariate Decisions : Modelling Waste-Based Charcoal Briquette Formulation Process

The current study sets out to optimise resource utilisation by coupling data envelopment analysis (DEA) with the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methodology to model sustainable binder choice without experimenting available binders. As composite materials for the briquettes, cardboard pulp binder, palm kernel decanter cake, and charred palm kernel shells were used. The values obtained for calorific value, relaxation indices, durability indices, impact resistance, water resistance, specific fuel consumption, and average burning rate were 22.72 MJ/kg, 1247.06 kg/m3 to 1186.84 kg/m3, 97.91% to 96.96%, 700% to 233.33%, 87.98%, 2.21kg/litre, and 4.87g/min respectively. The briquettes produced in this study promotes circular economy and provides a novel framework to address cooking energy poverty issues through the manufacturing of waste-based biofuels. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in sub-Saharan Africa to use these waste resources to create composite briquettes