DSC study of curing in smokeless briquetting

Briquettes potentially suited for smokeless fuel were successfully prepared from mixtures of previously pyrolyzed coal and biomass, and mixed with sug ar cane molasses as binder. Briquettes were cured at 200 degreesC in air fo r different times, and the physical performance of the cured briquettes wer e studied using the water and impact resistance tests (WRI and IRI). Since curing was an exothermic process, the residual heat of reaction evolved was considered to be an indication of the degree of curing. In this work, the degree of curing as a function of time was monitored quantitatively, measur ing the residual heat of reaction at each condition studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and compared with the physical characterizatio n. The results implied that the technique did not give a fast alternative t o WRI and IRI tests, but was very useful in describing the mechanism by whi ch the molasses behaved as binders. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All righ ts reserved.