Physical characteristic of biomass pellet from cacao pod husk and banana pod husk

Biomass is a suitable material to be developed as an alternative energy source to substitute fossil fuels. Waste of Cacao and banana processing (peel) are potentially forming into biomass pellets because they have high calorific value. Increasing the caloric value of biomass fuel can be done through the densification process to produce biomass pellets. This study aims to find the best-mixed formula and particle size (mesh), thus calculate the physical properties of the best biomass pellets. The quality of biomass pellets is determined by the physical properties of the pellets. Processing of biomass pellets is by drying cocoa skin and banana peel, grind with a hammer mill, and sieved with a size of 20, 40, and 60 mesh. Materials are mixed with composition of cacao pod husk and banana pod husk are 80%: 20%, 70%: 30%, 60%: 40%. Biomass is pressed using a hydraulic press with a diameter of 1 cm, and a height of 1 cm then dried to reduce the moisture content. The result shows the best formula of biomass pellets occurs in a combination of 80% cacao pod husk and 20% banana pod husk with 60 mesh. This biomass pellet has physical characteristics for calorific value of 4049,815 cal/g, a volatile matter value of 78,92%, moisture content of 5.17%, ash content of 9,8%, and density of 5,214 gr/cm³. Banana pod husk with high levels of lignin can be used as an adhesive, it binding cacao pod husk particles properly and increase density and calorific value.