Alternative method for stopping the coconut shell charcoal briquette drying process

University of Sanata Dharma, Mechanical Engineering, Paingan Maguwoharjo Depok Sleman, Yogyakarta 55282, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: pras@usd.ac.id

Abstract

The drying processes of coconut shell charcoal briquette consist of drying and agglomeration. In industry, the drying process is determined by a quality control person, which creates dependency. The justification was conducted by firing and hardness checking. The firing test consumes a lot of time. An alternative method for determining the stopping drying process is proposed. The method is based on the resistance of the briquette in addition to density. One hundred and fifty cube briquettes of 2,6 cm x 2,6 cm x 2,6 cm in wet, half-dry, and dry conditions were tested for electricity resistance. The results show different resistivity of wet, half-dry, and dry. The dry has a resistivity of 1.82 105 Ω. The others have less than that number by order more than 10. Some doubts were found due to the low resistivity number close to half-dry condition. The density of the doubt was in the type. Therefore, a combination of density and resistance will be used to stop drying, which can be done quickly and out of the dependency of the quality control person.