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Combustion performance of charcoal: a comparative study on Miombo woodland native species and Eucalyptus grandis

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Abstract

Charcoal is the most preferred energy source in Mozambique and contributes to income generation for most households and small-medium scale commercial entities. However, charcoal production contributes to the illegal exploitation and rapid decrease of natural forest cover. Attempts from the government to address this challenge by implementing energy plantation projects using Eucalyptus spp. have failed due to local communities’ preference for charcoal produced from native wood species. Therefore, this study aims at evaluating the combustibility of charcoal produced from Eucalyptus grandis and Miombo native species, in order to support new energy plantation projects, as well as adequate interventions toward the improvement of residential cooking and heating appliances in Mozambique. All charcoals were produced on a laboratory scale at a final temperature of 450 °C. Charcoal samples were collected, and their proximate chemical composition, heat value, combustion parameters, and indexes obtained by thermogravimetric analysis were evaluated. The charcoal from Eucalyptus grandis presented lower ash content (0.49%) and fuel ratio (2.81), higher content of volatile materials (26.14%), and heat value (31.15 MJ kg−1) as compared to charcoal from Miombo species. However, Miombo species presented a higher combustion performance, especially Uapaca kirkiana, which presented higher combustibility (1.37 × 104% min−1/°C2) and ignition (13.13 × 103% min−3) indexes. Eucalyptus grandis is a fast-growing species, and its charcoal presented suitable chemical properties and combustibility for domestic use; therefore, its use as an alternative to Miombo species is recommended.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

The authors would like thank the Ministry of Science and Technology, Higher Education and Professional Technician (MCTESTP-MOZAMBIQUE, Process no. 37.01.2015) and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES-BRAZIL, Process no. 88881.284250/2018–01), the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the Research Support Foundation of Minas Gerais State (FAPEMIG), and the Multi-user Biomaterials and Biomass Energy Laboratory from the Federal University of Lavras by the research support and funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agrarian Sciences, Lúrio University (Unilúrio), Campus Universitários de Unango Km 62, Nampula, Sanga District, Mozambique

    Jonas Massuque & Custódio Efraim Matavel

  2. Department of Forest Sciences, Federal University of Lavras (UFLA), 1352 Avenue Dr. Sylvio Menicucci, Lavras, BR, 37200-000, Brazil

    Jonas Massuque & Paulo Fernando Trugilho

  3. Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Str. 84, 15374, Müncheberg, Germany

    Custódio Efraim Matavel

  4. Campus Parauapebas, Rural Federal University of Amazonia (UFRA), Parauapebas, Pará, CEP, 68515-000, Brazil

    Thiago de Paula Protásio

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  1. Jonas Massuque
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  2. Custódio Efraim Matavel
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  3. Thiago de Paula Protásio
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  4. Paulo Fernando Trugilho
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Contributions

Jonas Massuque: conceptualization, formal analysis, methodology, investigation, and writing—original draft; Custódio Efraim Matavel: writing—original draft, writing—review and Editing; Thiago de Paula Protásio: validation, writing—review and editing; Paulo Fernando Trugilho: conceptualization, methodology, supervision, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Jonas Massuque.

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Massuque, J., Matavel, C.E., de Paula Protásio, T. et al. Combustion performance of charcoal: a comparative study on Miombo woodland native species and Eucalyptus grandis. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 13, 15789–15798 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-021-02109-1

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