Maryam Botshekan - Chemical engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan;
Mohammad Hadi Jazini - Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan;

Nowadays, due to the reduction of non-renewable fossil fuels, increasing fuel costs and serious environmental issues, research in the field of renewable energy sourceshas been highly noticed. Charcoal from renewable resources (especially briquette) is considered as an alternative fuel for reducing environmental pollution andgreenhouse gas emissions created by burning or burying the remains of biomass. Briquette is made up of drywastes like wood from pruning of trees, waste from woodcrafts, sawdust, rice husk and straw of trees. Because of lack of wood resources, impassable areas andenvironmental issues, Iran is a good market for the production and consumption of briquette. Hence, in this research, the possibility of production of briquette, itsbenefits and potential have been investigated in Iran. As a typical Iranian city, Isfahan city was chosen for the study. The results showed that production of briquette keeps 201,100 trees in a year. On average, this number of trees can filter 5630800 kilograms of polluted air,save 583190000 liter of rainwater and create coolness equivalent to 2011000 air conditioners in a year. From another perspective, production of briquette in Isfahan can supply the natural gas of 78 Iranian families.

briquette, residue (dry waste), renewable energy, environment