Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

The limited supply of fuel wood, combined with ever-increasing kerosene and
cooking gas prices in Kenya, highlight the need to investigate alternate energy sources
for home and cottage industrial use in the country. Such energy sources should be
renewable and accessible to the poor, necessitating a rapid transition to a sustainable
energy system in developing nations like Kenya. Fuel briquettes are an energy source
that fits these sustainability standards. It is manufactured at a low cost and made
easily accessible to domestic cooking and agro-industrial activities, lessening the
strong demand for both. Briquettes also have advantages over fuel wood in terms of
heat intensity, cleanliness, ease of use, and storage space requirements. You can
make briquettes with or without a binder. It is more convenient to do it without the
binder, but it requires sophisticated and expensive presses and drying equipment,
making such methods inappropriate for developing countries. As previously stated, for
the briquetting sector to succeed in less industrialized nations, equipment should be
locally built simple, low-cost machine operations, decreasing the high demand for
both. The study focuses on determining the potential of water lily as a main biomass
material in creating fuel briquettes. Production of fuel briquettes will undergo three
phases. First is the drying phase, then the molding phase, and lastly, the testing
phase.

Due to high thermal efficiency, excellent combustion properties, convenient

delivery properties, and ease of industrialization of biomass briquettes production,
they are fit for utilization on a large scale. Biomass briquettes are also suitable
substitutes for coal in the fields of rural cooking, heating, providing clean fuels for
cities, providing energy for greenhouses, and providing fuels for industrial boilers and
power stations. The productivity and demand for biomass briquettes have recently
increased rapidly according to (Chen, 2015).

It adversely affects the environment and humans in diverse ways. However, the
water lily leaves and stem release thermal energy when burned. The amount of
thermal energy released depends on the moisture content and other factors. The water
hyacinth organic matter and other leaf species were briquetted and their thermal
energy content investigated in this exercise.

Statement of the Problem

The aim of this study is to determine how an environmental challenge can be

used to relieve the energy crisis experienced by communities living in and around
hyacinth water weed-infested water courses.

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1. Is it possible to make a fuel briquettes out of dried water lily?

2. Can this study help to lessen the solid wastes in the community?
3. Does this study benefits people who lives near the Calibato Lake?

Significance of the Study

This study will be beneficial to the community and also in the future
researchers. This can help to lessen the solid wastes due to the rapid growth of water
lily. It can also help the community to lessen their expenses especially today that we
are experiencing a financial crisis and it can be a source of income.

Scope and Limitation

This study focused only on water lily as a potential biomass material for the
production of fuel briquettes. It was conducted in Rizal, Laguna during School Year
2021-2022.
 Chapter II

Review of Related Literature

A literature review was conducted to identify and summarize findings relating to

Water Lily as a biomass material to create fuel briquettes. The reports and analyses
accessible from academic, government, and industry sources were reviewed in this
work. The majority of the research was done through the internet to find online
databases, papers, and other industry resources.

Water lilies (Nymphaea) and lotuses (Nelumbo) are aquatic treasures. They are
celebrated for their beauty and memorialized in art and religion in both ancient and
modern times. From June to October, many of them are easy to grow and reward the
gardener with fragrant and luxurious blossoms. Spring is the best time to plant both
plants. Water lilies are faster to start and grow than lotus, which are famously difficult
to get started and require a lot of warmth and sun to flower.

While the majority of water lilies are grown outside, tiny kinds can be grown in
containers indoors. The keys to success are plenty of light, enough water, and keeping
the water relatively clean (for your sake and that of the plants).

Water lilies feature huge, spherical leaves that are 8–16 inches in diameter,
with a single V-shaped notch and its own stalk. Depending on water level fluctuations,
the leaves may be floating, elevated above the water surface, or immersed. The
enormous, spectacular flowers feature many petals that range in color from white to
pink to violet, with a yellow center. Blooms from July through October. Leaves and
blooms are linked to flexible underwater stalks that sprout from the pond or lake
bottom’s thick, woody rhizomes (modified underground stems).

Water hyacinth, as defined and explained by Agri Life Extension (n.d.), is a free-
floating perennial plant that can grow to a height of 3 feet and has both advantages
and downsides. The dark green, round to elliptical leaf blades are linked to a spongy,
inflated petiole. A massive, densely branching, black fibrous root system lies beneath
the water. On a terminal spike, the water hyacinth bears beautiful light blue to violet
flowers. Water hyacinth is a very aggressive invader that can quickly produce thick
carpets.
If these mats cover the entire surface of rivers, oxygen levels will drop and fish would
die. Water Hyacinths should be managed so that they do not cover the entire river.

Naga Central School (2012) shown that water hyacinth can obstruct water
movement and block irrigation, hydropower, and water supply systems. Reduced
biodiversity, increased disease in the habitat, increased evaporation and transpiration
of water. One example is the flooding that occurred in Mindanao, Philippines, as
reported in an article discovered by the researchers, “Water lilies were also blamed for
major floods in Mindanao that swamped numerous towns in Cotabato City and Sultan
Kudarat in recent months.” The proliferation of water lilies in the river has alarmed
residents, particularly along the Makati-Mandaluyong bridge. They expressed fear that
strong rains, such as those produced by Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) in 2009, could
result in major flooding” (Kwok, 2011).

Furthermore, according to Jacinto and Lirio (2014), “Water Hyacinths adds to

the growth of diseases in habitats: Malaria, dengue, water borne parasites, and other
water based diseases, as well as fishing challenges because access to the fishing
ground is difficult when weed infestation is prevalent.” “To offer new strength” is what
the word renewable means. Thus, renewable energy is defined as energy that can be
regenerated. Renewable energy sources include sunlight, wind, the earth’s heat, the
movement of seas and rivers, and the development and movement of plants and
animals.

A renewable energy system converts incoming solar energy and its principal
alternate forms (wind and river flow) into readily useable forms of energy such as
electricity, usually without polluting the environment. Water hyacinth, as a weed that
uses solar energy quickly and absorbs a lot of nutrients from its environment, fits the
characteristics of a plant that can directly generate renewable energy. Higher energy
yielding briquettes can be obtained using value additions like as carbonization or
semi-decomposition.