Assessment of Papers and Cardboard Wastes and Their potential use for the Production of Combustible Briquettes
Résumé
The problem of waste management in some poor countries is usually linked to their non-preliminary quantification. This study aims at quantifying the flow of paper and cardboard waste in Maroua town and to evaluate its recycling capacity for combustible briquettes production. Paper and cardboard wastes produced by households, public sector, private organizations and shopping centers were collected and quantify. The production of combustible briquettes with this type of material was evaluated. Some physicochemical parameters as moisture content, volatile matter content, fixed carbon content and ash content of the briquettes were evaluated. The environmental impacts of the use of the briquettes were determined. Globally, annual flow of total rejected papers waste was found to be around 81,713.00 kg in Maroua town. Moisture content of combustible briquettes produced and dried at room temperature during 7 days is 4.02±0.47%. Higher fixed carbon content has been observed with combustibles briquettes made with waste pretreated with alkali solution (39.99±9.0 %). With total amount of 81.7 tons of paper waste rejected each year by targeted sectors of this study, it is estimated the production of 102.141 tons of combustible briquettes. This was found to be equal to about 153.2 tons of firewood use as combustible. It appears that the recycling for the cooking energy production of paper and cardboard wastes could significantly reduce the firewood consumption and thus deforestation.