CHARACTERISTICS OF REED BRIQUETTES – BIOMASS RENEWABLE RESOURCE OF THE DANUBE DELTA

The paper presents the most important physical - mechanical properties of the briquettes made of reed biomass after chopping it into chips of 5-30mm length and 0.2-0.6 mm thickness. Both study on the density of the briquettes – as a physical property – and study on their perpendicular compression strength – as a mechanical characteristic – are imposed by the factthat these two characteristics show the compressinggrade of the chips and in the same time their compaction status. The experimental determination of the calorific power and the obtained results are also presented in the paper and compared with values obtained for themost used species of wood waste for briquettes so far (beech and pine wood). The experimental work is done at the laboratory level in the infrastructure of Wood Engineering Faculty. The novelty of the research is that reed biomass from Danube Delta is not exploited nowadays, being an important renewable resource Romania has and could use for heating purpose. The conclusion of the paper is the good result obtained for reed briquettes that have a value of the density very close to that of beech wood. It can be said also that good results were obtained for calorific power of the reed briquettes compared with those made of wood species as beech and pine wood. Reed is an important renewable resource in Danube Delta, unexploited so far, a possible biomass for energy purpose, which can bring a new sector of industrialization.