The organic waste recycled into briquettes in Cambodia : an IED Invest Innovation

IED, through its subsidiary IED Invest, has been operating a biomass power plant in northern Cambodia since 2018. This plant, with a capacity of 1MW, provides electricity to up to 20,000 households through a process of gasification from the burning of organic waste.

This combustion produces a significant amount of coal, which we are now able to recycle entirely into briquettes, which are used massively in Cambodia for cooking. These briquettes which are sold exclusively to wholesalers, redistributed in cities to supply restaurants, generate financial profits and the creation of a dozen jobs.

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The process of making briquettes involves several successive operations:

1. Coal first passes through a grinder to reduce the size of coal grains to optimize the quality of the briquettes;

2. The particles then pass through a blender, in which they are mixed with cassava, which acts as a binder. This process provides the ideal consistency of maintenance of the briquettes and for combustion;

3. The mixture then passes through an extruder to obtain the desired shape for the briquettes;

4. Out of the extruder is a cutting machine, which allows to obtain precisely the final size of briquettes;

briq2

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5. These briquettes are then placed on trays to dry for several hours in a dedicated room.

Finally, they are arranged in 35kg bags and transported by trucks to be sold to restaurants or homes.

IED Invest recently equipped itself with a new extruder to increase its production capacity, which now reaches 50 tons of briquettes per month. This activity has enabled the hiring of 8 people dedicated to its proper functioning, and allows each to fuel the monthly consumption of about 2500 households.