| Abstrakt: |
Refused-derived fuel (RDF) has been considered as a sustainable alternative for substituting fossil fuels. Fecal sludge is produced daily from sewage treatment plants in large volumes and usually ends in sludge hangars for disposal, as the residue from chemical and biological treatment of human waste. Despite its large volume and low water content, the utilization of fecal sludge as RDF has not been widely practiced in Indonesia. In this study, dried fecal sludge from the dewatering unit of a Sewage Treatment Plant in DKI Jakarta was used as raw material to produce RDF. In this study, pelletizing was carried out as an effort to densify and improve the physical characteristics of dried fecal sludge as RDF raw material. Dried fecal sludge is refined, weighed, added starch for adhesive, then molded into pellets. Pellets are molded using two different pelletizing processes, using screw pelletizer and revolving die pelletizer. The molded pellets were then dried and stored at room temperature with indirect sunlight for 6 hours before being analyzed for their quality parameters. This study analyzed and compared the physical characteristics of pellets produced using two different pelletizing processes for density, hardness, and calorific value parameters that influence the storage, transportation, and quality of the material. The result shows that both pelletizers have improved the quality of raw fecal sludge as refuse-derived fuel. As a result of the pelletizing process, the highest calorific value of the fecal sludge pellets is 3071.028 kcal/kg. The screw pelletizer produced higher calorific value pellets compared to the other, with longer but smaller diameters, larger densities, and smaller hardness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
