AN EVALUATION OF COAL BRIQUETTES AS A FUEL IN TOBACCO CURING IN ZIMBABWE

This research was conducted at Kutsaga Research Station, near Harare to evaluate the use of coal briquettes in tobacco curing. Coal and firewood were used as standards. Tobacco from the same plot was loaded at the same time in experimental barns and, and the fuel mass and the time taken to complete each curing stage were recorded. The fuels were converted to mega joules for easy analysis. The average energy consumption for the coal briquettes, wood and coal were 50 269.26 MJ, 47 596.03 MJ and 47 726.48 MJ respectively. The corresponding respective times taken to complete curing were 225.33 hours, 158.17 hours and 153.67 hours. The average energy consumed to cure a kg of tobacco were 116.03 MJ (coal briquettes), 108.28 MJ (wood) and 108.56 MJ (coal), which is equivalent to 5.04 kg, 5.72 kg and 3.70 kg to cure a kg of tobacco respectively. Coal briquette fuel has a comparable curing efficiency to fire wood and coal, and can be used as substitute for the latter fuels in tobacco curing. The results of this research are important for the reduction of tobacco related deforestation in Zimbabwe currently.