Utilization of Several Agricultural Wastes into Briquette as Renewable Energy Source

Tobacco stems contain 56.10% cellulose content, 15.11% lignin, 22.44% hemicellulose, and 44.61% total organic carbon, which can be used as a source of energy or fuel. This study aimed to utilize tobacco stems in a briquette form as alternative energy. The materials used in this study were tobacco stem waste, rice husk, wood charcoal, and coconut shell. The treatments used in this study consisted of T1 (100% of tobacco stems), T2 (80% of tobacco stem + 20% of coconut shell), T3 (80% of tobacco stem + 20% rice husk), and T4 (33.33% of tobacco stems + 33.33% of rice husk + 33.33% coconut shell). The fastest combustion rate was found at T3, 0.12 gram/sec, while T1 and T2 had the same combustion rate. T4, a mixture of various materials, had no significant difference compared to T1, T2, and T3. The highest calorific value of tobacco stem briquettes was in T4 (4127 Kcal/kg), and the lowest was in T1 (2343 Kcal/kg). The combustion rate of these tobacco stem briquettes was longer than that of charcoal briquettes, whose average burning rate is 0.234 grams/second. Overall, this study provides an overview of the best combination to create briquettes from agricultural waste

Technical and Economic Efficiency of Smallholder Arabica Coffee Farming in Panti Sub-district, Jember

Many factors must be considered in coffee production processes. Use of factors of production must also be efficient in order to produce maximum production. This research was conducted in Panti Sub-district, Jember, as one of larger coffee producer in Jember. This location was also one area in Jember cultivated with Arabica coffee since 2012. Therefore, this study aimed to determine production factors in Arabica coffee smallholders; particularly technical and economic efficiency of Arabica coffee smallholders. Research method including interview and secondary data collection was carried out in three farmer groups in Panti Sub-district. Samples included 36 farmers from Surya Tani, Sejahtera Bersama and Taman Putri farmer groups. Analytical methods used were Cobb Douglass as a function of Stochastic Frontier to see the technical efficiency of farming and analysis of economic the selected efficiency with pricing approach. Technical efficiency in Arabica coffee farming in the selected locations were considered efficient in the level of 71.4% with a minimum of technical efficiency of 24.9% and a maximum efficiency of 93.4%. Economic efficiency showed that factors of labor and use of organic fertilizers were not efficient, thus there should be a reduction in use of labor and organic fertilizers. The factors indicated also that use of inorganic fertilizers was not efficient, with economic efficiency value (NPM/Px) of 1.579. The conditions indicate that there is a need to use of inorganic fertilizers to be an economically efficient manner