We at SK Engineers first innovated the Briquetting Lever Press (BLP) in November 2017. We were working on a contemporary design of a lever press for about two months. Later, after various trials, we were successful in to design the final model of BLP and received positive feedback from the targeted communities in our locality.

SK Engineers has been working with NM Sadguru Water & Development Foundation for 10 years. During our work, we came across the long-lasting problem of finding a reliable source of cooking fuel for rural communities. Upon research we realized that, although the government has subsidized LPG connections, but still the majority of rural communities were relying on traditional sources of energy like firewood, coal, kerosene, etc. Particularly, communities utilize easily available firewood for their day-to-day energy needs for activities like cooking, boiling water, etc. This not only increases the rate of deforestation, but also adversely affects the health of the people burning firewood. Further, we found that rural farmers burn away their agricultural waste generated at their farming fields without realising its potential. We decided to provide these communities a way by which they can create their own fuel at their own place. They could make use of different types of biomass material like agricultural waste, waste paper, sawdust, cowdung cakes, etc which is easily available in abundant quantities in rural localities. Further, there is limited availability of electricity in rural localities and even if there is proper availability, rural communities cannot afford the rising price of electricity for using any heavy duty electrical equipment. So keeping these facts in mind, we designed an handy equipment with the following properties: Power: No electricity requirement Mobility: Compact enough to easily store & transport Lightweight: Can be lifted with ease even by women Manual products: Negligible after sales expenses on the customer side Briquette size: Large enough to burn for comparatively long time Design: The products are specially engineered to suit the purpose

Briquettes can only be produced during dry weather. Agri-forest waste gets wet during the rainy season, so the formed briquettes take a lot of time to dry. So, during such weather, our products can be disassembled into a box-type assembly to be stored away in a compact manner and can be assembled again when required. So this what makes them unique. Also, it offers the following USP's Power: No electricity requirement Mobility: Compact enough to easily store & transport Lightweight: Can be lifted with ease even by women Manual products: Negligible after sales expenses on the customer side Briquette size: Large enough to burn for comparatively long time Design: The products are specially engineered to suit the purpose

The smaller the size of the waste material the better. Usually the biggest size our machine can cater is not more than 3-4mm. So, we recommend to first grind the waste material, like rice husk, bagasse, wheat husk, etc, using an electric or manual shredder. Then create an appropriate mixture by mixing the shredded material with other biomass material like sawdust, waste-paper, cow-dung, etc and water. Once this slurry is ready, pour the mixture into the cylindrical cavity in the machine and start the compression process. Once done, the end product needs to be dried into a briquette.

We have three models of briquetting machines with different production capacities. The quoted capacity is for a two manual labourers working 8 hours operation/day: Briquetting Lever Press - BLP: Capacity of 30-35 briquettes/hr or 280 briquettes/day that produces about 95 kg of material/day. Briquetting Jack - B-JACK: Capacity is 40-45 briquettes/hr or 360 briquettes/day that produces about 126 kg of material/day. Briquetting Hydraulic Jack - B-HACK: Capacity is 50-55 briquettes/hr or 450 briquettes/day that produces about 154 kg of material/day.

We sell our machines mainly in rural areas of states including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, etc.

Rural NGOs are working for social welfare and integrated development of rural communities. Briquetting products can aid them to fulfil their purpose of providing cheap fuel locally. Making briquettes and selling them for a price of Rs 7-10/kg can offer poor women in rural areas a good source of income. Further, women can form a group (SHGs – Self Help Groups) and they can start their own cottage industry for such briquetting products. So this innovation helps empower women by improving their health, since rural women are usually the one who use firewood or cowdung cakes.

We at SK Engineers innovated this Manual Baler Machine in October 2018. We worked on a prototype version for about 1-2 months and then designed the final product.

Finding a final solution to waste management and income generation for Rural Farmers was the inspiration for this machine. Rural farmers improperly burn away farm waste like bagasse, wheat straw, rice husk, etc. Further, waste material such as farm waste, loose waste like plastic wraps, LDPE plastic, multi layered plastic, paper waste, cardboard, etc., are improperly transported due to their bulky space occupancy. Rural people can utilize our Manual Baler Machine, to effectively manage waste. This way they can properly transport the farm waste and sell it to companies to earn an extra source of income. Further, this product is utilized for urban regions as well for the waste management purposes.

Average size of waste that can be baled: 600 mm x 600 mm x 600 mm Bale weight: upto 45 kg Time to produce one bale: 10-12 minutes

The baling capacity of 40 kg/15 minutes translates into 1280 kg/day by 2 person operation of 8 hours in a day.

Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, etc.

Since compression of waste in our baler machine includes mainly human power, so the operation would be smooth enough for males. But rural women would find it very difficult to operate it.