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It is well known that charcoal is a material without plasticity, and charcoal powder can not hold into shape without adding a binding material. So, it is very important to choose a suitable binding material, when making charcoal briquettes.
It has been proven that the best binder is starch, any starch will do but preferably from cassava (tapioca). Cassava starch is the best binding material for charcoal briquettes, because cassava tubers are very cheap in most countries, the tubers are as good as starch due to high starch content. Corn starch (maize starch), wheat starch and potato starch can also be used.
When using the starch as a binder, it is very important to gelatinize the starch. Otherwise, the starch will be useless. Starch gelatinization is just breaking down the intermolecular bonds of starch molecules in hot water, to form a thick paste that will stick the charcoal powder together.
Other binding materials, such as acacia gum, molasses, cement, clay and tar can be also used, but the resulting briquettes will not be the best.