Economics of Producing Fuel Pellets From Biomass

Mani, Sudhagar; Sokhansanj, Shahab; Bi, Xiaotao; Turhollow, Anthony

doi:10.13031/2013.20447

Cited by 262 publications

(148 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The first constraint requires that there should be enough biomass collected to produce the pellets corresponding to the annual heat demand of the customers, plus the extra amount of biomass required as a fuel source to perform the drying process during pelleting. Mani et al (2006) have examined the effect of various fuel options for the drying process and concluded that the most cost-efficient method is to use wet biomass, which is in line with the assumption made here:…”

Section: Objective Functionsupporting

confidence: 72%

“…In the work of Sultana et al (2010) a thorough analysis was performed, the cost structure was split in discrete components and the cost break-down was analyzed for different agricultural biomass pellet types and plant capacities. Mani et al (2006) focused on wood pellets but also investigated the feasibility of alternative fuels for drying the wet biomass before the pelleting process. Thek and Obernberger (2004) carried out a detailed study of sawdust pellet production in a European plant.…”

Section: Pellet Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optimisation and investment analysis of two biomass-to-heat supply chain structures

Rentizelas

Tolis

Tatsiópoulos

2014

Biosystems Engineering

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This version is available at https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/44917/ Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Unless otherwise explicitly stated on the manuscript, Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Please check the manuscript for details of any other licences that may have been applied. You may not engage in further distribution of the material for any profitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute both the url (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/) and the content of this paper for research or private study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge.Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to the As oil prices have risen dramatically lately, many people explore alternative ways of heating their residences and businesses in order to reduce the respective cost. One of the options usually considered nowadays is biomass, especially in rural areas with significant local biomass availability. This work focuses on comparing two different biomass energy exploitation systems, aiming to provide heat at a specific number of customers at a specific cost. The first system explored is producing pellets from biomass and distributing them to the final customers for use in domestic pellet boilers. The second option is building a centralized co-generation (CHP) unit that will generate electricity and heat. Electricity will be fed to the grid, whereas heat will be distributed to the customers via a district heating network. The biomass source examined is agricultural residues and the model is applied to a case study region in Greece. The analysis is performed from the viewpoint of the potential investor. Several design characteristics of both systems are optimized. In both cases the whole biomass-toenergy supply chain is modeled, both upstream and downstream of the pelleting/CHP units. The results of the case study show that both options have positive financial yield, with the pelleting plant having higher yield. However, the sensitivity analysis reveals that the pelleting plant yield is much more sensitive than that of the CHP plant, therefore constituting a riskier investment. The model presented may be used as a decision support system for potential investors willing to engage in the biomass energy field.

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Section: Objective Functionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Section: Pellet Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimisation and investment analysis of two biomass-to-heat supply chain structures

Rentizelas

Tolis

Tatsiópoulos

2014

Biosystems Engineering

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“…The images showed only the entanglement of particles in pellets made from timothy hay and switchgrass. This might provide evidence that the lignin content in the biomass is responsible for the mechanical properties of the pellet [28]. Pressure, temperature, and moisture promote adhesion by bonding with a solid bridge between particles.…”

Section: Fracture Analysis Of Forestry and Agricultural Biomass Pelletmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Smaller particles can encourage the particles to bind and compact, as this requires a lower amount of work ( Figure 4) to yield quality pellets as compared to larger particles. The particle bonding in RCG (Figure 5b) is most likely due to the combination of particle entanglement and auto-adhesive surfaces [26,28].…”

Section: Work Needed To Pelletize Biomass and Blended Biomasses (50:50)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Process and Energy Analysis of Pelleting Agricultural and Woody Biomass Blends

2018

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Unprocessed biomass has low energy density and high transportation cost. The energy generated through biomass can be enhanced by the pelletizing technique. In order to evaluate the energy requirement for the pelletizing of agricultural biomass, three different particle sizes (150-300, 300-425, and 425-600 µm) of reed canary grass (RCG), timothy hay (TH), and switchgrass (SW) were selected in the present work. Furthermore, two woody biomasses (spruce and pine) were also considered under similar experimental conditions for comparison purposes. An Instron machine attached to an in-house built pelletizer unit was employed to produce a single pellet. The energy demand for compacting ground biomass (spruce) with a particle size of 150 µm was lower (2.07 kJ) than those required for particle sizes of 300 µm (2.24 kJ) and 425 µm (2.43 kJ). The energy required for compacting ground reed canary grass, timothy hay, and switchgrass was lower (1.61, 1.97, and 1.68 kJ, respectively) than that required for spruce (2.36 kJ) and pine (2.35 kJ), evaluated at a 159-MPa load and at temperature of about 80 • C. The energy demand for blended biomass was around 2 kJ with the pellet quality approaching that of the pellets made from woody biomass. Overall, blending helped to improve the quality of pellets and lower the compaction energy requirements.

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“…Densification of cellulosic biomass into pellets [13] can increase the bulk density from 40 to 250 kg/m 3 for cellulosic biomass materials to as high as 1200 kg/m 3 [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrasonic vibration-assisted pelleting of wheat straw: A predictive model for energy consumption using response surface methodology

et al. 2014

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Cellulosic biomass can be used as a feedstock for biofuel manufacturing. Pelleting of cellulosic biomass can increase its bulk density and thus improve its storability and reduce the feedstock transportation costs. Ultrasonic vibration-assisted (UV-A) pelleting can produce biomass pellets whose density is comparable to that processed by traditional pelleting methods (e.g. extruding, briquetting, and rolling). This study applied response surface methodology to the development of a predictive model for the energy consumption in UV-A pelleting of wheat straw. Effects of pelleting pressure, ultrasonic power, sieve size, and pellet weight were investigated. This study also optimized the process parameters to minimize the energy consumption in UV-A pelleting using response surface methodology. Optimal conditions to minimize the energy consumption were the following: ultrasonic power at 20%, sieve size at 4 mm, and pellet weight at 1 g, and the minimum energy consumption was 2.54 Wh.

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Economics of Producing Fuel Pellets From Biomass

Cited by 262 publications

References 11 publications

Optimisation and investment analysis of two biomass-to-heat supply chain structures

Optimisation and investment analysis of two biomass-to-heat supply chain structures

Process and Energy Analysis of Pelleting Agricultural and Woody Biomass Blends

Ultrasonic vibration-assisted pelleting of wheat straw: A predictive model for energy consumption using response surface methodology

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