Physical, mechanical and energy characterization of wood pellets obtained from three common tropical species

Artemio, Carrillo Parra; Heya, Maginot Ngangyo; Serafín, Colín Urieta; Foroughbakhch, R.; Rutiaga-Quiñones, José Guadalupe; Fermín, Correa Méndez

doi:10.7717/peerj.5504

Cited by 35 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 51 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The fixed carbon values ( Figure 3) were similar to those reported by Carrillo-Parra et al [59], Gil et al [81], and Miranda et al [63] for oaks. However, they were lower than the reported value by Sette et al [75] for wood and eucalyptus bark (17.3% and 16.7% respectively).…”

Section: Immediate Analysissupporting

confidence: 88%

“…In this procedure, the samples were initially weighed and were left in a muffle at 250 • C for one hour to release the volatiles; then, the temperature was increased to 550 • C for two hours, and the final weight is taken. Although there is no standard for measuring the fixed carbon content in wood, it is obtained by subtracting from the sum of the volatile material, moisture, and the ash content from 100% [59].…”

Section: Immediate Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High ash contents are associated with low energetic values, and can negatively affect combustion [18,97,98]. Several authors have attributed the high ash content to the proportion of bark [14,37,82,86,94], causing slag formation, fouling, and sintering [34,59,99], and negatively affecting the milling and pelletizing equipment. However, in the present work, ash contents were low for the barked sawdust of the four oak species.…”

Section: Immediate Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The Bioenergetic Potential of Four Oak Species from Northeastern Mexico

Núñez-Retana

Wehenkel

Vega-Nieva

et al. 2019

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Lack of knowledge regarding the fuel quality of diverse tree species prevents their use. Furthermore, the potential use of wood with the bark of different tree species for pellet production is still relatively unexplored in the scientific literature. In Mexico, the sawdust of Quercus genus (oak) is underutilized, despite it being an important forest resource, due to some anatomical and technological characteristics. The sawdust of Quercus with bark is also considered to have a low economic value. The objective of this study was to analyze the energy characteristics of barked and debarked Quercus sideroxyla, Q. rugosa, Q. laeta, and Q. conzattii in order to evaluate their potential for pellet production. Granulometric distribution, bulk density, proximal analysis, and calorific value tests were carried out. The sawdust of the four tree species studied was in accordance with the limits established by the standard EN 14961-2. Sawdust with a particle size of 0.425 mm had the highest percentage of retained mass (30.33%) (p < 0.05) in the granulometry test. There were no statistical differences in granulometry (p > 0.05) between barked and debarked sawdust for all Quercus species. Barked sawdust presented higher bulk density (p < 0.05) than debarked sawdust (246 and 224 kg/m3, respectively). The moisture content did not show statistical differences (p > 0.05) between barked and debarked sawdust. The volatile material was higher (p < 0.05) in debarked sawdust (88.7%) than in barked sawdust (85.0%). The ash content was below 0.5%. The fixed carbon was higher (p < 0.05) in barked sawdust (14.6%). The calorific value was higher (p < 0.05) in barked sawdust and for the Q. rugosa species (19.5 MJ/kg). The results suggest that the oak species analyzed, both barked and debarked, showed good potential for pellet production. Future studies should quantify fuel quality for a variety of diameter distributions, and analyze pellet mechanical properties and ash slagging risk.

show abstract

Section: Immediate Analysissupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Immediate Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Immediate Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Bioenergetic Potential of Four Oak Species from Northeastern Mexico

Núñez-Retana

Wehenkel

Vega-Nieva

et al. 2019

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In relation to the pellet quality from tropical wood species, Parra Artemio et al [54] investigated pellet samples from Albizia amara Roxb., Ebenopsis ebano (Berland.) Barneby, and Havardia pallens Benth.…”

Section: Pure Feedstock For Pellet Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pellet Production from Woody and Non-Woody Feedstocks: A Review on Biomass Quality Evaluation

Picchio

Latterini²,

Venanzi

et al. 2020

Energies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Forest and agricultural biomass are important sources of renewable and sustainable fuel for energy production. Their increasing consumption is mainly related to the increase in global energy demand and fossil fuel prices but also to the limited availability of petroleum and the lower environmental impact of these biomass compared with other non-renewable fuels. In particular, the pellet sector has seen important developments in terms of both production and the number of installed transformation plants. In addition, pellet production from non-woody biomass is increasing in importance. One of the fundamental aspects for the correct and sustainable use of a biofuel is evaluation of its quality. This is even more important when dealing with pellet production, considering the broad spectrum of possible raw materials for pelletizing. Considering the significant number of papers dealing with pellet quality evaluation and improvement in the last decade, this review aims to give the reader an overall view of the most current knowledge about this large and interesting topic. We focused on pellets of agricultural and forestry origin and analyzed papers regarding the specific topic of pellet quality evaluation and improvement from the last five years (2016–2020). In particular, the review findings are presented in the following order: the influence of different agro-forest management systems on pellet quality; analysis of pellets from pure feedstocks (no blending or binders); the influence of blending and binders on pellet quality; and the influence of pre and post treatments. Finally, a brief discussion about actual research lacks in this topic and the possibilities for future research are presented. It is important to underline that the present review is focused on the influence of the biomass characteristics on pellet quality. The effects of the process parameters (die temperature, applied pressure, holding time) on pellet features are not considered in this review, because that is another very large topic deserving a dedicated paper.

show abstract

“…The use of biomass as an energy source is constrained with low calorific value, transportation, and storage. For example, woody biomass has a low density and physical and chemical properties that are not good, so that the efficiency of combustion is low [5], increasing transportation costs [6], easily degraded by microbes, depending on the season [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical Characteristic of Biomass Pellet from Cacao Pod Husk and Banana Pod Husk

Sandra

Damayanti

Susilo

et al. 2019

Int. J. Adv. Sci. Eng. Inf. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biomass is a suitable material to be developed as an alternative energy source to substitute fossil fuels. Waste of Cacao and banana processing (peel) are potentially forming into biomass pellets because they have high calorific value. Increasing the caloric value of biomass fuel can be done through the densification process to produce biomass pellets. This study aims to find the best-mixed formula and particle size (mesh), thus calculate the physical properties of the best biomass pellets. The quality of biomass pellets is determined by the physical properties of the pellets. Processing of biomass pellets is by drying cocoa skin and banana peel, grind with a hammer mill, and sieved with a size of 20, 40, and 60 mesh. Materials are mixed with composition of cacao pod husk and banana pod husk are 80% : 20%, 70% : 30%, 60% : 40%. Biomass is pressed using a hydraulic press with a diameter of 1 cm, and a height of 1 cm then dried to reduce the moisture content. The result shows the best formula of biomass pellets occurs in a combination of 80% cacao pod husk and 20% banana pod husk with 60 mesh. This biomass pellet has physical characteristics for calorific value of 4049,815 cal/g, a volatile matter value of 78,92%, moisture content of 5.17%, ash content of 9,8%, and density of 5,214 gr/cm 3. Banana pod husk with high levels of lignin can be used as an adhesive, it binding cacao pod husk particles properly and increase density and calorific value.

show abstract

Physical, mechanical and energy characterization of wood pellets obtained from three common tropical species

Cited by 35 publications

References 51 publications

The Bioenergetic Potential of Four Oak Species from Northeastern Mexico

The Bioenergetic Potential of Four Oak Species from Northeastern Mexico

Pellet Production from Woody and Non-Woody Feedstocks: A Review on Biomass Quality Evaluation

Physical Characteristic of Biomass Pellet from Cacao Pod Husk and Banana Pod Husk

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About