Production and Characterization of Pellets from Agricultural Residue: Cotton, Tur, and Soybean

Abstract

Substituting biomass for conventional sources of fuel can help to provide cleaner energy. Woody biomass pellets are gaining popularity in the primary energy industry. Agricultural biomass is either burned on the farm or used as fodder for animals recently, which releases toxic chemicals in environment. Locally cultivated crop waste has potential to be more environmentally benign than imported biomass. As a result, residues of locally grown Cotton, Tur, and Soybean crops were used for pelleting in this study. The collected residues were sundried and shredded to particle sizes ranging between 2.36 mm to 4.75mm. The pellets were prepared without binder by using pelleting machine. The proximate and ultimate analysis of crop residue and pellet samples was carried out to check characteristics and applicability of pellets as bioenergy source. The thermogravimetric analysis was conducted to check thermal behaviour and SEM-EDS analysis was carried out to detect the inorganics present in ash sample. The obtained calorific values of cotton, tur, and soybean pellets are 3696.57, 3487.83, and 3281.65 Kcal/Kg respectively and moisture content is below 10% for all three types of pellets. The findings showed that crop residue pellets as an alternative to conventional fuel sources provide superior economic and environmental outcomes.