Reducing ash related operation problems of fast growing timber species and oil palm biomass for combustion applications using leaching techniques

Chin, K.L.; H’ng, Paik San; Paridah, M. T.; Szymona, Karolina; Mamiński, M.; Lee, Seng Hua; Lum, Wei Chen; Nurliyana, M.; Chow, MC; Go, Wen Ze

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2015.07.094

Cited by 47 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Half a gram of wheat straw was burnt in a bomb calorimeter (IKA C200, Wilmington, CA, USA) under high pressure oxygen (minimum 40 bar), equipped with an ignition circuit. The higher heating value (HHV) was chosen as an index parameter to evaluate the combustion characteristics of the wheat straw; HHV is widely used as an indicator of the total potential heat in a specimen [18,19,22,28].…”

Section: Ash Content Volatile Matter and Other Content Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The volatile matters of WS GO and WS UO were 79.12% and 74.0%. Biomass with a higher content of volatile matter typically has a relatively lower ash content (e.g., the comparison between WS GO and WS UO ), and a high content of volatile matter accelerates the combustion process and generates more energy at a given temperature [22]. Therefore, the WS GO , with a slightly higher volatile matter than WS UO , performed better in generating heat.…”

Section: Proximate and Ultimate Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sediments, such as sinters on the super heater, agglomerate on the water wall, and corrosion of the tube surface occurs not only in fluidized boilers, but also in grate furnaces, and has obvious negative effects on boiler efficiency [10][11][12][13]15].Various measures, such as water or acidic leaching, mineral addition, and co-firing with fossil fuels, have been adopted to solve the aforementioned biomass ash-related problems by optimizing the fuel chemical compositions with low vaporized alkaline compounds [15]. Water or acidic washing (or leaching) directly removes water-soluble elements (e.g., K, Ca, Na, and Cl) from the biomass, which improves biomass fuel characteristics at high temperatures and reduces ash deposits during combustion [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. The heating value in most biomass utilization can be enhanced by the removal of water-soluble inorganic compounds, while no significant loss of organics has been observed [18].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Liaw et al [19] analyzed the differences of leaching characteristics between batch and semi-continuous operation; meanwhile, Yu et al [20] investigated the effects of both the biomass to water ratio and leaching time during the washing process. Moreover, Bakker et al [22] studied the practical application of natural leaching for improving the thermal conversion of rice straw. Both techniques could effectively remove large quantities of alkaline compounds (e.g., Cl, S, and K) or ash content.The existing studies mainly focus on the ash sintering temperature removal of chemical compounds by leaching [17,25,26].…”

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confidence: 99%

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Effects of Water Leaching on the Ash Sintering Problems of Wheat Straw

Chen

Peng

et al. 2019

Energies

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Biomass energy has been used for decades in lieu of fossil fuels. However, biomass, such as wheat straw, typically contains a high concentration of alkali elements, which is likely to induce unfavorable conditions during combustion, such as slagging, agglomeration, and corrosion in the boiler. This study investigated the effects of leaching on the chemical compounds and sintering temperatures of wheat straw ash before and after leaching by tap water. Ash melting and sintering degree tests were conducted using hot-stage microscopy and a scanning electron microscope, respectively. The results show that the ash content in wheat straw decreased by 26.09% (from 4.14% to 3.06%) following leaching, as did the chlorine (Cl), sulfur (S), and nitrogen (N). Meanwhile, the ash-related elements such as potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and silicon (Si) reduced after leaching too. Additionally, the higher heating value increased slightly, from 19.25 to 19.53 MJ/kg. At the same time, leaching improved the ash melting temperatures of wheat straw during combustion and minimized the ash sintering degree. Similar results were also shown in scanning electron microscope (SEM) images, which clearly indicated that the leached samples had a lighter sintering degree than the original samples. Overall, the leaching process had a positive effect on the ash sintering problems of wheat straw.Energies 2019, 12, 387 2 of 14 are readily available and renewable for potential energy sources. Currently, cereal residues are considered among the most important biomass energy resources because of their vast production [4]. During 2013, cereal crops such as wheat and rice provided more than 670 million metric tons of food, dominating human food supplies [5].Challenges in both the fuel preparation and burning processes of cereal residues, such as gathering, carriage, pre-treatment, pelleting, and combusting, have attracted the attention of scholars and industries, particularly ash-related problems such as ash sintering, agglomeration, and corrosion induced while burning in boilers [6,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. High concentrations of Cl combined with alkali metals, such as Na and K, in biomass fuels typically generate sediments during the combustion process. The sediments, such as sinters on the super heater, agglomerate on the water wall, and corrosion of the tube surface occurs not only in fluidized boilers, but also in grate furnaces, and has obvious negative effects on boiler efficiency [10][11][12][13]15].Various measures, such as water or acidic leaching, mineral addition, and co-firing with fossil fuels, have been adopted to solve the aforementioned biomass ash-related problems by optimizing the fuel chemical compositions with low vaporized alkaline compounds [15]. Water or acidic washing (or leaching) directly removes water-soluble elements (e.g., K, Ca, Na, and Cl) from the biomass, which improves biomass fuel characteristics at high temperatures and reduces ash deposits during combustion [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. The heating value i...

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Section: Ash Content Volatile Matter and Other Content Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Proximate and Ultimate Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of Water Leaching on the Ash Sintering Problems of Wheat Straw

Chen

Peng

et al. 2019

Energies

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“…However, most laboratory-based investigations employ soaking, i.e. submerging the biomass in water for a specific period of time [3,[10][11][12][13][14][15]. This method is favoured in laboratory-scale studies since it is simple to implement and allows variables such as the leaching time and/or water temperature to be controlled and hence their effect on the leaching efficacy investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leaching as a Pretreatment Process to Complement Torrefaction in Improving Co-firing Characteristics of Jatropha curcas Seed Cake

Madanayake

Gan

Eastwick

et al. 2015

Waste Biomass Valor

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(2016) Leaching as a pretreatment process to complement torrefaction in improving co-firing characteristics of Jatropha curcas seed cake. Waste and Biomass Valorization, 7 (3 A note on versions:The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. AbstractThe presence of certain inorganic elements in biomass causes issues such as slagging, fouling and corrosion when co-firing with coal for power generation. In this work, the efficacy of leaching to remove these elements from Jatropha curcas seed cake was investigated. Leaching of both untorrefied and torrefied seed cakes was carried out in Milli-Q water at temperatures of 20 0 C, 35 0 C and 50 0 C. At 20 0 C, the two critical elements, potassium and chlorine, decreased by as much as 85% and 97%, respectively. Leaching at higher temperatures was only beneficial for the more intensely-torrefied biomass, since they were more resistant to leaching. The electrical 24 conductivity and ion content of the leachates were measured, as were the inorganic elemental content, dry ash content, volatile matter content and higher heating value (HHV) of the solid seed cake. A secondary benefit of the leaching was an increase in the HHV by up to 10%.

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Roles of mineral matter in biomass processing to biofuels

Fitria

Liu

Yang

2023

Biofuels Bioprod Bioref

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Minerals in biomass have a significant impact on both biofuel quality and yield. This is especially true for current thermochemical biomass conversion processes. However, the roles of plant minerals in biochemical conversion have not been studied extensively, even though they are generally considered to lower the sugar yield because they reduce the feedstock proportion of carbohydrates. A successful strategic solution is thus necessary to overcome the challenges caused by the minerals in biomass, which include (1) decreased quality of biomass feedstocks; (2) reduction of process efficiency; and (3) reduction of the product quality and quantity from biomass conversion. This review summarizes the roles of plant minerals in a biorefinery, focusing on these key challenges. The discussion covers many issues related to plant minerals in biofuel production, including their sources, functions, and distribution in plant biomass, methods of characterizing them, their influence in a biorefinery, and the strategic handling required to manage their occurrence in biomass, based on reported studies. It could inspire better strategies to deal with the variance of mineral content in biomass feedstocks to increase process efficiency and reduce costs while supporting the concept of a circular bioeconomy.

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Reducing ash related operation problems of fast growing timber species and oil palm biomass for combustion applications using leaching techniques

Cited by 47 publications

References 21 publications

Effects of Water Leaching on the Ash Sintering Problems of Wheat Straw

Effects of Water Leaching on the Ash Sintering Problems of Wheat Straw

Leaching as a Pretreatment Process to Complement Torrefaction in Improving Co-firing Characteristics of Jatropha curcas Seed Cake

Roles of mineral matter in biomass processing to biofuels

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