Simulating the Effect of Torrefaction on the Heating Value of Barley Straw

Abstract

Many recent studies focused on the research of thermal treated biomass in order to replace fossil fuels. These studies improved the knowledge about pretreated lignocellulosics contribution to achieve the goal of renewable energy sources, reducing CO2 emissions and limiting climate change. They participate in renewable energy production so that sustainable consumption and production patterns can by ensured by meeting Goals 7 and 12 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To this end, the subject of the present study relates to the enhancement of the thermal energy content of barley straw through torrefaction. At the same time, the impact of the torrefaction process parameters, i.e., time and temperature, was investigated and kinetic models were applied in order to fit the experimental data using the severity factor, R0, which combines the effect of the temperature and the time of the torrefaction process into a single reaction ordinate. According to the results presented herein, the maximum heating value was achieved at the most severe torrefaction conditions. Consequently, torrefied barley straw could be an alternative renewable energy source as a coal substitute or an activated carbon low cost substitute (with/without activation treatment) within the biorefinery and the circular economy concept.

Influence of Torrefaction and Pelletizing of Sawdust on the Design Parameters of a Fixed Bed Gasifier

“…Results of the ultimate analysis (Table 1), show increased carbon content of the torrefied biomass, when comparing to untreated wood. This trend has been confirmed by many different studies, for many different types of feedstock [62,[79][80][81][82][83][84]. Similarly, an increase in HHV of torrefied wood was observed, which is similar to results reported different types of biomass in different studies [85][86][87][88].…”

“…Each of the tested materials was milled and sieved through a sieve with aperture size of 200 µm, using mortar and pestle, prior to ultimate analysis. Friedl Equation [61][62][63] was used to estimate the Higher Heating Value (HHV) of both raw and torrefied wood:…”

Acid-Catalyzed Wet Torrefaction for Enhancing the Heating Value of Barley Straw

“…The untreated straw moisture was 6.0% w/w measured according to the procedure UNE-EN ISO 18134-1: 2015. Moreover, the barley straw used for the experiments in this work was the same raw material used in an earlier study of our team on DT [28].…”

“…The original barley straw and modified barley straw samples produced by ACWT were tested for HHV determination according to the method ISO 1928:2009 "Solid mineral fuels-Determination of gross calorific value by the bomb calorimetric method and calculation of net calorific value". More details are given in a recent work of our team [28].…”

“…In our recently published work [28], the effect of DT in a muffle furnace on barley straw HHV was simulated using the combined severity factor (CSF) methodology (incorporating the effect of reaction time and temperature). In this study, in an effort to optimize the HHV of barley straw, the feasibility of ACWT was examined.…”