Papers by Keyword: Biomass Pellets

Abstract: The use of biomass as fuel might solve several technological and environmental issues and overcome certain challenges of sinter production. In particular, as revealed by comprehensive analyses, biomass can be used as fuel for iron ore sintering. In this study, we investigate the use of some raw and pyrolysis-processed biomass pellet types, namely wood, sunflower husks (SFH), and straw, for iron ore sintering. In the experiments, the pyrolysis temperature was set to 673, 873, 1073, and 1273 K, and the proportion of biomass in the fuel composition was set to 25%. It was established that the addition of biofuels to the sintering blend leads to an increase in the gas permeability of the sintered layer. The analysis of the complex characteristics of the sintering process and the sinter strength showed the high potential of wood and sunflower husk pellets pyrolyzed at 1073 and 873 K, respectively, for iron ore sintering. The analysis of the macrostructure of the sinter samples obtained using biomaterials revealed that with higher pyrolysis temperatures; the materials tend to have greater sizes and higher amounts of pores and cracks. The composition analyses of the resultant sinters revealed that with higher temperature, the FeO content of the sinters tends to increase.

Abstract: Densified biomass pellets named as H/S-BPs were prepared from waste wood sawdust (S) in the presence of water hyacinth fiber (H) as solid bridge under room temperature and 6 MPa lower than in the previous study. Mechanical properties including relaxed density (ρ_r), resiliency (R), abrasion resistance (AR) and impact resistance index (IRI) were evaluated. Results showed that adding H greatly reduced negative effect of resiliency on the mechanical properties of H/S-BPs during storage. For example, H/S-BPs compressed at 6 MPa in an H/S mass ratio of 1 to 3 presented lower resiliency of 10% and higher relaxed density of 1.04 kg dm^-3 than pellets without H fiber. This is due to the intertwining action of H fiber, what fabricates solid bridge, replacing the bonding creating by applying high pressure to resist the disruptive force caused by elastic recovery. Thus, compression of waste H and S in a mass ratio of 1 to 3 at room temperature under 6 MPa is a cost-effective process to produce densified sustainable bio-fuel pellet as well as dispose waste S and H, combining the economical and environmental benefits.

Abstract: Water hyacinth (WH) has been one the most troublesome caused by invasive species in the warm regions over the world. However, it has the potential to be compressed into biomass pellets as a local source of substitute and renewable solid fuel in the future. The method and preparation of comperssing WH pellets were investigated in this study using a compressing apparatus in the lab. WH samples were ground by a hammer mill with three different screen sizes (2.0, 3.0and 4.0mm), compressed with five levels of compressing forces (1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000N) at three levels of moisture content (10%, 15% and 20% wb). The density of each sample pellets was calculated and recorded. The effects of compressing pressure, screen size and moisture content on pellets density were analyzed depending on the statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA). It was found in this study that all the three factors except screen size affected WH pellets density significantly, high quality of WH pellets in terms of high pellets density can be obtained under a compressing pressure about 80MPa and at a moisture contnet about 15% (wb).