Influence of physical and chemical compositions on the properties and energy use of lignocellulosic biomass pellets in Brazil

Sandra Bezerra da Silva, Marina Donária Chaves Arantes, Jaily Kerller Batista de Andrade, Carlos Rogério Andrade, Angélica de Cássia Oliveira Carneiro and Thiago de Paula Protásio

Renewable Energy, 2020, vol. 147, issue P1, 1870-1879

Abstract: Lignocellulosic residues are potential sources of renewable energy, but these materials have low energy density and undesirable properties for energy use. For this reason, pelleting is a viable alternative for the biomass energy valorization because it produces high-energy-density solid biofuels. The aim of this research is to evaluate the physical, chemical, and energetic characteristics of pellets produced with lignocellulosic biomass blends (elephant grass [EG], eucalyptus wood [EW], and sugarcane bagasse [SB]) for bioenergy generation. For biomass and pellets, bulk and energy densities, chemical compositions, and heating values, were determined. For pellets, the mechanical durability, fines content, diametrical compression, diameter, length, and unit density were measured. Pellets presented increased heating value, bulk and energetic density, and reduced moisture content. The highest absolute ash contents were found in the compositions and pellets produced with high amounts of EG (2.89%–6.48%). The reduction of EG in the blends has improved the energy properties of pellets. A 55% reduction of ash content was observed in the pellets produced with 50% EG and 50% EW compared with the pellets produced with 100% EG. The pellets produced with biomass blends obtained better energy and mechanical performances when compared with those produced with only one biomass.

Keywords: Bioenergy; Residual biomass; Densification; Renewable sources; ISO standard (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148119314752
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:147:y:2020:i:p1:p:1870-1879

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.09.131

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().