Development of a torrefied wood pellet binder from the cross-linking between specified risk materials-derived peptides and epoxidized poly (vinyl alcohol)

Tao Shui, Vinay Khatri, Michael Chae, Shahabaddine Sokhansanj, Phillip Choi and David C. Bressler

Renewable Energy, 2020, vol. 162, issue C, 71-80

Abstract: Torrefied wood pellets are being developed as a renewable energy to handle green-house gas issues. To improve their competitiveness, binders have been studied and utilized to increase the energy density, durability, and storage life. Recent studies indicated several potential binders can be used to increase the density and strength of pellets. However, all of them required a more than 10 wt% binder level which doesn’t meet the ISO standard (<4 wt%). To develop a promising binder for the wood industry, SRM-derived peptides were examined, which are recovered from specified risk materials (SRM), an animal waste protein. However, unmodified peptides did not improve the strength of pellets, possibly due to their limited binding strength in such applications. Therefore, they were cross-linked with epoxidized poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) to generate PVA-EPC-Peptides, introduced as a wood binder. Based on this study, 3.0 wt% binder level was demonstrated to be enough for PVA-EPC-Peptides to increase the density and strength of pellets, without compromising the hydrophobicity. Moreover, pellets produced with PVA-EPC-Peptides satisfied ISO requirements for I3 class. Thus, this paper demonstrates the feasibility of using SRM-derived peptides as a wood binder, which not only creates value for SRM, but also benefits the fuel industry.

Keywords: Torrefied wood pellets; SRM-Derived peptides; PVA-EPC-Peptides; Pellet density; Pellet strength (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:162:y:2020:i:c:p:71-80

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.08.008

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