Aqueous Leaching Prior to Dewatering Improves the Quality of Solid Fuels from Grasslands

Frank Hensgen and Michael Wachendorf
Additional contact information
Frank Hensgen: Department of Grassland Science and Renewable Plant Resources, Universität Kassel, Steinstrasse 19, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany
Michael Wachendorf: Department of Grassland Science and Renewable Plant Resources, Universität Kassel, Steinstrasse 19, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: Renewable energies are necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in energy production, and biomass plays a dominant role in the renewable energy sector. Combustion of biomass constitutes an efficient conversion technique, but is hindered by harmful elements which are frequently contained in residual grassland biomass. We investigated the effect of leaching on solid fuel quality with three independent experiments including the following treatments: (1) with or without leaching, (2) with leaching at various water to silage ratios and (3) with the use of press liquid versus fresh water. Biomass was mechanically dehydrated and press cakes for combustion were produced and analyzed for their concentrations of ash, N and minerals harmful for combustion. Solid fuel quality was improved by leaching prior to dewatering, and the application of higher proportions of fresh water enabled even higher quality to be attained.

Keywords: IFBB; biomass; fuel; combustion; leaching (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/4/846/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/4/846/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:4:p:846-:d:139619

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().