Experimental Investigation on the Energy Consumption, Physical, and Thermal Properties of a Novel Pellet Fuel Made from Wood Residues with Microalgae as a Binder

Xuyang Cui, Junhong Yang, Xinyu Shi, Wanning Lei, Tao Huang and Chao Bai
Additional contact information
Xuyang Cui: Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Low and Medium Grade Energy, Ministry of Education of China, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; cui_xuyang@tju.edu.cn (X.C.); shixinyu_tju@163.com (X.S.)
Junhong Yang: Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Low and Medium Grade Energy, Ministry of Education of China, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; cui_xuyang@tju.edu.cn (X.C.); shixinyu_tju@163.com (X.S.)
Xinyu Shi: Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Low and Medium Grade Energy, Ministry of Education of China, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; cui_xuyang@tju.edu.cn (X.C.); shixinyu_tju@163.com (X.S.)
Wanning Lei: School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; 15619241959@163.com (W.L.); Huangtao_RX@163.com (T.H.); Baichao_RX@163.com (C.B.)
Tao Huang: School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; 15619241959@163.com (W.L.); Huangtao_RX@163.com (T.H.); Baichao_RX@163.com (C.B.)
Chao Bai: School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; 15619241959@163.com (W.L.); Huangtao_RX@163.com (T.H.); Baichao_RX@163.com (C.B.)

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 18, 1-26

Abstract: Co-pelletization of waste biomass and microalgae is an attractive option for using bioenergy efficiently. This work investigates the potential of microalgae as a binder to improve the energy consumption and physical and thermal properties of a novel pellet. Wood waste biomass was blended with microalgae in proportions of 15%, 30%, and 50% to investigate its properties using a single pelleting device and thermodynamic analysis. The results showed that, under the conditions of temperature (80–160 °C), pressure (120–200 MPa), and moisture content (6%–14%), blending microalgae can effectively increase the bulk density and mechanical durability of the pellets by 9%–36% and 0.7%–1.6%, respectively, and can significantly reduce the energy consumption of pelleting by 23.5%–40.4%. Blending microalgae can significantly reduce the energy consumption of pelleting by 23.5%–40.4%. Moreover, when the amount of Chlorella vulgaris powder (CVP) is 50%, a maximum bulk density (BD) of 1580.2 kg/m 3 , a durability (DU) of 98%, and a minimum energy consumption of 25.2 kJ/kg were obtained under the optimum conditions of temperature (120 °C), pressure (120 MPa), and moisture content (10%), respectively. Besides, the interaction between the microalgae and sawdust does exist, and their effect on the co-combustion process is inhibitive (0–300 °C) and accelerative (300–780 °C). When the amount of microalgae was 15%, the average activation energy of the pellet was a minimum value, which was 133.21 kJ/mol and 134.60 kJ/mol calculated by the Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose method and Ozawa–Flynn–Wall method, respectively. Therefore, the energy consumption, physical, and thermal properties of the novel pellet could be improved and meet the ISO standard (International Organization for Standardization of 17225, Geneva, Switzerland, 2016) by blending 15% of microalgae. Overall, the use of microalgae as a binder can indeed improve pellet quality, and it can be considered a significant way to utilize microalgae in the future.

Keywords: biomass; microalgae; co-pelletization; co-combustion; physical properties; thermogravimetric (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: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/18/3425/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/18/3425/ (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:12:y:2019:i:18:p:3425-:d:264542

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 ().