Viability Evaluation of Three Grass Biofuels: Experimental Study in a Small-Scale Combustor

Araceli Regueiro, Lucie Jezerská, Raquel Pérez-Orozco, David Patiño, Jiří Zegzulka and Jan Nečas
Additional contact information
Araceli Regueiro: Industrial Engineering School, University of Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, s/n, 36310 Vigo, España
Lucie Jezerská: VSB-TU Ostrava, Centre ENET, Bulk Solid Centre, 17. listopadu 15, 708 33 Ostrava, Czech Republic
Raquel Pérez-Orozco: Industrial Engineering School, University of Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, s/n, 36310 Vigo, España
David Patiño: Industrial Engineering School, University of Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, s/n, 36310 Vigo, España
Jiří Zegzulka: VSB-TU Ostrava, Centre ENET, Bulk Solid Centre, 17. listopadu 15, 708 33 Ostrava, Czech Republic
Jan Nečas: VSB-TU Ostrava, Centre ENET, Bulk Solid Centre, 17. listopadu 15, 708 33 Ostrava, Czech Republic

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-19

Abstract: This experimental study focusses on the viability of three low-grade biofuels in small-scale biomass units of 7–12 kW The tested materials were homemade grass pellets (gp1 and gp2) and a mixture of leaves and woody pellets (lp50) that were made without binders and completely characterized in terms of their chemical and physical properties (proximate analysis, elementary composition, ash content, flowability, etc.). The results obtained with the non-commercial fuels were compared with commercial wood pellets (wp). The viability study comprised the operational parameter influences, such as primary and secondary airflow, fuel consumption, etc., together with the impact of those parameters on the main problems in combustion (concentration and particle distribution, fouling and slagging). The results revealed that the biomass whose behavior during combustion induced fewer particulate emissions and deposits was the mixed fuel, made of 50% leaf + 50% wood pellet (lp50). Contrary to the grass-based pellets, lp50 has the possibility of being used in commercial devices with the incorporation of processes during the manufacturing that improve their properties.

Keywords: biomass combustion; low-grade biofuels; fouling; slagging; flowability (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 (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/7/1352/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/7/1352/ (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:7:p:1352-:d:221023

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 ().