Investigation of Steam Explosion Pretreatment of Sawdust and Oat Straw to Improve Their Quality as Biofuel Pellets

Chukwuka Onyenwoke (), Lope G. Tabil (), Tim Dumonceaux, Duncan Cree, Edmund Mupondwa, Phani Adapa and Chithra Karunakaran
Additional contact information
Chukwuka Onyenwoke: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, 57 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada
Lope G. Tabil: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, 57 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada
Tim Dumonceaux: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatoon Research and Development Centre, 107 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 0X2, Canada
Duncan Cree: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, 57 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada
Edmund Mupondwa: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, 57 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada
Phani Adapa: National Hydrology Research Centre, Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS), University of Saskatchewan, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK S7N 3H5, Canada
Chithra Karunakaran: Canadian Light Source Inc., 44 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK S7N 2V3, Canada

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 19, 1-19

Abstract: Steam explosion pretreatment of sawdust and oat straw under mild, medium, and severe conditions was conducted to improve the quality of pellets generated from these feedstocks. This work examined the effects of temperature, time, and moisture content on the mechanical properties of biomass pellets. From the ANOVA conducted, the p -values of the regression models for all the response variables (dimensional stability, tensile strength, and pellet density) studied were significant ( p < 0.05), except for the pellet density of steam-pretreated oat straw pellets. The interaction of these three factors did not significantly affect the response variables of oat straw pellets. In addition, the higher heating value (HHV) of treated biomass increased up to a maximum of about 9.5% and 7% as compared with the non-treated sawdust and oat straw, respectively. In addition, an increment of about 3.6-fold and 3.1-fold in pellet tensile strength of steam-pretreated sawdust and oat straw was observed, respectively. Microstructural examination of the pellets from steam-pretreated biomass revealed that the material contained particles that were more closely bonded and featured a cemented surface with fewer pores when compared to particles from untreated oat straw and sawdust.

Keywords: steam explosion; pretreatment; pelletization; sawdust; oat straw; pellet quality (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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